Flynn and Ollie are being welcomed into 2023 with a blustery gray day here in Benson, AZ. Football is on the television, laptops are in laps, cat is snoozing on his jungle-gym. Frankly, it’s a great first day of the year.
Various routine touristy things have been accomplished since the arrival in Benson. First stop was San Pedro House Riparian NCA for a little hike. There is just about everything here, including Globally Important Birds (Flynn loves the attention). The easy hike included stream-front, desert, cottonwood groves, and generally beautiful scenery. F&O saw birds and, wait for it, a rattlesnake. Now, snakes in AZ is a no-brainer, but finding one awake in late December is very unusual. This snake, yet un-named, was sound asleep on the side of the trail, having obviously eaten his fill of kangaroo rats. Naturally, he was just as startled to see a flamingo and otter as they were to see him, so he woke up and did the warning coil & rattle. So cool! Yeah, the pix is blurry cause the edit/zoom – Flynn was a safe distance away and shooting into the sun.
Next up was Saguaro NP – East. A short ‘easy’ hike was chosen, which was a mile-ish loop heading down then back up. There was signage for kids along the route, and the trail was well marked. Ollie insists the panting on the way up was due to altitude, not lack of conditioning. Sure, Flynn will buy that. Later, while stopped at a scenic viewpoint on the road, F&O were contacted by another tourist who showed them a picture of a Saguaro. She wanted to know if they had seen that cactus, the one in the photo she found on a website. THAT SPECIFIC ONE. No words.
Tourist stop number three this week: Bisbee, AZ. Ollie had wisely purchased tickets for the Copper Queen Mine tour a few days prior, so they packed up Karl with lunch and hit the road for this popular mining town. This location is exactly what one would want in a historical tour experience. Homes and businesses built on the side of mountains, steep views up, a quaint main street that was not too touristy. The local museum was well-tended, and there was oodles of night-time entertainment and seemingly quality food options (not a chain in sight). While F&O were not there for the nightlife, just the adverts alone indicated that this was a town well-loved by its residents. The only purchases made in Bisbee was from the French pastry shop where they split a delectable delight and some used paperbacks from the volunteer-run local library store. After touring the town itself, they headed to the mine for the tour. Highly recommend, and you must make reservations because it is more popular than taco Tuesday. All the tour guides are previous miners who worked at the mine when it was active. Neal, F&O’s guide, was awesome and has quite a story to tell. On their way out of town, just prior to sunset, Ollie meandered his way to Lowell, AZ , which me thinks is just one street and a made-up town name. Regardless, it was very cool with old gas stations/gas station signs and vintage cars lining the street.
On New Years Eve, Flynn and Ollie decided to head back north to Tucson and hit the casino for some real poker. There are two casinos in the city which were viable, the first they tried was closing its room for the night to host some big party happening at midnight. Ergo, they ended up at the only other game in town. Flynn had a miserable run, playing both 4/8 NLHE and 4/8 limit O8, after busting out of the tournament in the 2nd level. Bad, bad run. Fortunately, Ollie had a spectacular run, chopping up the prize pool at the final table, covering Flynn’s losses and then some. One hour before 2023 hit, they headed back to the Bebop in Benson. (East Tucson at midnight on NYE just seemed to be tempting fate). Both the flamingo and otter were sound asleep by midnight.
rabbit rabbit
This brings us, dear reader, to the here and now. Football and writing. It is windy out there today and smells of rain so it seems like a perfect day to stay inside and snack on some pears.
Flynn and Ollie wish y’all a happy, healthy, and peaceful 2023. We are ALL Globally Important Birds.
Fin
Flynn
excellent