Day 3: Morenci then Home

By late Sunday afternoon, David and I headed toward Clifton and Morenci. I didn't take any pictures of Clifton but there was a side street that David drove down on. He wanted to show me the close buildings and the high curbs because he said that when they (being David and his brother) rode down that street with its looks and smells he felt like he was back on his mission in Brasil. It was interesting to see. Anyway, Morenci is a very boring place. I think it's great that the mine there is still going but there is hardly nothing to do. They have a library, a movie theater that only shows one movie at a time either at 2:30 or 7 (and it's cash only), a bowling ally, a Morenci Club, a motel with a restaurant and pool, a Bashas', a Radio Shack that looks like a general store, and two places to eat at. Lots of housing there but I don't know what people do all day. And the saddest part was this:

How can a town with lots of people not support a Dairy Queen? It boggles and saddens me.

This was the hallway to our hotel room. Made me feel like I was visiting someone in the crazy house. The room was nice, though. We got one with a microwave, stove, and fridge and bought food for dinner and breakfast to have in our room instead of going out. 

This is where we had lunch. It was really good. The only other place we saw to eat besides the hotel restaurant was a cafe and ice cream place.

Monday morning we started to head back home but first we took some pictures of the huge mines up there.

 He honked at us :)

 To get back to Alpine we drove up the 191. It used to be Highway 666 or "Highway to Hell". David, his brothers, sister, and friends go up and down this rode on street bikes as often as they can. It is a very winding rode and it took about 3 hours to get back to Alpine in a car. David says when they ride to Morenci and back on there bikes, it takes them about an hour and a half. It is a very pretty road but as you get closer to Alpine it is sad to see the damage that the Wallow Fire did. 

We stopped to see this huge tarantula crossing the road. EEK!

 Damage from the Wallow Fire.

 Now we are back in Alpine! David wanted to eat here since he hasn't been there yet. Really good food and they have a candy store and ice cream shop. It is right across the street from the 1st place we ate at on Sat.: Bear Wallow. We had made a full circle.

This trip was a lot of fun! I think the thing I enjoyed most was getting to see the places that David sees all the time since he rides there often. I ate a lot of really good food; glad we went on the cat walk! It was a really pretty drive and I wouldn't mind visiting some of those places again.