Red Light Cows in southeast AZ

January 7^th Benson

We never did meet them but there are quite a few signs on the smaller rural roads warning you of these marauding debauched cows. Good thing they haven’t made it into the cities.

Jan 10^th Tucson Desert Wandering

It started with a walk out the back of Justin’s Diamond J rv resort. Easy flat mini trails through a wide variety of cacti right next to the Saguaro National Park.

Chained Fruit Cholla

It can take up to 50 years before the first arm grows. This guy is OLD

Fruiting Barrel Cactus

Not content with the minis we took off on the park fence road (only good for 4X4’s or atvs) just to get some exercise. And when we saw a nice little hill we decided that the top was our destination. You can see the trail up in the background in the following photo.

3 things learned here: the trail will never be anything but broken up rocks or sand that continually move under your steps; the hill is always a lot further away than you thought; and the hill is both higher and steeper than it looked in the distance.

At the top we could just barely make out the resort (“it’s over there Honey!”)

Norene confidently followed me back to our point of origin. I confidently led her way past the resort through a horrible round pebble wash (like walking on 6 inches of marbles). 4^th thing learned: Norene was right – we should have turned left. Is this OK to say in print?

A Biosphere 2 Quickie

January 9^th

If you go outside right now to ground level you are standing on Biosphere 1. B2 is a bit smaller.

There are many Gigs of material on the interweb available so we’ll leave that for your cruising pleasure.

We spent several hours in B2 on a guided tour with a very knowledgeable guide supplied by the University of Arizona current owner of the complex. Highlights included the multiple climates, the “ocean”, and stepping inside of one of the lungs.

Here’s a look at one of the 2 lungs from outside:

We took a lot of shots here but you will be relieved to see that I only included a couple more.

So there you go – a Biosphere 2 Quickie (blog that is).

What were you expecting?

Norene stirs up trouble in Tombstone Arizona

January 5^th

Of course you go to Tombstone when you’re this close. And even though you know it’s a bit hokey and touristy you head down to the OK Corral to witness a genuine cap gun fight.

Campy and fun and certainly worth the price and time to take it in. Before the show we hit Big Nose Kate’s saloon for lunch.

Norene had her best smiley face on (pretty easy in here with lots of period décor and costumes, piano player/singer and happy patrons) ….

which must be why this guy in the black hat ended up sitting at our table.

He only has eyes for Norene

Not sure what set her off here – maybe the piano player was singing off key. Looks like they’re both a bit surprised.

Same goes for the piano player

A little bit of naughty shopping (see sign over her head) and we caught the last stage out of town to avoid the repercussions of Norene’s bad behaviour at Kate’s place (since Kate is Wyatt Earp’s gf).
 

Caught in the act

YEE HAW!!

4 letter words in Bisbee Arizona

3 January 2013

We set up for a week in a little RV camp in Benson. Although morning was a bit chilly it was sunny so we decided to head down to the former copper mining town of Bisbee. Set in the hills at over 5000’ of elevation it has become a tourist attraction due to the preservation of period buildings (early 1900’s) and having one of the hilliest town terrains possible.

Our trip down was uneventful

but as we got close we both said one of our nightmare 4 letter words – SNOW!!! Not just in the hills.

It was all over the place! Kinda felt like we overshot the target and ended up too far south – like Patagonia not Arizona. After we parked the car we said another 4 letter word – COLD!!! But we came for a walking tour of Bisbee so we took a hike around and snapped a few pictures.

 

Oh, btw, if you have to go to court in Bisbee please leave all weapons in your vehicle. The judge will feel more comfortable.

The Courthouse

  

A gentle reminder

And here’s a Christmas diorama you don’t see everyday:

A few more interesting shots of the town (an interesting side note -  many of the towns put a big town initial on one of the town hills – the “why” isn’t clear).

 Eccentricity is the norm in Bisbee – here’s the local environmentalist in his veggie oil car:

The Bicycle Brothel caught our eye as well:

After we got well chilled we dropped into Santiagos for a lovely lunch and headed into the Museum for a nice long warmup and some great history of this unusual and unique little town.

What falls on Bisbee stays in Bisbee – at least in early January. We recommend earlier or later if you want to avoid 4 letter words.

We finally head to Arizona

30 December 2012 to 1 January 2013

Those that know me will understand. I have a lot to learn. Like preconceptions about west Texas (flat), New Mexico (hilly driving) and east Arizona  (flat). All wrong.

I have proof.

We left San Antonio on Dec 30^th  stayed at a Texas rest stop for the night then drove to El Paso for Norene’s Costco fix. If you happen to come from someplace like Ontario with its wimpy 62 mph (100kmph) expressway speed limit you might enjoy this Texas sign:

That’s mph. Too bad we are in a 55 mph tortoise.

On the way Texas presented a number of impressive $5 hills:

So much for flat.

Topography starts to change as you approach New Mexico.

A short 20+ mile drive from El Paso we reached the New Mexico welcome centre – great overnighter with washrooms and wifi.

We celebrated the New Year in style – Frexnet at a rest stop in the cold dark night and off to bed. At 8pm (it’s midnight somewhere). To warm up silly. How cold? The puddle outside was frozen in the morning.

We continue the hilly New Mexico driving.

Flat as a pancake all the way to Arizona. 

Now for some great Arizona hills.

Finally in Arizona. This is just a few miles from the western New Mexico state line.