Tuesday, May 7, 2013

5 Things I Love About Arizona

I purposely left yesterday's post about Sammy's visit just to photos. All of the photos were from her camera phone, and except for 2 of them, they were all taken by her. It was really fun to see what she thought was photo worthy.

One thing that was really exciting for her was the saguaro cactus. She loved seeing them everywhere. It was so fun that we could drive from the Sonoran Desert up to the forest where we live and during the trip you can see all the different ecosystems along the way. It blew Sam away!

Thinking about loving this aspect of Arizona, I started thinking about other things I love about Arizona. It just happened to fit in perfectly with Keeping up with Kelsey's "The Good Life" linkup topic this week.

 
Five Things I Love About Arizona:

1. Ecological Diversity. Samantha's reaction to the change just in a 2 hour drive was similar to mine the first time I drove down I-17 to Phoenix. In Phoenix you have dry, hot desert complete with giant saguaros, cholla, cactus wrens, rattlesnakes, and gila monsters. Just north of the Phoenix Metropolitan area is the high desert, then the Mogollon Rim, and up to the mountains and forests of Colorado Plateau, where we live. Northern Arizona is home to the largest contiguous stand of Ponderosa Pine in the world and we look out our window to the tallest point in all of Arizona.

2. Recreation. This state is full of recreation opportunities. Arizona has over 50 wilderness areas and over 1/4 of the total land is considered to be forested. Hiking, biking, rock climbing, backpacking, and camping are all possible within an hour of where we live. There are lakes everywhere for fishing and boating. Lots of rivers for tubing. There are so many outlets of recreation all over the state.

3. Anthropology. Plain and simple, Arizona is an anthropological gem. It is great knowing you are surrounded by so much history.

4. Community. This one is specific to Flagstaff, but our community is great. Even though the total land  is 64 square miles, our total population is approximately 65,500 people. That is a lot of land but not a lot of people. By comparison, the town I grew up in California has a population of 99,000 in an area that is only 27 square miles. There is definitely a small town atmosphere and sense of community.

5. Climate. One of the 5 "C's" of Arizona economy! This is another one that pertains mostly to Flagstaff. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area our weather was hot and humid in the summer and cold and rainy in the winter. In Arizona, is a dry and arid environment. One of reasons I really love the climate is my oily complexion. Since moving here (most of) my acne cleared up, and my hair got really healthy. In Flagstaff, it is sunny all the time. Even during winter snow storms and summer monsoons, the storm comes in and does its thing and then the clouds move on. It is always beautiful!

During Sammy's visit we were able to share all of these aspects with her. Her visit was short so she didn't get the full experience but we did fill our days with awesomeness! I am so glad she came to visit and even more excited that she had a lot of fun. I cannot wait until the next time she'll get to visit us. Hopefully, by then we'll be in small house so that she doesn't have to sleep on our living room futon.

Interested in learning more fun and fascinating facts about Arizona? Click here for 100 of them complied for the Arizona Centennial this past year.

5 comments:

Caitlin A. said...

I really enjoyed my time in Arizona! The only thing that makes me sad is the crazy politics - Joe Arpaio, the governor who wants to racially profile people of Latin-American descent, etc. I really hope that changes for the state, because it is a neat place to be for sure.

Ashley Armstrong said...

Our governor is Jan Brewer, she's a whole other can of worms. Thankfully, Arpaio is only the sheriff for the Maricopa county. It has only been the last few years that he has become so crazy with some of his policies, especially pertaining to immigration. I used to be in favor of some of his stances, like his work with the jails and treating criminals like criminals, but now he is just a nut job.

Ashley Armstrong said...

Thanks! I don't do a lot of linkups but this week's topic was right up my ally. I really liked your post as well. Is it sad that I knew all of these things off the top of my head? No google necessary! I like knowing random things. I think it comes from my experience in retail and I like being able to answer weird questions.

Caitlin A. said...

He's crazy, and none of his practices have been shown to actually work toward reducing recidivism. just fulfills his (and our) desire for "retribution" against criminals. A friend of ours had a friend in one of his prisons and he said that people just flat out die from the heat all the time. They may have committed a crime but they're still people, you know? Gah! Sorry for the soapbox :)

Ashley Armstrong said...

Oh yea definitely! I really don't think feeding people rotten food or keeping people in non air conditioned tents in the desert where it gets past 110 regularly is okay. That is just ludicrous. My favor was more with not allowing inmates to get extras or being fed meals that are better than what we eat for dinner sometimes. Cover dietary needs but don't go beyond that. I don't think that inmates deserve dessert.

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