Lost Texas – Day 1

Caroline Wise and John Wise on the road in Arizona

Talk about being lazy. It is 2023, mid-February, when I finally get around to dealing with posting what details might be discovered regarding this trip Caroline and I took to Texas about a year after I started a new company that was eating all of my time and leaving precious few moments for us to share. The trip did not go according to plan, but that will be divulged as the post continues. There won’t be many photos as not only did I shoot less than 200 images over the seven days we were on the road, I foolishly didn’t even take my DSLR and instead shot these photos on a Samsung S6 smartphone. There may have been notes, as Caroline can be seen in a photo from this day (not worth publishing), in which she can be seen taking notes, but where that notebook is might be lost in time. We do still have the original itinerary but there’s no telling how well we stuck to it as there were no reservations made in advance. According to that travel outline, we went as far as Las Cruces, New Mexico, but the next day, I took a photo of the motel we stayed at, and it showed up in Deming, New Mexico.

Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse RIP

Caroline Wise at Pinnacle Peak Patio Steak House in Scottsdale, Arizona

This is the last time we will ever eat at Pinnacle Peak Patio in Scottsdale, Arizona. The steakhouse opened in 1957, and on June 28, 2015, it will serve its last Cowboy steak. While we never ate here frequently, it was nice knowing that places like this still survived.

John Wise at Pinnacle Peak Patio Steak House in Scottsdale, Arizona

Overhead are some of the thousands of ties that had been cut off the patrons who dared enter this place wearing formal attire. Other than prices going up over the years, nothing really changed, and the menu remained consistent.

Pinnacle Peak Patio Steak House in Scottsdale, Arizona

This is the 24-ounce Cowboy steak, a Porterhouse. Served with whole wheat bread, cowboy beans, and some corn on the cob, this was as fancy as it got here. A little more of the flavor of the Old West is disappearing.

The Wagon Yard

The Wagon Yard Saloon on Bell Road in Phoenix, Arizona

We’ve been moving from one loft to another today and aren’t feeling like cooking at home nor are we interested in going somewhere nice so, after avoiding this place for so long, we decided this was the night we’d finally dip into the Wagon Yard Saloon. We’d been enticed a few times by their sign out front for breakfast starting at $2.99 but it was the .55 cent wings we were after tonight. Besides the shock of pulling up with our Prius being the only non-pickup truck parked here, we actually fell in love with this old iconic joint.

Tal National Live at The MIM

Tal National Live at The MIM in Phoenix, Arizona

Caroline and I were at The Musical Instrument Museum this evening to see Tal National. Not only do we feel great about supporting the international artists who have the opportunity to pass through Phoenix, but we also hope we are encouraging The MIM to bring us more artists from around the world. During the last song, the band invited a bunch of people on stage to dance with them and while Caroline enthusiastically joined them, I failed in capturing a halfway decent photo.