This was the day we all climbed into two vans and went on a family road trip. From Phoenix we took the Apache Trail and I thought about how fierce Apache warriors once fled high into the mountains where the U.S. soldiers could not reach them. Our journey would take us through the Superstition Mountains and Wilderness. The great American lecturer Helen Keller said:
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”
Definitely not for the faint of heart, it was full of dizzying heights and hairpin curves. But the reward was worth it. Canyon Lake is the smallest of four lakes created by dams on the Salt River, but probably the most picturesque. We were at an elevation of about 1,600 feet and we all looked around in awe at the red rock canyon walls, blue water, and wide open sky dotted with white, fluffy clouds. The peace of stopping here still stays with me; the joy of bringing my baby and my husband here with the only family I have left was indescribable. Next we crossed the water over a suspension bridge and were headed to Tortilla Flat, an authentic Old West town nestled in the midst of the Tonto National Forest. Referred to as “The Town Too Tough To Die,” neither fire nor flood has been able to claim it. Tortilla Flat began as a stagecoach stop in 1904 and remains a small unincorporated community northeast of Apache Junction, proudly boasting a population of six. The town is primarily compromised of a mercantile, museum, and restaurant. The Superstition Restaurant and Saloon had saddle bar stools and walls and walls of dollar bills from around the world covering every available vertical surface from floor to ceiling. They were even plastered to the wooden pillars top to bottom. We added one of our own for the three of us and had old fashioned sarsaparillas with lunch. The tiny Tortilla Flat Museum, also known as The Old School House, was so small I remember it was overcrowded with just a handful of people inside at once. On our way home we got to stop briefly at the beautiful, historic Apache Falls Church. The sun was setting and it looked so picturesque: this little whitewashed wooden church standing proudly in the middle of nowhere with a simple iron cross on top. There was nothing around it but wide open space; the desert and sky a fitting backdrop. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful day spent with my family at Canyon Lake and Tortilla Flat.
