HikeArizona.COM

Don't you just chuckle when people back East (or wherever) think that's all Arizona is?

That's all I thought it was till I moved out here >< Boy was I wrong

I love the "it's awfully green for a desert" comments.

In 1986 moving from Oklahoma we stopped in Phoenix. It was 118 degrees upon arrival. I recall jumping in the pool at the motel and jumping right back out it was so friggen hot. After a week of looking around we decided to get the heck outta dodge. On to Santa Cruz for two wonderfull weeks. My dad couldn't find a job so it was on back to the dust bowl in the desert. I was totally bummed. A couple years later I finally got to spend a full summer in California. While it was an experience I would never trade I just didn't have a clue what Arizona has to offer!

There were guys in the service that thought we still had wagons and hostile bands of Indians running around here, I kid you not. One guy in Iraq kept saying "You must be used to this" when referring to sand upon sand and the 130F weather...knuckleheads.

When I tell people from outta state that I'm from Flagstaff, Arizona, they say "You must like that 100 degree heat!" They look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them that the hottest it gets in summer is 85 and we average 100 inches of snow in the winter.

hippiepunkpirate wrote:we average 100 inches of snow in the winter.

One of my favorite stats to throw out is that Flagstaff gets more snow annually than Buffalo, NY. Nobody believes it.

chumley wrote:

hippiepunkpirate wrote:we average 100 inches of snow in the winter.

One of my favorite stats to throw out is that Flagstaff gets more snow annually than Buffalo, NY. Nobody believes it.

Gets more snow than where I grew up in Northern WI too. Less cold though.

I like to perpetuate the myth when I travel. I tell folks is a miserable sand pit full of nothing but cactus and cow skulls and that you sweat even in the comfort of your own home (that's not as much of a lie since I do). I've even been known to debunk the "but it's a dry heat" myth when people throw that bs at me. I do what I can to help slow the human exodus...

writelots wrote:I like to perpetuate the myth when I travel. I tell folks is a miserable sand pit full of nothing but cactus and cow skulls and that you sweat even in the comfort of your own home (that's not as much of a lie since I do). I've even been known to debunk the "but it's a dry heat" myth when people throw that bs at me. I do what I can to help slow the human exodus...

I owe you a drink or something. Years back there was a bumper sticker going around that read: "Leaving Tucson? ...Take a friend!"

Jeff MacE wrote:I owe you a drink or something. Years back there was a bumper sticker going around that read: "Leaving Tucson? ...Take a friend!"

On the old railroad gate going north on San Francisco Street somebody put a sticker that read "Have you been rude to a tourist today?" Too bad the city put it a new, shiny, sticker-free railroad gate...

hippiepunkpirate wrote:

Jeff MacE wrote:I owe you a drink or something. Years back there was a bumper sticker going around that read: "Leaving Tucson? ...Take a friend!"

On the old railroad gate going north on San Francisco Street somebody put a sticker that read "Have you been rude to a tourist today?" Too bad the city put it a new, shiny, sticker-free railroad gate...

While I agree with the sentiment, I don't think Flagstaff would exist without tourism. I mean, NAU, Coconino County, and Walmart can only employ a limited number of people.

Its a love-hate relationship with the tourists

chumley wrote:

hippiepunkpirate wrote:

Jeff MacE wrote:I owe you a drink or something. Years back there was a bumper sticker going around that read: "Leaving Tucson? ...Take a friend!"

On the old railroad gate going north on San Francisco Street somebody put a sticker that read "Have you been rude to a tourist today?" Too bad the city put it a new, shiny, sticker-free railroad gate...

While I agree with the sentiment, I don't think Flagstaff would exist without tourism. I mean, NAU, Coconino County, and Walmart can only employ a limited number of people.

That's a very sad truth...but it's fun to joke about, anyway!!

hippiepunkpirate wrote:Its a love-hate relationship with the tourists

Yep, growing up in a tourist area I have to say this is 100% true... I'd still be happier without just tourists and without the growth.

hippiepunkpirate wrote:Its a love-hate relationship with the tourists

I know that feeling too well...

They'll be bringing a lot of $$ into my local economy here in the next month with the Rodeo, Gem Show, and that golf thing hey do every year. As long as they have health insurance and leave after they're done...

Jeff MacE wrote:As long as they have health insurance and leave after they're done...

Yeah, instead of buying a poorly built house on half-an-acre of previously pristine desert habitat, living in it for three months out of the year, and bitching up a storm while they're here about the poor quality of the roads, "high" property taxes and how their home town is so much cleaner and prettier. Seriously.

Maybe there should be a mandatory desert life appreciation course that goes with each and every snowbird license...

writelots wrote:

Jeff MacE wrote:As long as they have health insurance and leave after they're done...

Yeah, instead of buying a poorly built house on half-an-acre of previously pristine desert habitat, living in it for three months out of the year, and bitching up a storm while they're here about the poor quality of the roads, "high" property taxes and how their home town is so much cleaner and prettier. Seriously.

Maybe there should be a mandatory desert life appreciation course that goes with each and every snowbird license...

The funny thing is this is IDENTICAL to the habits and complaints of the folk coming into the Northern Wisconsin woods for their 'summer homes'


thank you for your money, now go home

dysfunction wrote:thank you for your money, now go home

You bet! Don't expect an apology, either
If it's any consolation, the locals in Santa Fe are 1,000x worse.

writelots wrote:instead of buying a poorly built house on half-an-acre of previously pristine desert habitat

Don't get me started on senseless, cookie-cutter construction and clearing swathes of desert...I'll go all day and not get any work done...