3.31.2008

Attention: Arizona is a desert!


As you know, I fled Chicago for Arizona for a fortnight. But there's no way to fully recount my journey, both because it would bore you and because I already can't remember what I did. So let me summarize it with this statement: Cancer sucks. Sunshine rules.

No, I do not have cancer. I also do not have sunshine - at least not the kind of sunshine that embraces 85-degree winds, allowing me to prance outside with nary a hat or jacket. I'm talking flip-flops, baby! Instead, I have the kind of sunshine that is generally coated with clouds and frigid winds. In other words, it's highly likely that Arizona and Illinois are actually on different planets. I would encourage further study on this topic, but who wants higher taxes?

So it's kind of a bummer to be back to regular life. I miss my parents. I miss my "Fabulous" friends. I miss flip-flops.

And I really have to give Arizona credit. Growing up I liked to bag on it, mostly because it didn't have an ocean, which is still true . However, the weather (8 months out of the year), the infrastructure and the shopping/eating are divine. Granted, it is a desert, something I didn't believe as a kid. I'd think, "Sure, it was once a desert, but now it looks like anywhere else." Um, no. It's very brown and very cactus-dense. Most front lawns have rocks instead of grass. And while there are definitely less scarve-wearing wooden coyotes now than a few years back, there's still an epidemic of bolo ties, typically worn by Midwestern transplants. But overall, it's a nice place.

That's about it.

Any questions?

18 comments:

steph said...

oh, mrs. dub, it's so nice to have you back. i, too, doubted that arizona was a real desert... that is to say, that i didn't believe that it was really much different than anywhere else (except the weather).

then i moved to new york, and all of the sudden, i felt like i moved home to nebraska. now, the northeast really looks quite different from the midwest, so i didn't understand how i kept lumping the two together... then i figured it out -- the southwest has clouded my view; nowhere else has houses or "lawns" that look like arizona's versions... there are about four states that lack excess siding or brick, az being one of them. there are about four states where grass doesn't reign as the supreme lawn of choice. oh, and did i mention that ridiculous amount of "brick" walls az boasts? (are those called bricks?) many places don't separate lawns via the tallest walls imaginable (some places, at least in lincoln, don't have walls at all!) and opt instead for short chain linked fences... woah.

now, in new york, i long for a trip to my midwestern hometown, which is a shocker b/c (like arizona) i have bagged on it my whole life. while i continue to bag on az (minus the weather and fam and friends), nebraska seems much cooler than it once did (though i still could never live there).

sorry for the novel... i've just missed you so.

LCM said...

Hey You're back! You are right, cancer sucks. But sunshine is awesome. We traded our wet and gloomy days in Portland Oregon for some heat and sun in Houston, Texas. It has done a world of good for our little cancer family.

Laurel said...

Glad you are back!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for reminding me of how great it is to live here! So glad that you had a great trip! Welcome back!

Alifinale said...

It may be a desert, but I love the desert. I think most that live there for a while and go back realize that the desert is beautiful - at least that is how I feel. Sorry you had to stash your flip flops away for another few months.

Jen said...

Ha ha. We live in southern Utah, and we had to throw away large pieces of coyote yard art, including a bird bath held up by a howling coyote, when we bought our house. I love our weather (this year, at least, last year Mother Nature decided to skip spring and go from freezing cold to scorcher in about a week).

You're back. Hooray!

Angy said...

welcome back mrs. dub!! sorry i missed you while you were back home... but i did get to see lil miss dub! she's so precious! and she's getting so big! and where'd all that hair come from?! lol.

glad to have you back... now if only we could keep you guys in az... :P

melissa said...

i have a beach nearby and am dying to trade it for arizona's desert and more importantly it's beautiful infrastructure! who would have thought infrastructure would be so important?

i love arizona!!!!

Chellie said...

Arizona is AWESOME-- desert and all. There is no other place I'd rather be!

Leisha Mareth said...

Don't forget adobe houses...we saw lots of those driving through. And, yep, it is a windy, dry desert if ever I saw one!

Welcome back to blog0land!

Lindsey from The R House said...

yes.

i do have one question.

when do we get to be neighbors?

sara said...

I've had that same not-a-desert misconception my whole life too. Whenever we visit the in-laws in Utah I always admire the greenery, and there it's not nearly as green as so many other parts of the country! Oh well. I like me a good desert. And dessert.

Glad to have you back!

hilari said...

we have great sunsets too. now all we are missing is some dubs.

go boo boo said...

I still believe that people aren't supposed to live there (the truly horrendous May-October season) but it is fantastic in the winter and the shopping is fab. Glad to have you back!

Holly said...

there is good shopping there. i once came back to BYU after a two week visit to AZ with eleven pairs of new shoes.

NG said...

Welcome back!

Arizona seems nice now that I don't have to live there anymore. I'm sure my tune would change rather quickly when it hits 120 degrees in August.

Carrie said...

You're making me homesick...stop!

Joey and Megan said...

I would concur that cancer sucks. So does quadruple bypass and having your sternum removed (what my dad has been through the last few weeks). Amazing how the health problems of our parents all of a sudden make us feel grown up. Or maybe it's because I'm turning 30 in two weeks.

I always denied that AZ was a desert too. But after visiting some other places, I now understand "dry heat."

Glad you're back.