Happy 100th, Arizona!

[Spookymufu]

Spooky- I can't fault you for not liking Arizona. It's not for everyone! =)

I actually grew up in S. Cal and Az is very similar to it in a lot of ways, desert, hot and rude people and drivers, of course I came to Az from Salt lake and I was used to the very religious Mormon people who are very nice and treat you with respect. Maybe it was culture shock, but it was a lot like S. Cal....

[Murfreesboro]

I spent a few hours in Salt Lake City many years ago, during a layover on a bus trip I was taking out West. I found the people there very polite and friendly, too. The bus station was near Temple Square, and I wanted to see the area, but it was the middle of the night and I was traveling alone (I was 24). Close onto dawn, I decided to risk it. There were a few people up and about, and they were all so nice to me. I wasn't frightened at all, and I saw the sun rise over the Temple there. Very memorable to me.

I have been through Arizona several times on my to & from Southern Cal, where I have relatives. Arizona's desert is very beautiful, IMO.

[Spookymufu]

Murf, yes, the Temple is beautiful, you really need to go back and see it during Christmas, all lit up and with the snow around it and the handsome carriages in the streets, it's memorable!

[Li H'Sen Chang]

Arizona has more transplated people than natives so it will take a generation to adjust and then everything will be more friendly.

[NeverMore]

Ode to Arizona


The Devil wanted a place on earth.
Sort of a summer home:
A place to spend his vacation
Whenever he wanted to roam.

So he picked out Arizona.
A place both wretched and rough.
Here the climate was to his liking
And the cowboys were hardened and tough.

He dried up the streams in the canyons
and ordered no rain to fall:
He dried up the lakes in the valleys,
Then baked and scorched it all.

Then over his barren desert
He transplanted shrubs from Hell.
The cactus, thistle and prickly pear --
The climate suited them well.

Now, the home was much to his liking.
But animal life, he had none:
So he created crawling creatures
That all mankind would shun.

First he made the rattlesnake.
With its forked poisonous tongue:
Taught it to strike and rattle
And how to swallow its young.

Then he made Scorpions and Lizards
And the ugly old Horned Toad.
He placed spiders of every description
Under rocks by the side of the road.

Then he ordered the sun to shine hotter.
Hotter and hotter still.
Until even the cactus wilted
And the old Horned Toad looked ill.

Then he gazed on his earthly kingdom.
As any creator would:
He chuckled a little up his sleeve
And admitted that it was good.

'Twas summer now and Satan lay
By a prickly pear to rest.
The sweat rolled off his wearthy brow.
So he took off his coat and vest.

"By Golly," he finally panted
"I did my job too well.
I'm going back where I came from
Arizona is hotter than Hell!"

[Murfreesboro]

Did you write that, Nevermore? I love it.

[Spookymufu]

[Pumpkin56]

Nevermore's list totally applies to Dallas in the summer as well. Hotter than Hell, but hey, it's home

[NeverMore]

Did you write that, Nevermore? I love it.

Nah. I'm not that clever. Found it online.

[Pumpkin_Man]

The thing is, I was actualy in Arizona in the Summer of 99. In fact, it was July to be exact, and I foundit quite pleasant. I was on a motorcycle, too. Not an air conditioned car, and I never noticed it being that hot at all. Perhaps I was lucky, but I really loved Arizona in the Summer time. I drove across Arizona on old Route 66. I even made a side trip down route 666. It was a barel of fun. The only time I was actualy very hot and uncomfortable was when I was driving through Oklahoma. It was 112 degrees, according to the temperature reading on a local bank, the street I was on was newly paved. The heat was radiating off the pavement, from the sun and from my bike's engine. I started seeing spots, so I pulled into a local restaurant for a burger and a huge glass of ice water. The same thing happened to me in Joliet Illinois. I was on the bike. I was on Jefforson Street. The asphalt pavement was newly laid. It was 96 degrees and very humid. The heat from sun, asphalt and my scoot's engine again had me seeing spots. The Matr ' d of the restaurant I walked into wanted to call an ambulance.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Humidity makes a huge difference. When our family vacationed in NE New Mexico, back in '01, the temps were supposed to be in the 90s. However, we felt as if they were in the 70s, because we were used to the humidity of TN, and the climate is very dry in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Arid heat is very, very different from humid heat.

As newlyweds my husband & I lived in central TX. That area is surprisingly humid. The temp would top 110, 115 every single day in the summer. At night it would fall back into the 80s, and the 80s would feel amazingly cool. One thing I disliked about that climate was the way I couldn't get myself dry after a shower. I would pop out in sweat before I could dry myself.

[jadewik]

My response to the Ode:

"Men grieve [the devil] so with the days of their lamenting, [he] even hate[s] to plague them with [his] torments."

AND

"Glib tongues frill up their hash of knowledge
for mankind in polished speeches
that are no more than vaporous winds
rustling the fallen leaves in autumn."

[Pumpkin_Man]

In 1996, there was a MAJOR heat wave during the month of July. It got up to 98 degrees for something like 10 or 12 days, and close to 700 people actualy died because of it. IT was exactly what you pointed out, Murf. It was the humidity that really made all the difference. I was riding through a construction zone, and it was exactly like my experience in Oklahoma. I started seeing spots, the heat was comming from the pavement, sun and engine, and I had to pull over and drink a glass of ice water.

Mike

[jadewik]

In 1996, there was a MAJOR heat wave during the month of July. It got up to 98 degrees for something like 10 or 12 days, and close to 700 people actualy died because of it.

... the second part isn't funny, but using the words "major heat wave" with a double digit number for temperature made me chuckle. Of course, there is probably a high humidity there, which would make it feel hotter than it actually is... which is why +110*F is tolerable in the desert.

Unfortunately, people who aren't used to such high temperatures don't drink enough water and they don't know to stay indoors or in the shade. Every year in Phoenix, when I still lived there, the news would have a story in the summer about someone dying from heat exposure.

Remember to drink lots of water! Stay indoors!

[Spookymufu]

In 1996, there was a MAJOR heat wave during the month of July. It got up to 98 degrees for something like 10 or 12 days

Mike

Hahaha, 98, you'd never make it south of Kansas......