Visitor from Blogland and Serious Soul Searching

When I lived in Iowa, January was the month of the year that I held with the most disdain. It is a long, brutally cold period of time in which there is little to do but scrape windshields, jump-start your car and generally hibernate. January had no redeeming qualities.

January is now my favorite month of the year. It is usually 70 degrees here during January, the sun is almost always out and it is the time of year when we Phoenicians can get outside and enjoy ourselves. We get numerous visitors this time of year and I love it. Having visitors gives me an excuse to do the things that I love to do. I am a tourist and I love hanging out at tourist traps as well as quirky out of the way places.

As I have previously mentioned, I have become addicted to this blog thing. On Saturday my world of being a tourist collided with my world on the blog. Jim Crall is in Phoenix on business and we have been trying to find a time to meet and it hasn't been easy. Saturday, I set my sites on making the meeting happen and we finally got in touch with each other.

I phoned Jim at around 10:30...no answer - so I left a voicemail message and asked him to call me back.

At around 11:15, Jim returned my call and left me a voicemail. I would learn later that he had been out the night before to a local establishment and was feeling a little rough. I knew I was going to like him.

We finally spoke in person to one another about 20 minutes later and made arrangements to meet at 4:30. I gave him directions to the meeting place. I also mentioned that his co-worker was more than welcome to join us if he would like.

At 4:30 we met at a shopping center. about 5 miles from my house. I picked him up and we headed north toward Cave Creek/Carefree. Just a little drive out of the way, off Pima Road, is a place called Greasewood Flat. As we arrived at Greasewood Flat, I asked Jim why his co-worker declined the invitation and his answer makes me laugh still.

Apparently, this little meeting was viewed by said co-worker as "kind of creepy" because he met me on the internet. He warned Jim that he was meeting some guy that called himself a "Pink Flamingo" and went by the name of Flamingo1. I think the quote was something like, "Dude, you are going to end up out in the desert somewhere tied up with your pants around your ankles." Jim - you may correct this quote if you would like, but I think that captures the true spirit of said co-worker's comments. If you swing over to Jim's site, you can see a picture of Rob - whom I believe the quote is attributed.

When you think about it, he makes a pretty good point and frankly the same thought had crossed my mind - which is why I brought Marcus (the pool boy) as my main wingman.

In any event, we headed into this place -

Greasewood is a collection of shacks surrounding a collection of picnic table. It draws in tourists, families, bikers and....us.

I guess it is a "bar" using the term very loosely. But it is a bar without walls (mostly).

At night, they light the fire pits; you can purchase marshmallows to roast; they sell burgers, hotdogs, chili and such. I usually stick with a burger and beer - but the chili is fantastic.

I pulled this picture off the internet - but this is what it looks like. At this point, I was a little hesitant to pull the camera out and start snapping pictures - especially because I wasn't yet willing to be the subject of any of those photographs for public display on the blog. It was a quandary that worried me all afternoon.

Jim had a camera with him and I had a camera with me. How was I going to avoid the loss of my anonymity?

Jim, Marquez (the Pool Boy) and I sat here at Greasewood Flat and drank a few beers and ate one of the best burgers in town. I hear there are better elsewhere, but the burger here is pretty darn good. The best part is that you get to sit outside in the sun and eat your burger which makes it taste that much better.

As we sat there at our picnic table in the middle of Greasewood Flat, Jim received a phone call from his brother Dan. Dan asked to speak to me and we chatted on Jim's cell phone for about 10 minutes. My fears of being dragged into the desert to never be seen again abated very quickly.

As the sun started to set, we went to the far side of the gravel parking lot which blends into the desert; the dividing line being the point at which desert plants appeared. We hiked up a small hill into a piece of the desert to take a couple of photos. The sun was starting to set and the light was fading but we managed to take a few pictures. Jim wanted a picture standing next to a saguaro cactus. Even after living here for ten years, I am still amazed by these giant tree-like cacti.

Please enjoy the montage of photos that follow. I think the fading light adds an interesting effect to the prickly plants populating the Sonoran desert surrounding Phoenix. I have posted a sunset picture on my blog previously and have had several people comment on how beautiful it was - my secret is that I let the sun and the mountains do most of the work. There are beautiful sunsets here nightly. You just have to be somewhere to watch.

IT'S A MONTAGE...

GOTTA HAVE A MONTAGE...

After snapping a few photos in the desert, we decided to move on. We headed even further north to a micro-brew that I enjoy in Cave Creek, Arizona. It is connected to a restaurant called Crazy Ed's Satisfied Frog. The brewery portion of the operation is called the Black Mountain Brewery. The reason: it is located at the base of Black Mountain. Black Mountain Brewery is famous (or infamous) for its Cave Creek Chili Beer. It is a bottled beer that contains a little kicker - an inch and a half long jalapeno pepper. Go here to see more about the Black Mountain Brewery: Chili Beer .

As you can see from the photo, this place has ambiance. They are home of the $199.95 margarita. We actually saw someone drinking the $199.95 margarita while we were there. They were half price on Saturday night...but we stuck to the beer. They actually make a fantastic amber called Ocotillo Amber. The South of the Border Porter has a bit more zing to it. I had a few of each. Jim had a couple Frog Lights and a Black Mountain Gold. Mmmm....beer.

We also walked around the little tourist shops that ring Crazy Ed's Satisfied Frog and Jim bought a few souvenirs. I'm an old guy, so as it approached 10:00, we decided it was time to head back to town.

I knew Jim had several photos of me on his camera. I also had several photos of Jim on my camera. I had been thinking about this all night long and it seemed silly to me. I have probably half a dozen people that I know that read my blog all the time. If someone I knew stumbled across this blog by accident, it would take them roughly 5 minutes to figure out who I am. My kids are on here. Flmng1 is pictured on here several times. My life has been pretty much put out there on this thing. I may be anonymous, but I write truths about who I really am all over this thing. The only part of anonymity is what my name is and what I look like.

So after much soul searching...

here I am with Jim.

Please note that it had been a long day outside and I need a haircut (or need to cut what hair I have remaining). I am the old guy on the left.

Jim, I hope you enjoyed yourself. I had a blast. Thanks!