1997 Arizona: Desert

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1997 Arizona: Desert

Visiting the Arizona desert is its own reward. There's something about the clean air, the pure lines, the minimalist esthetic. The sparse desert life, colorful and spartan both.

Later, and with a different digital camera, I took some more photos during a drive in the desert:

There are retirement communities and small towns scattered everywhere in Arizona, especially near the major highways, where it's easy to transport goods and services to the barely-mobile.

From the road one can frequently see desert washes, or aroyyo, which, when it rains, transform from dry trenches to raging rivers in minutes. Some of these aroyyo are a hundred feet wide, usually in Tucson, where water control is far more important than using a bit of real estate. It's funny to drive on bridges which go over dry aroyyo, but during the rainy season the money is well spent.

There's nothing quite like a rainbow on the flat desert. This is a picture taken from inside a rental car. You can see the raindrops on the windshield (windscreen for you British readers). It seems to me that the desert rainbow is long in coming and long in staying, then gradually fading away. It might have something to do with big weather and few obstructions.

And this is how days end in the desert. Sunsets can be quite distracting at the best of times, but moreso (for me at least) when I'm travelling at high speed on a flat desert. The sky becomes streaky with all colors of the outdoor palette, then a deep azure covers everything, and then the stars poke out. Then the pleasant adventure of nighttime driving takes over. The times I've been in Arizona the weather has been nice, and driving with the roof down in warm climes is delightful.

(These photos were taken on 1 August 1997.)

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