August 16, 2010

August 16, 2010

We spent the day in the White Mountains driving from Springerville, AZ over to Pinetop and Showlow. Even though we are in Arizona we are in the middle of a beautiful pine forest and the weather is cool. That is because we are at almost 8000 feet elevation. We are thinking this area might be a good place to buy a summer home. It is much cooler than Tucson in the summer and is close to a ski resort for a winter snow trip. I mistakenly thought I was the first with this idea. Not so! It is crowded. There are lots of places for sale. They must have overbuilt here too. It looks like it will be a couple years before prices bottom. Aimee and I would like to have a little log cabin hidden in the forest. That seems hard to get here. Most of the properties seem to be on thin strips along roads. Arizona in general has only 10% of its land available for private ownership. The vast majority is either Indian reservation or Federal land. In the White Mountains, the Apaches have the prime real estate. I wonder what it takes to join the tribe??

It has been pouring rain off and on all day. If I am going to sit inside while it is raining I would rather do it at home in my comfy chair. So we make the last push and arrive back in Tucson before bedtime.