As seen from Wickenburg.
Wickenburg is in the northern Sonoran desert, at an elevation of around 2000-2400 feet. It’s cooler here than in Phoenix, but not nearly as cold as it is in higher elevations.
Once in a while, in the winter, a wet cold front will come through. It’ll be cloudy, with low clouds that make the distant mountains impossible to see. It might rain on us or maybe even snow a tiny bit. But it’s rarely cold enough for any snow to accumulate or even stick.
What’s magic, though, is when the clouds lift or clear and the mountains to the north are covered with snow.
That’s what this photo, which was taken from Wickenburg Airport, shows. The snow-covered mountains are the Weaver Mountains, about 15 miles north. Although I can’t remember exactly when I took this photo, I do remember that the snow remained up there for us to see for a few days. Mike and I even drove up to Yarnell, in the mountains there, to see it close hand. It had been plowed to the middle of the road — an odd thing they do in Arizona small towns. Mike made a snowball and threw it at the truck.
I miss snow — but only a tiny bit. I’m looking forward to seeing it firsthand this winter at our Howard Mesa camp. But I’ll rest easy with the thought that all it takes is a drive back down to Wickenburg to return to mild winters.
Let me take a moment to describe this landing zone, since it’s the best one I ever had for an event. First of all, it’s a helipad. That means it’s laid out and designed specifically for helicopter traffic. It’s 60 x 60 feet and concrete. It’s surrounded by gravel, so there’s no dust. That’s surrounded by a 3-foot high chain link fence that has only two gates — both on the same side. The fence made crowd control very easy — no one gets through the fence unescorted. Beyond that is a parking lot that was blocked off, the firehouse (a one-story metal building with a wind sock on top), and a lot soon to be occupied by a longtime Wickenburg business that is moving from Wickenburg to Congress. Behind the helipad are some palo verde and mesquite trees — perhaps 10 feet tall and beyond them is the railroad tracks for the Santa Fe railroad. No wires near enough to matter. My approach was over some empty land east of the railroad tracks, then over the tracks and onto the pad. My departure was over the tracks and up some more empty land, then over the tracks again to start the tour. On the one time a train was moving through, I made a slow approach and landed behind the last car after it had passed. Everything — including its location — was perfect for the event.
A few months ago, I started thinking about how cool it would be to have a computer conference here in Wickenburg, at my favorite guest ranch: 
So rather than give up the whole thing, I decided to restructure the event. I shortened it from five days to four. I cut the speakers from five to one. I cut the sessions from 12 to just two and made them more discussion based, giving all the participants a chance to share what they knew and ask everyone questions. I arranged the activities so all participants could go together, giving everyone an opportunity to network like crazy outside the meeting rooms. Then, with greatly reduced costs, I recalculated the per-person cost. The numbers I came up with were certainly within reason for a 4-day, all inclusive weekend at a luxury dude ranch.
Mac Cowboys is a mini-vacation first: a four-day, three-night stay with luxury accommodations at a ranch that can only accommodate about a hundred and fifty people at once. You get yourself to Phoenix Sky Harbor airport or Wickenburg and just about everything else is paid for — ground transportation to and from the ranch, hotel room, three meals a day, horseback riding, golf, Jeep tour, helicopter tour, swimming, tennis, nature hikes — all kinds of activities. There’s even free wi-fi access in certain hotspots throughout the ranch. All you pay for is alcoholic beverages and extras like skeet shooting or golf cart or club rental.
I’m sitting on a plastic chair on the front patio of a ground-floor apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, watching four men wash the apartment building across the street. It looks to be a 24-story building and, like most of the buildings in this area, it’s got a steel and glass facade. The four men are sitting on separate wooden seats — kind of like the seats you’d find on a swing set — hanging from ropes on top of the building, about four stories down. Two of them have long hoses and the other two have brushes on long poles and plastic pails. They’re all wearing shorts and sneakers and are doing a lot of bouncing off the walls as they move back and forth and down.
In the meantime, I’m enjoying my non-working hours in a clean, safe, and rather beautiful Canadian city. The weather is beautiful, in the mid 70s and mostly sunny, although a marine layer of clouds seems to be drifting in as I type this. My hotel and the office/apartment I’m working at are right on the water near Stanley Park. The view from my hotel room at the Westin is full of boats and seaplanes and healthy people strolling the waterfront.