Burgers or no burgers

The trip for burgers over the mountain was a trip to Tortilla Flat located in the Tonto National Park. It’s located east of Mesa approx. 20 or 30 miles back in the mountains. So it was again on a mountain road with switchbacks, tight curves, no guard rails, but it isn’t as high in elevation as Kitt Peak. Man, I just don’t like those roads. Paul and Shirley’s friends did the driving, since they had a van we could all fit in.

Once in the mountains the view was spectacular. The sun peaked through the clouds periodically and lit up parts of the mountains. The mountains are full of color which change as the sun moves across the side of them. We stopped for a few photos of Canyon Lake and moved on over a couple of one lane bridges to Tortilla Flat. Now Tortilla Flat is basically a small set of buildings that most people would call a tourist trap, and a very effective one at that. It comprises of a museum, restaurant, and a couple stores. They have a patio where they grill burgers and have a stage for live music. Now there was suppose to be live music while we were there, but they cancelled because of the threat of rain. It didn’t rain, but at that point it didn’t matter. Since there was no live music, and the burgers where $8 a piece, a decision was made to leave and skip the burger. But have no fear, retired people always know where the best and cheapest place to eat is at any given moment.

On the way out a stop was made at a natural food store. This I think was a tactic to stall a little before we ate. Country Buffet was the target after the shopping was complete. Here is the strategy used to attack the Country Buffet. First, need to have a Country Buffet Senior citizen card. This will give you a dollar off the lunch buffet, which makes the meal less than $6. The lunch buffet runs from around 11 to 3 in the afternoon. Now you must come in at the end of this time period so you pay for the lunch buffet, but you run into the supper buffet, which runs $4 or $5 more. Now this is no real secret I’m telling you, because when we got there around 3 in the afternoon, the line was almost outside. Of course, excluding the people working there, I was one of the youngest in the crowd. You pay, sit down and eat a helping or so from the lunch buffet, eat it slow and soon the line forms at the grill to get the supper steaks for the lunch price. Now for dessert, don’t screw around with those stinking little bowls for ice cream, you go over and get a soup bowl and use that instead. It will save you a couple of trips to the dessert bar. These seniors have eating out and drinking free or cheap down to a science. I’ve got a lot to learn if I’m going to compete with these pros.

Friday was cloudy once again, and it periodically sprinkled through the morning, but it still made it up too 70 by late afternoon, but most of the day was in the 60’s.