The Weather - Fall, Winter, Spring
Or should I say lack of weather? Aside from the occasional dust storm or furtive sprinkle of rain in the night, every day in Phoenix is warm and dry. No need to check the Weather Channel or even stick your head out the window. If it's getting close to winter, you might want to take a jacket in the evening, but otherwise the forecast is great. When we left Phoenix, we had initially planned to camp wherever we could along the way. However, those plans quickly changed when we hit New Mexico and realized that not everywhere is as warm and cozy as the Valley of the Sun. Other places are, in fact, incredibly cold and windy. And also covered in snow. So we nixed the camping, but we did stop and see White Sands National Monument and Carlsbad Caverns. Then, after we finally drove all the way to Louisiana, we found out that this is the wettest December they've had in, like, maybe ever? Seriously, why won't it stop raining?? I could use some desert sun right about now.
Cheap movie theaters
Who has money these days? Not I. Certainly not enough to spend at the local megaplex. And how many of those movies are really worth it anyway? Not to worry - if you wait a few weeks, that film that you thought looked pretty good but you didn't want to shill out $10 for will probably have a second run down at Pollack Tempe Cinemas for only $3! $2 if you manage to go on a Tuesday! Then again, if you really just can't wait, load up the car with all the snacks you can carry and drive on over to the Scottsdale West Wind Drive-In. A double feature every night for only $6.25, and only $4.25 on Tuesdays! What's so special about Tuesdays around these parts, I don't know, but I do know it'll probably be awhile before I get a movie deal that good again.
Hiking
Arizona was made for hiking. In my 10 months there, I didn't even begin to scratch the surface of the infinite amount of trails weaving across every part of the state. Shawn and I topped a couple of peaks right in the heart of Phoenix, but didn't even have time to work our way to the massive mountain park right in our back yard. Not to mention the labyrinth of trails through the Superstition Mountains, just east of the city, or the Mogollon Rim to the north. Somehow we made it to the top of Humphrey's Peak, but that's just one mountain (and one trail) in all of the San Francisco Peaks around Flagstaff. And don't even get me started on the Grand Canyon ...
The Desert
The Sonoran Desert, anyway. I don't know about other deserts, but Sonora is a pretty cool place. There are a lot of plants and animals there, that don't live anywhere else in the world, like gila monsters, coatimundi, and of course the saguaro cactus, plus a ton of others that you won't see on the East coast. The landscapes are amazing, and despite how brown everything may look most of the year, in the spring everything blooms in awesome color.
Space Mountain
There aren't really any significant landmarks in Phoenix ... except for Space Mountain. A red, blinking mass of radio and television towers set high atop a ridge that can be seen from nearly anywhere in the city. I don't know what it's really called (or if it has a name at all), but Shawn and I were quick to realize that these eerie towers were not of this world, and Space Mountain was born. We were lucky enough to live in the neighborhood closest to the beacon, and it was always a welcome sight, guiding us home from wherever we might stray. I shall truly miss its unearthly warm, glowing, warming glow.
No comments:
Post a Comment