[Sca-cooks] OT, OOP Where to live...Hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes..

[Anne duBosc]

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Once again, Phoenix wins.  We don't have earthquakes.  True, I did "feel" the one in North LA a few years ago, but I was in a waterbed.  In the 10 + years I've been here, I've only heard of one tornado, and there were no deaths or injuries.  We DID have the remains of a Pacific Hurricane a few years back.  We got a whopping inch of rain out of that.
What we DO have are Monsoon storms, including dry thunderstorms, mud falling from the sky and the occasional Haboob (dust storms half a mile high or so). The Rio Salado occasionally floods in El Nino years.  Dumb cowboys have roadbeds going THROUGH the riverbed - without bridges.  When there is sufficient rain or snowmelt upcountry, the roads that do have bridges become packed with traffic.  You see lots of signs saying "Do not enter dip if flooded"...duh.  We even have a Stoopid Motorist Law saying that if you enter a flooded road, you get to pay for the rescue.  And a Stoopid Hiker Law: if you go hiking South Mountain, or Camelback without enough water, you get to pay for the rescue.
We also have a semi-permanent brown cloud.  Not as bad as LA, or Birmingham, or Gary, but noticeable on clear days.  I don't know of an urban area that is free from that particular blight, but Phoenix does not have a mass transit system that works, and it is not at all unusual to drive twenty or thirty miles one way to work, so we have a lot of avoidable car exhaust.
But we are culturally diverse.  A large Japanese presence, (one of the internment camps was here during WWII, and a lot of them stayed here to start over rather than return home.) We have a HUGE Hispanic population (mostly Mexican.)  We have Indian, Asian, Middle Eastern, African (small), and, of course, an enormous Native American presence.
We have Opera, Ballet, Museums, and more Theatre than you can shake a stick at.  We have Taliesen West, the Arts Commune founded by Frank LLoyd Wright.  Phoenix has long been a favorite of movie makers for our constant sunshine.  (Oh, yeah, if you've ever seen a Western, chances are the Location Shooting was done in Monument Valley, a few hundred miles North.)  And you can probably find a restaurant of any type of cuisine you can think of.  (Saw one last week that is Peruvian)
Within Driving Distance we have The Superstition Mountains, The Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Sunset Crater, The Meteor Crater, Canyon de Chelle,The Mogollon Rim, Tucumcacori and St. Xavier Del Bac, Biosphere II, Montezuma's Castle, thousands of Early American Archeological sites, (there's even a couple right downtown), The Navajo Nation, The Ute Nation, The Hopi Nation, The White Mountain Sioux Nation, Tohono O'Odham,  the Ski resorts of Northern Arizona and Utah, Flagstaff, Tombstone, Yuma, The Joshua Tree forest, and let's not forget Sedona, which is an experience unlike any other.  (Red Rocks, Slide Rock Park, Vortices, and more kooks per acre than even LA or Frisco.)
And, of course, we are right in the middle of the Sonoran Desert.  You are much more likely to have an infestation of rattlesnakes, scorpions, or tarantulas than cock roaches.  We have sajuaro, cholla, organ pipe, mesquite, palo verde, night blooming cereus, and even a few boojum trees.  You can see Road Runner, coyote, javelina, pronghorn, and Gila monster. You might even spot a mountain lion snoozing in a cactus.  Every year a few brown bears have to be escorted from populated areas.  The city boulevards are planted with Orange trees.  We definitely aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto.
Whew!
Mordonna
 Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com> wrote:
--- Billfog1 at aol.com wrote:

> Huette,
>
> I was in Key West during Tropical Storm Bob -
> does that count? :~)
>
> Although, I will point out that there is plenty
> of warning when a hurricane
> is heading our way - unlike those tornados and
> earthquakes........:~)
>
> Suzanne

There are no tornados in LA. Our climate is too
temperate. However, earthquakes only last a few
seconds, while the actual hurricane can last
days. If I recall correctly, Hurricane Andrew
lasted three days. I don't think that all of the
earthquakes that occured in the LA area for past
two centuries would total up to even one day.
Earthquakes are over before you know it and then
you can pick up the pieces. With hurricanes, you
have to hide for days before you can pick up the
pieces.

Huette



=====
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they
shall never cease to be amused.

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Lady Anne du Bosc
Known as Mordonna The Cook
Atenveldt, Atenveldt
mundanely Pat Griffin
Phoenix, AZ


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