A Restaurant Review and a Tour of Pinal County

We had breakfast at the Drip Coffee Lounge this morning. Advertising Organic breakfasts and lunches, and a cool atmosphere. Well, yeah maybe. Cold is more like it. Baby boomers in bandanas and their canine companions lined the sidewalk in front of the door. When we approached, we had to walk in the rocks to get around them. One man said of his bandana-necked pooch "I tried to get him to move." Boy did I want to try to get him to move!

Inside the restaurant, one encounters cement and plastic, and I don't just mean in the faces of the waitresses and barrista's, but in the walls, chairs, tables, and utensils, as well. The only comfortable-looking spot in the place was a kind of bathroom lounge area with Basquiat art books on the coffee table just outside the toilet room. The hard part to deal with was that the sink and towels were also in this lounge area, but this area was not really separated from the eating area of the restaurant. So you basically wash your hands next to the people sitting at table letter "A." Yes, each table is lettered.

We ordered our food. I had some granola and Casson had some eggs and toast. He got a coffee, and I had a small juice. We ate our organic breakfast with orange, plastic utensils that had been sitting directly on the table for who-knows-how-long. We drank our coffee and juice from disposable cups. When the young woman came to take our dishes, I asked if we should pay at the counter. She looked at me like I was crazy and just nodded a few head jerks at me. But within a few minutes we felt sorry for her too, because the main barrista lady spent some time yelling at her about the inefficient way she delivered food. Needless to say, but I shall say it, we will not be going back to Drip Coffee Lounge any time soon. And when the time comes that we consider it again, I don't predict that it will still be there.

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But that's my critical piece. The good part was that we were full and happy. We hopped on the 10 south, and headed to the Casa Grande Ruins in Coolidge. The temperature was in the 70s for most of the day, so we had decided to stay around Phoenix for this weekend's explorations. Casa Grande Ruins were built by American Indian peoples who lived and multiplied in and around the Gila River Valley for centuries, I think starting around 300ad. They are now called the Hohokam, which was a name given to them by a later tribe, the O'odham, but might be the ancestors of those very same people. Hohokam just means "used up," which I think might be interpreted "the people that were here before and are gone now?" Whatever. We enjoyed seeing the ruins, but mostly we sat in the cool shade and thought about what the heck it means that these people were here and built this and now it's abandoned. We also saw a Northern Flicker Woodpecker who lives in a cactus, and a Round-Tailed Ground Squirrel, who liked to jump. Mom, I think you'll appreciate the bird picture.

Then we went to Florence, the Pinal County Seat. A once-thriving mining town that sort of transitioned to agriculture as its main reason for existence. Back in the day it must have been beautiful. Today it is a bit dusty and deserted and has the kind of picturesque-ness that rusty iron and run down barns have. The Old Pueblo Mexican Restaurant, however, definitely justifies the continued existence of the town. Pretty much the best machaca and chile rellenos ever. Anyways, Casson toured the McFarland State Park (old courthouse and fire station) while I experienced slight heat exhaustion and swelling on a porch bench in the shade.

Next destination was Box Canyon. We chose it because there is a little star on the map indicating that it is a sight to see. We pulled onto a dirt road (Price Road) and followed it along the Union Pacific RR tracks for about 10 miles, 'til we passed what we think was the town of Price, and started heading up into the White Canyon Wilderness. Jeeps and 4-wheelers were passing us the other way in huge packs, so we knew we were headed somewhere exciting. The road started to narrow. It looked like we were headed directly into a rock wall, when we saw a crack in the rock, straight up on both sides. This was Box Canyon. Our Super-Roo made it a couple of miles in before we knew that we needed either a jeep with higher clearance, or a shovel to fill in the road. But just look at the coolness of this road. Yes, I got out and took pictures of Casson driving down the cool road.

On the way back to the highway, along Price Road, we spotted two snakes. The snakes come out in May for their mating season. Check out the California King Snake and the Rattler (the first one I've ever seen alive!). The rattler had been staring at us from the center of the road as I was trying to get my camera ready, but then he took off into the grass, but I got a shot of his rattle.