No place like home sweet home: Pine-Strawberry….

 ….where our cabin is nestled in this little mountain hamlet in Arizona.

A year ago we published a post about our sweet town of Pine-Strawberry.  But since that time we have discovered that there is even more to love here in our home town.

Following are some unusual, interesting, strange, funny, and quaint things that you will see only in Pine-Strawberry….

The cool Pines Cafe has been converted into Auntie Gail’s Antiques. Auntie Gail is the daughter of the original owner of the cafe pictured in this newspaper article. Auntie Gail grew up in Pine and worked in her mother’s cafe until the store closed.  

The cafe counter and bar stools have been left in place inside the antique store.  Auntie Gail is now in her mid-eighties.  Every morning, by 10 a.m., she is behind the cafe counter at her antique store.  If you want to find about the history of Pine, just stop in at Auntie Gail’s shop.  

Auntie Gail loves to talk about her early days living with her mother in a cabin just above Pine, Arizona.  The cabin was located in what is now part of the Tonto National Forest. When her mother died, the entire cabin had to be dismantled, and the area where the cabin had been located had to be restored back to its natural environment.  No trace of her childhood home remains.  It's like the great movie The Trip to Bountiful. 

Auntie Gail is a treasure trove of information about this small town and the residents who have lived beneath the Mogollon Rim, in Pine-Strawberry, since the 1940’s.

These are some of the things you might get to see if you visit us in Pine:

A knight in shining armor leaving his log cabin and ready to jump into his chariot!  Is he going to hitch his chariot to a horse or to his OHV?

It’s heartwarming to see that the children in Pine still play outdoors, and make camps and houses out of anything they can find.

A golf course in Pine-Strawberry is distinctly different from a golf course anywhere else.

If you decide to build a house on a cliff here, be sure to make sure that it looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

This little goose sits by the side of the road offering water to the dogs that pass by.  She has several outfits.  Here she is on the 4th of July.

Out hunting….

And of course, during the monsoons, she donned her rain gear.

In the Wizard of Oz there’s the Tin Man that yearns for a heart.  Here in Pine, we have the Tin Bear that yearns for a manicure.

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The dumpster at Pine-Strawberry Elementary School…..isn’t it the most beautiful dumpster you’ve ever seen!

Kind of looks like Hamblen Morris Racing should think about getting into another sport….

Someone had fun creating this strange spectacle….a two cars embedded in metal boxes.  It’s definitely more interesting and better than some of the expensive artwork we’ve seen.

Pine’s idea of a mechanic shop….at least that’s what the sign says. 

We think it’s actually a cemetery for old busted up cars.

One of Dan’s favorite trucks in Pine:

We think that someone put this sign up in Pine just for us….

The ugliest fences holding up the fanciest gate in Pine…and the gate leads to nowhere, except to getting stuck in a ditch!

This is my favorite truck in one of my favorite colors.  My Danny is going to surprise me with it for my birthday present.  

We can’t decide if this is a pretty bug, a scary bug, or just a darn big bug.  It’s definitely a one of a kind, just lke Pine!

Q

This sign has remained  on the side of the main road that runs through Pine for over three years.  Weird.  Do you think the landlords to the “retnal” are even aware of  the misspelling? Maybe they just have a good sense of humor.  It certainly entertains us every time we cycle, walk, or drive by it.

We spend most afternoons sitting on our front porch.  A giraffe sits on the front porch of this cabin.

If you look carefully, you can see a real Bigfoot hiding behind this tree in Pine.  

A block away from our cabin, our neighbor collects and restores the most amazing and unique vehicles.  We get to watch his restoration progress and admire his cars every time we take a walk.

 

Before:

After:

Clark Griswold must live in Pine….only Clark would have his very own lagoon.  We wonder how many strings of Christmas lights he will use to light up his home and lagoon this Christmas.  We’ll know when our power goes out that he’s turned them on.

Across the street from our cabin, our neighbors always have the very best holiday decorations!

Halloween:

Even the Post Office in Pine has the holiday spirit during Christmas.  When was the last time you saw any spirit or personality at a Post Office?  Well, head on up to Pine.  It oozes with personality—wild and wacky personality…and tons of spirit!

Across the street from our cabin, our neighbor set up a good, old fashioned Charlie Brown Christmas.  We hope that Charlie Brown was able to trick Lucy and kick that darn football on New Years Eve.  Maybe he will finally have a Happy New Year!

A little story about something that would happen “Only in Pine:”  

A few days ago we drove down to our local Post Office. (Side note: there is no mail delivery in Pine, so the only way to get your mail is to have a Post Office box.)  Anyway, we went on our daily run to pick up our mail, and when I got out of the car, an elderly woman (even older than us) said she wanted to thank my husband for using his turn signal and handed me these two little pieces of candy:

It was very sweet, and we thanked her.  It made us smile and feel warm inside, kind of like when our grade school teacher handed out candy for good behavior.

Then I noticed that this kind old lady was wrestling with a large package, so I offered to carry it into the Post Office for her.  As I was trying to hold open and slide through the double doors, a young man rushed forward, and said, “Let me help you with that.”  I thought he was going to hold the doors open, but no….he took the old lady’s package from me and carried it to Bonnie, one of our friendly postal workers.  

The man stepped back, and then I moved aside, so the nice old lady could reclaim her package.  But this kind lady objected and said to me, “No, you were here before me.”

Of course, both the young man and I both insisted that she go before us.  Only in Pine do the postal customers get into an argument about who carries an elderly woman’s package AND about who gets to go to the front of the line in the Post Office!

As you can tell, we love Pine.  You can be whoever you want to be in Pine, and nobody cares. Only in Pine….everything and anything goes.

In Pine you will also see an old couple in their mid-seventies dancing to the oldies at least once a week on their front deck!