Arizona is a state with tons of diversity. With a variety of climates, people from everywhere and cultures older than the United States itself, it’s a wonderful place to live.

But living here is just half of it. Discovering the little nooks and crannies offers a great diversion from the day-to-day routine. Better Half and I considered camping in the White Mountains over Labor Day, but as the weekend approached, forecasts were calling for never-ending rain. Tent camping, when it is raining, was great for me 30 years ago. Now I prefer to be dry and up off the ground.

So we went to plan B, which was to find a place to stay in Springerville. It’s a pretty quick drive to a ton of wonder, with hiking, fishing, wandering and just enjoying the great outdoors. It also has one of the best Mexican food restaurants in the state.

Since it was Labor Day weekend, I expected to have a little trouble finding a spot to stay. I think Springerville is not exactly a hot destination. (Unless you ride a motorcycle.) There were lots of rooms at Reed’s Motor Lodge. Starting at $44.50 for one person in the “Bunkhouse” rates travel upward to $89.50 for a large, two-room suite with a bath. We stayed in a “cabin” room, inexpensive enough but a little bit of an upgrade. We weren’t planning to be in the room much anyway, so a $60 rate – which includes a mini-refrigerator and a microwave, along with a T.V. and free, “high speed” wireless. (High speed is an exaggeration – no speed wireless was really more like it, but if we had gone camping, we would have had NO wireless. Slow-speed wireless was fine.)

Springerville is a little more than 200 miles from the Phoenix area. We took the Beeline to AZ-260 E both going and coming home. It’s a good drive with great scenery and decent roads all the way up. And of course, when you are leaving the Valley of the Sun and heading north and east, you lose the heat the farther you go. Even though Labor Day weekend this year in the valley wasn’t brutally hot, it still warranted the great escape. A 20-degree drop in the temps suits me fine; more than that suits me finer.

We got to our little motel a little earlier than the requisite check-in time of 2 p.m. It didn’t matter much – some 30 bikers were in front of us in line to check in. Reed’s Motor Lodge doesn’t have the most modern system, nor does it have a big registration desk. It’s just one woman who took plenty of time with each customer, just chatting and telling them all about Springerville. Turns out she had a lot to say about her hometown.

It was right at 3 when we got to our room. As advertised, it was pretty basic, but clean and comfy. Since we ate lunch in Show Low (just a few miles down the road), we settled in and hung out and read and enjoyed the cooler weather. It was ASU’s first game of the season so we stayed home and watched Texas A&M pummel the Sun Devils 38-17, Aggies), but it was nice. Quiet and cool.

Few things are more wonderful than waking up on a clear, cool Sunday knowing you are about to embark on a little adventure. And knowing that in the motel lobby is a pot of coffee, just waiting to be poured and brought to your room.

Remember the 30 bikers all checking in to the motel in front of us? The same ones were waiting in line for coffee. Meaning only one thing: by the time I reached the pot, it was empty. That changes the complexion of my morning. But the nice woman at the desk hopped right to it and made more joe, so it had a happy ending.

We headed down to Alpine for breakfast and were glad to have the whole road to ourselves. Wild flowers were abundant – Indian paintbrush, asters, miniature woolystars, lupine, sunflowers. Lush forests (except where the wildfires blew through), fluffy clouds (funny how rain never actually occurs when there is so much hullabaloo about it), beautiful Arizona blue sky. An idyllic drive to the Alpine Grill. Standard stuff for breakfast, motley crowd around the joint and good local color.

After breakfast we went next door to the Alpine Country Store in search of a roadmap. They had a couple, but since we have two at home, we passed when we discovered that just a plain ol’ map was $8.95. The proprietor tried to give us a map, but his wife intervened and pointed out that it wasn’t free. Oh, well. She had a point.

There are so many little streams, little lakes and then there’s Big Lake, in the White Mountains. Plenty of places to explore and cast a line. We decided to go to Three Forks, which is at the confluence of the East Fork of the Black River, Coyote Creek and Boneyard Creek. That gave MBH a good stream to fish and me a good place to hike. When we got there, there were a few others upstream, but nothing unmanageable. Except within about 20 minutes of getting situated, it seemed like the bus arrived. Dozens of people – big kids, little kids, moms, dads, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandparents ALL showed up to fish the exact same spot MBH selected. He tried moving downstream. The crowd followed. He moved upstream. Back they came. It didn’t take us long to decide fishing there was not going to be too successful.

We moved up the road (sans the rest of the fishing public) to Greer for lunch. Greer used to be one of my favorite places on earth. I have re-evaluated that opinion. It has been built up and expanded to where it is a little Disney-esque. Lots of log cabins in the woods. In the past, homes were scattered and far apart. Now they are close together. Suburbia in the forest. Many other people apparently love Greer, too, except they decided to move there. C’est la vie.

We ate lunch on the deck at Molly Butler’s, a really old lodge (it opened in 1910) in the heart of Greer. The coolest thing about Molly Butler’s, as well as the Rendezvous, is the hummingbirds. Both places (and I am sure others) have hummingbird feeders hanging on the porches and decks, which draw zillions of the little birds. So even if your food isn’t great, the views are, the birds are and the weather is.

After lunch we headed back to Springerville, knowing that this Sunday night was one of the main reasons we drove all this way. Mexican food. Really, really good Mexican food. Great in fact. Los Dos Molinos.

We have been eating at “LoDoMo” for way longer than 25 years, having discovered the restaurant in Mesa way back when. The original is in Springerville, but Mesa is a lot closer. But when in the White Mountains, we eat at the Springerville one. The establishment now has places in South Phoenix, central Phoenix and Mesa. Which is a really good thing. Because for way more than 25 years, Los Dos Molinos has been closed on Sunday. Every Sunday. No exceptions ever. And since this was Labor Day Weekend, we had a special surprise when they also were closed Monday. (We haven’t made it to any of the local restaurants since we got back, but we will soon, I’m sure.)

It was a bitter disappointment to miss LoDoMo, but we drove over to Eager and ate at Trailriders. Not even close to our favorite Mexican food, but it filled our tummies, so it was fine. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow; this trip was like that.

But the highlight, without question, was our Sunday afternoon outing. Springerville has Los Dos Molinos AND it is home to El Rio, the state’s oldest movie theater. According to the sign, the El Rio Theatre was built in 1915 and originally was called the Apache Theater. “The movie house once showed silent flickers with a hand-cranked projector. It was renamed the El Rio in 1937. Round Valley’s first theater is still operating with its original popcorn machine.”

El Rio is a great old theater, complete with a stage and heavy drapes. It has one screen. Small towns can get new movies, and Springerville was pretty current with its offerings. The weekend before our visit “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” was showing. The weekend after we left, “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” was scheduled. We were very fortunate to be there for the showing of “Shaun the Sheep.” Neither of us had seen it; it was an excellent movie to see in the state’s oldest theater – and you sure can’t beat the price of $6 per person. I think we were old enough for the $5 senior price, but they didn’t ask to see our IDs, so we went ahead and paid the extra buck. I regret to report that we did not get popcorn.

We now have two reasons to return to Springerville: 1) to eat at Los Dos Molinos on Saturday night; and 2) to have popcorn from the state’s oldest popcorn machine. Springerville definitely is off the main path, has not a lot of action and is quirky. I would do that trip again in a heartbeat. It definitely rivals a trip a few years ago to Holbrook with a stay at the Wigwam Motel. I’d do that trip again, too.