GREER, Ariz. - I grew up in a town of 83 people.
Not many can say that.
Greer, Arizona only had 83 permanent residents when I lived there as a kid and it hasn’t gotten much bigger since then.
For this week’s Everywhere A-Z I got to go back to my hometown and share my memories of the White Mountains.
We started at Sunrise Ski Resort, four hours away from Phoenix. Sunrise is the largest ski area in Arizona, with three mountains and more than 80 runs, and it’s where I learned to ski. I was on the Sunrise Ski Team for years and spent every weekend careening down the hill at top speed.
Coming back and riding the ski lift to the top, I realized just how long ago that was.
The top of Sunrise Mountain is 10,500 feet above sea level and the oxygen level is ridiculously low. Walking is just fine, but a slight incline or - God forbid - a set of stairs - is like a full blown workout. I didn’t remember having to stop and recover every few minutes...of course I was 12 at the time.
Next stop, Greer, where my parents ran a cabin rental business on a whim. I stopped by the old place, which has stopped being a business and is now a private home. When my parents had it, it was called River’s Edge Resort. Twenty years later, the owners have mostly kept the name: River’s Edge Ranch.
Greer has changed a lot and also changed very little. The businesses are mostly the same, the town itself still looks the same, but it’s still scarred from the Wallow Fire in 2011. It was the largest and most destructive wildfire in Arizona history and it almost destroyed the town. The fire scar is still there, but seven years later it’s green again and recovering.
Our last stop was Round Valley and the combined towns of Springerville and Eagar. That’s where I went to middle and high school (Go Elks) and where I got my first job in journalism.
It was called The Observer and it was the largest two county newspaper in the area. I came on as a “teen reporter," which was a position hired every year for a senior in high school. I was 16 when I was hired and quickly became the senior staff reporter and assistant editor.
It was a tiny office in an old building right next to the El Rio Theater. This theater is around 100 years old and feels like you walked back in time when you walk inside. And yes, it still shows movies.
The newspaper folded (as it seems a lot of newspapers have), but the office is still there, just like I never left.
We’re highlighting different places around the White Mountains all week long as part of Everywhere A-Z.
Tune in all week on 12 News to see more of my White Mountains.