Last night I wrote my shortest, and indisputably worst, blog post. The reason was simple, I left it to the absolute last moment, and had just finished up an evening at the open bar. If you opened yesterday’s email expecting something great, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m glad I was able to keep the streak up.
So, I’m in Phoenix, Arizona, also known as the Grand Canyon, or Baby State. The former is obvious, but it is called the Baby State as it is the latest state in the contiguous United States, joining in 1912 as the 48th state. Alaska would join later in 1959, the same year as Hawaii. Both were territories prior, with their own interesting histories. Alaska was famously purchased from the Russians in 1867, and Hawaii had been an independent kingdom up to 1893, when the Queen of Hawaii was deposed of in a US backed coup. These may be stories for another day.
When people think of Arizona, they think of the heat and the desert. Fair enough, there is plenty of that around; in 1994 the highest temperature in Arizona was recorded at 128F (53C!) and last year there were 54 days where the temperature was over 110F (43C). That’s hot.
It is February right now, so unsurprisingly, it’s a lot cooler than that. It is also surprisingly verdant out here, and there are mountains in the distance which I didn’t expect. We’re a bit out of the way, so it is car city, right now I am over looking a 2000 spot carpark, and six lanes of traffic. For lunch I walked into the mall which was 20 minutes away; it was clear no one else did that regularly. I ended up at Taco Bell, which wasn’t great, but it WAS cheap.
Overall, it has been a pleasant trip so far, and I am glad I am not here during the summer.
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