Community Chat

[azterry!]

On 7/27/2014 ROMARY said:

Asterry: Wow, I've learned a lot from you! Sixth largest city.......wow. 'Goes to show' all of the things that we (well, I) don't know about re: the U.S.

[Lotus]

I know there are ""non"" flat regions in AZ.....my cousin lives there and I've seen some gorgeous landscape.

I was referring to the picture posted above......it's flat. LOL

[jeanlake]

My daughter lives in Phoenix -- big change from growing up in Kansas City, Missouri. Her family has an active life there - they don't miss the Midwest Winters -- but do miss the green, rolling hills. I love visiting Sedona. I realize it's the 6th largest city when I'm in traffic at the wrong hour! That photo is amazing

[Marienkaefer2]

On 7/27/2014 Amaly said:

On 7/27/2014 azterry! said:

Flat? LOL!

I was born in flat country--the midwest. This is the furthest thing from flat.

It's also pretty green in the Phx area, Amaly. Many people have grass and there are lots and lots of trees. The flowers in the spring and winter seasons are breathtaking. I think people who have never been here have a notion that we still live on dirt roads with horses walking through town.

Phoenix is the 6th largest city in the USA. The metro area covers 2,000 square miles. We are located in the Sonoran desert which is one of the wettest and greenest deserts in N. America.

Here is a picture of the largest municipal park in N. America which is actually in the Phoenix city limits--South Mountain Park

Yes, I have been there Terry & saw nothing like your picture. It was like rukiddingme's picture. Dirt, brown & cactus. We visit a friend who builds custom pools there.

That picture is pretty, but it only looks like that for a short period in the spring, and in years where's there's.been some good rainfall in the winter and spring.

I grew up in AZ; my.parents first moved there in the 1960s. My sis still lives in PHX. It's mostly not green, except for the golf courses.

However, the desert has its own beauty.

[FlowershopGirl]

On a few occasions I've been to Arizona and I think its beautiful. Our California desert should ever be so pretty! Our desert is gray or white and dry as a bone. Arizona has some beautiful desert country all over. I especially love the Bisbee area. Lots of hills and not flat at all. My MIL has a friend who lives in Carefree and we've been there for the Indian Market and it really isn't flat either. I also love Sedona and have been toying with the idea of living there too.

[Azcowgirl]

I love living in the AZ. Desert, most certainly not flat, and anything grows like crazy here if you water it. I love the spectacular thunder and lightening storms we get, and how it smells after a storm (:

[123SuzyQ123]

I was driving on I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson last year. We had just moved out here from an area that got storms, hurricanes, some sleet and some snow, and I was accustomed to driving in those things, but had never driven in dust storms!!!

We had left Phoenix (my son and grandson live there) and were about halfway to Tucson and suddenly you could not see an inch in front of the front of the car! I was driving and DH was "napping" - he suddenly woke up and yelled for me to pull over - well of course I was going to pull over since I could not see an inch in front of my car!! But then, you get afraid of pulling off the interstate in the very area where 3 other cars have pulled off, so you will be hitting them if you pull off! I really had seconds to decide where to pull off. It was total "brown-ness" (not a word?) all around our car, you couldn't see a thing except brown dust, dirt, pebbles and leaves swirling around your car! That was the most scared I have ever been while driving!

It lasted at least 7 to 8 minutes, then when it cleared away, I found that I had pulled off about 2 feet from the back of another car that had pulled off in our same area!!!

And yes, they do cause a lot of wrecks. One near Tucson earlier this year caused a 16 car pileup with a couple of deaths --- I can't recall the exact number, but seems like at least 2 deaths. They are very dangerous.

My son lives near downtown Phoenix, and he said he sees those dust storms often.

[mewsmomtoo]

On 7/27/2014 azterry! said:

Terrier,

Your friend is wrong that few animals live in the desert. There is teeming wildlife. In my neighborhood alone there are quail, coyotes, bobcats, javalina, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels,assorted lizards, dozens of bird species and the occasional mountain lion.

Phoenix was planned with canals that carry water from the many lakes that surround us. They are mainly fed from snowmelt from the mountains. Even though we've had a dry year we are not under water restriction like California.

Yes, the area is sprawling and someone who is expecting the "wild west" would be disappointed. There are some areas that are densely built with tract home after tract home. I happen to like the fact that I can have all the amenities of urban living and within a few miles also have beautiful desert landscapes.

Amaly,

The park I showed you is right smack in the middle of the city. It would be hard to miss seeing South Mountain.

Have to agree with you AZTerry

Hi Terrier, My mom was born and raised in Germany and her side of the family is still there. We have had them out to visit here in the Phoenix area and you are right about their obsession with the American West. My cousins even took a bus trip across the US that took them through Wyoming and Montana and they saw TX and NM.

They enjoyed Phoenix very much but my parents at that time lived way out of town (12 mi. to nearest grocery store) so the desert around them was beautiful, there were coyotes trotting by, bobcats, quail, tiny chipmunk-like cuties, way too many snakes and scorpions, lots of birds and even bats. You could see the stars so clearly.

Did you know there was a German POW camp in Phoenix during WWII? It was in Papago Park, near Tempe. I don't remember many details about it except that a small group of them had gotten hold of a map that showed the Salt River and planned an escape that was successful until they got to the river and realized it was dry and they weren't going to float away to anywhere.

I think several of them were caught or let themselves be caught right away, but one remained on the loose for quite some time and I believe at least one if not several prisoners ended up settling in the Valley. I don't definitely remember if they returned to Germany and then came back, but I think that is what happened.

I love the desert, I don't particularly love the Valley as much as I used to although if I could be a snowbird I think I would love it more. It has changed SO MUCH since my first visit almost 40 years ago, but that is true of everywhere. I know someone said people think we in the Valley have dirt roads and ride horses, but when I first came here, Phoenix was not all that far from that. Arizona was the last of the lower 48, admitted in 1912 along with New Mexico.

We have grown as a city and a metro area since then. I love all of our new freeways, but I miss seeing Camelback mountain. It used to dominate the landscape, but it no longer does because of the elevation and positioning of the freeways. Sadly, one of the very last 2 story adobe buildings was torn down recently to make room for an expanded intersection in the East Valley.

Anyway, the desert itself is full of life (did you know saguaro cactuses don't grow arms until they are approx. 70 years old!) and it has its own stark beauty. Here are pics of my favorite mountains in the Phoenix area:

Camelback Mountain

Superstition Mountains (home of the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine - people still go looking for this gold mine and, sadly, some die)

[Gooday]

I live in an area that is as flat as flat can be - in Pinal County (the city of Florence - yes, where they carry out executions). We hop on U.S. 60 and in 20 minutes we at the Superstition Mountains. We have plenty of wildlife and when the time comes that we become permanent residents of Az., we will get in the car and head up towards the White Mountains for the summer months.

[Rooney1]

On 7/26/2014 RUKIDDINGME said:

On 7/26/2014 occasional rain said:

I couldn't live in a place that is so flat, like living on a game board.

Not flat, there are mountains all around us.

AZ Topo Map - We aren't very flat at all. I have cousin's think that AZ is nothing but sand and snakes. I live at 7,200 feet. Friends that have come an visited over the years are always shocked at the geographical diversity of AZ.