Our dear friends Susan and Jason (I’ve known Susan for 20 or more years!) have a cabin (which they call the Golden Elk) in Strawberry which is right outside of Pine. They now use it as an Air B n B. She approached me and asked if we’d like to use it! What an opportunity, so we jumped on it! Also, it was a way us Hays could get away and spend some time “retreating.”
My plan was for us to spend some time on our Mission Statement. We pared it down to: 6G, but we really need to update the wording. Plus, I hoped that we could also work on our individual mission statements. So I put together a packet: (cuz that’s what I do!)
Packed us up….and we were off! The packing was not super easy though because I wanted to bring up our own food since there really aren’t places to eat around Pine or Strawberry. Our frig went into these boxes.
And Tot…she was all ready (with Woody!) (sorry Coopy!)
Daddy packed up the car and …..Woody is ready!
Daddy mapped it out..only 93 miles CHECK!…and WE ARE OFF!
Stopped in Payson for a lunch/ice cream etc..(ya know our usual!) and BOOM! We are there. Pine and then if you blink you’ll drive right through Strawberry. Arrived! How cute is the Golden Elk.
When we got in…HOLY ELK! It was ALL elk decorated.
Little Elk everything.
Even the GAME ROOM!..well, wait…they had this life sized DREAM for us English teachers.
and a sand game.
A little walk outside to welcome ourselves to the neighborhood (so beautiful on the narrow hilly drive and cabins were spread out; far apart)
Tot and I watched a quick show on the TV; well, what the heck is on? Nothing.
When we returned, Doug cooked us up some pork loin. (and I noticed our view!)
I enjoyed using the kitchen and whipping up some sweet potato fries and salads.
While Tot played at the table; Is there a bird on my head?
Ok… We are ready! The Qwirkle must come to an end. Daddy was winning too. Sad face.
Tot got the whole downstairs so she slept in both rooms because why just have one room?
We took a drive down to Fossil Point to do a hike the next morning. ELK!
Everywhere! Hey buddy!
While driving, we noticed a little breeze. Or maybe I should say major wind because the hike we intended to meander became a big frosty endeavor. Did I say faaaaaarrrreeeezing? For the Love of GOD, can we just take the picture already!?
We got to see the “token snow” and the “token view” and that was jjjjjjjjuuuuuusssstttt enough. BRRRR!
TADA! K. I’m good.
Coffee! Here we come! The little windmill place had a line, so we waited in the little breeze.
But how cute is this place?
We decided to walk around Pine to all the cute little shops from antiques to teepees. Yes, SRSLY.
First stop: Lavender Farm. Very fragrant. What’s that buzzing noise, Daddy?
Antique stores; we basically just bought taffy. Oh, look…
Later we just found some souvenir/trinkets from good ol’ AZ!
Our last night was leftovers and silly conversation. We decided we all needed a ONE minute vent of some negative and then the REST? Gratitude.
Tatum got a little goodie for being so delightful.
We do LOVE you! And we love Strawberry! Thank you, Susan and Jason!
