Tortilla Flat:  On our first full day we drove to Tortilla Flat in the Superstition Mountains along the Apache Trail  (State Route 88) to the north-east of Phoenix, where we had lunch at its sole restaurant.  Tortilla Flat is nothing to speak of:  a restaurant flanked by a gift shop and a small general store.  After lunch everyone indulged in a local ice cream but me.  Frankly, the heat was getting to me, so I passed on the ice cream and only took a couple of photos with my cell phone.  After exploring the gift shop, we were all feeling a bit tired from the heat so we returned to the air conditioned spendor of Barbara and Tony's home.  Along the way we stopped briefly at the Canyon Lake Vista.

Mogollon Rim Visitor Center:  The next day, after a good night's rest, we made a more ambitious drive north-east through the Superstition Mountains, up the Mogollon Ridge along State Route 260 and then down to Show Low where we had lunch.  We then returned on State Route 77 through the picturesque Salt River Canyon to Globe, and then back to Phoenix.  This day was considerably cooler, mostly in the mid-80's, and cooler yet at 7,500 feet on the Mogollon Ridge escarpement.  The Mogollon Rim defines the south-west edge of the Colorado Plateau and cuts across the state from north-west to south-east.

The Mogollon Ridge is dominated by forests of Pondersa Pine and Douglas Fir.  We had definitely left the low Sonaran Desert of Saguaro, Cholla, and Prickly Pear cactus behind.