Two weeks ago we came down the Rim sunburned and smelling like campfire, and apparently that wasn’t enough, because we turned right back around. This time it was just me and Charlotte, and the forecast never budged off “rain.” So the mud run, the movie in the park, the ice cream social — the whole stacked Saturday from the planning board — quietly gave way to something better: a slow, soggy, screen-lit father-daughter weekend where the only real plan was the cabin itself.
🚗 Thursday — Straight From Work
No dawn start this time. I clocked out Thursday, loaded the truck, and we pointed north with the day already half gone. Up the Beeline, through Payson, and — since we were feeling the temperature drop already — a stop for barbecue that turned into dinner.
Rim Country BBQ and Wood-Fired Pizza, Payson — brisket, mashed potatoes, and enough leftovers to eat again once the mountain air kicked in.
Rim Country BBQ and Wood-Fired Pizza did not disappoint — good enough that we packed the leftovers along for the cooler nights ahead. By the time we rolled into the cabin, it was already raining.
🌧️ Friday — The Forecast Wins
It never really stopped. Friday morning the deck looked like this:
Friday, 6 a.m. — the forecast wasn't bluffing.
So the mud run stayed a maybe, the movie in the park stayed a maybe, and instead we spent the day doing cabin chores that had been waiting for an excuse: sorting the smart-home gear, untangling the ham radio setup, getting the cabin’s little tech corner actually organized instead of just plugged in. It’s not glamorous, but it needed doing, and rain on the roof is good sorting music.
By evening we’d had enough of our own cooking and drove to The Red Onion — usually our lunch spot up there, but tonight it pulled double duty as dinner.
Under the bobcats at The Red Onion — there's a lot going on above eye level in that dining room.
The classic straight-up-the-nose maneuver.
🐃 Saturday — Rain, Then Buffalo Bill’s
Saturday morning was more of the same weather — good for a short damp walk around the cabin and not much else.
Saturday, late morning — the mud run's competition, basically.
The rest of the day belonged to tablets, VR headsets, and the kind of unstructured cabin time that never makes the itinerary but somehow makes the trip. For dinner we tried somewhere new: Buffalo Bill’s Tavern & Museum in Show Low — half restaurant, half Old West museum, entirely built for a kid who likes both burgers and taxidermy.
Dinner at Buffalo Bill's — burger, fries, and a whole museum to explore after.
We wandered the museum side before the food came — a whole taxidermy buffalo family behind glass,
The Buffalo Family exhibit — genuinely huge in person.
display cases stacked with Old West memorabilia, Annie Oakley photos, and more buffalo figurines than one glass case should reasonably hold,
The museum half of Buffalo Bill's — Charlotte read every placard.
and, the highlight, a full-size mounted bison wearing an actual saddle that a kid could climb up next to.
She insisted this photo happen. Fair enough.
Dinner followed, menu and all.
Back at the table, menu in hand, before the food arrived.
😴 Sunday — Sleeping In, On Purpose
No mud run to wake up for, no movie start time to chase — Sunday morning we just… slept. Late. On purpose. It’s the truest kind of vacation math: subtract the plan, add the sleep-in.
Sunday, 9 a.m., still going strong.
Eventually we packed up and pointed the truck south, no complaints from either of us.
✅ How It Actually Went
- Invite GiGi and the cousins — this one turned out to be a father-daughter weekend instead, and that was its own kind of good
- Register for the mud run — rained out before it started; Charlotte was unbothered
- Movies in the park / ice cream social — both lost to the weather; the Red Onion and Buffalo Bill’s split evening duty instead
- Give pizza a fair vote in Payson — moot; barbecue at Rim Country ran the table, leftovers and all
- Cabin supplies — glow sticks stayed in the bag; tablets and VR headsets did the actual heavy lifting
- Recheck the forecast Thursday — checked, ignored, went anyway
- Tech chores — the smart-home setup and the ham radio gear finally got the attention they’d been owed
Turns out you don’t need a checklist of events to have a good weekend with your kid — you just need a cabin, some rain, and low expectations for what “planned” means.
He’ll be back — probably in two weeks, at this rate.