drivetofive

Odometer (Legend):  533,559

Odometer (ILX):  125,623

Remember that classic 1985 movie, Goonies?  It’s one of my all-time faves.  I can’t believe it’s 30 years old.

So, there’s a scene in the movie where some kids go hiking around in an abandoned restaurant in search of buried treasure after finding a map in someone’s attic.  Sounds like my kind of adventure, and that’s why I love the movie.

Oh, and I also loved it because of some sweet off-racing scenes with a Jeep Cherokee 4×4.

I get a kick out of “urban exploration.”  One of my most memorable road trips ever was when I hiked around the ghost town of Modena, Utah.  I’ll never forget the feeling of uneasiness as I climbed rickety wooden staircases and wondered if they’d crumble under my weight.  The thrill of discovery, adventure — and sometimes, of getting caught in a place where you shouldn’t be — is fun for me.

A few friends, family members and I (hi, mom!) are planning a 20+ mile Grand Canyon “rim to rim” hike a week from this Friday.  We’re insane, yes.  But, as part of the training for that, I’ve started seeking out local Phoenix-area hikes a couple of times a week in preparation.  My friends Rustin and Wade told me about a 3-miler with a nice 900-or-so foot elevation gain near 7th Avenue & Peoria in north-central Phoenix.  We met up at the trailhead last Wednesday after work and set out with Wade’s dogs, Abi & Jackson, leading the way.  The path was called Shaw Butte:  Trail #306 in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve.

According to the “Health” app on my iPhone, we climbed the equivalent of 68 flights of stairs.  I was panting more than the dogs were by the time we reached the summit.  The hike was just what I needed to get my heart rate up, and the views were awesome.

The icing on the cake, though, was getting to wander around the remains of an old restaurant that’s been gone for over 50 years now.  Cloud 9 opened in the early 1960s as a luxury restaurant for the Phoenix elite.  According to one video account, the facility was small and could only accommodate about 30-40 people.  In all my googling, I wasn’t able to find a picture of the building from when it was open for business.  On November 8, 1964, the building burned down.  There are suspicions that the demise of the building may have been related to gang or mob activity, but nobody really knows for sure.

Even when the restaurant was in operation, the road was too rough to be traversed by passenger cars so people were shuttled to the summit by four-wheel-drive vehicles.  Today, the location is part of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve System and it’s not likely it would ever be built up again as a commercial business.

The round-trip hike took us about an hour and a half.  Here we are getting ready at the trailhead.

Wade takes the lead

Now it’s Jackson’s turn.  This is the crumbly road that once led to the restaurant.

Staircase and some old kitchen equipment

This concrete pad is where the tables once would have been.  There were glass windows along the edge.

Abi, Rustin, and Wade as silhouettes on the Cloud 9 patio

It would have been a great view from the restaurant – especially at night.

Taking a break with the pups

Sign along the roadway

Photo op.  Color coordinated – unintentionally (I promise)

Best thing about the Acura ILX?  Huge cupholders that can accommodate gallons of diet soda after a hike.

Now that we’ve worked up an appetite, I’ll do a quick share about a local restaurant that I checked out for the first time over the weekend. This one’s for you, Dave in Seattle!  I know my friend Dave is a BBQ fan so I thought he’d appreciate this.  It’s Honey Bear’s BBQ – family owned and operated since 1986.

I was one of only 5 people in the restaurant at about noon on a Saturday.  Had my share of parking spot choices, and I took an end space as usual.  There wasn’t much traffic on Central Avenue.

Inside view – pretty quiet.

Those are some soft drinks you don’t see very often:  RC Cola, Sunkist, and Hires Root Beer.

“You don’t need no teeth to eat our meat.”  How’s that for a motto?

And here’s that pulled pork sandwich.  Delicious, I’d say.  The only issue was that the meat was so juicy, it soaked through the bun and I ended up having to eat everything with a fork.

And we’re off to cruise down Central on a full belly.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

This entry was posted on May 18, 2015 at 5:47 pm and is filed under Hikes, Legend. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.