Falling in Love with Arizona: Beat the Winter Blues

Arizona the perfect place to visit especially if, like me, you live in North Dakota and need to escape some of the cold wintry weather and recharge the batteries.

Why Arizona? Well, one trip to Arizona and you will know why. It is powerful and vast with a beauty far beyond that of which you could imagine. You cannot help but to fall in love with this wondrous state.

In the state of Arizona you will find perfect sunsets, the saguaro forests, mountain fed springs and cultures both modern and ancient.

Arizona consists of 113,000 sq miles of desert chaparral surrounded by California, Nevada, New Mexico, Mexico and Utah.

A Few Facts About The Grand Canyon State

Firstly lets take a look at a few famous Arizonans

Glen Campbell - singer

Lynda Carter - actress

Cochise - Apache chief

Alice Cooper - singer/songwriter

Wyatt Earp - marshall

Geronimo - Apache chief

Max Ernst - painter

Barry Goldwater - politician

Sandra Day O'Connor - Supreme Curt Justice

Linda Ronstadt - singer

And now, did you know?

This state leads the U.S. in the production of copper

The official fossil of Arizona is Petrified Wood that can be found in Petrified Forests of northeastern Arizona.

The official neckwear for Arizona is the bolo tie.

The state gemstone is the turquoise.

The capitol building has a roof that has so much copper that it is equal to using 4,800,000 pennies.

The Confederate flag, the Mexican flag and the Burgandy and Castililian Spanish flags have all soared over what we now know as Arizona.

The Queen of the Copper mines, Bisbee, can be found in Tombstone Canyon.

Window Rock is the capital of the Navavo Reservation

The one place in the United States where a person can stand in four states is Four Corners and these states would be Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.

Out of the states in the U.S. Arizona contains the largest percent of land that is set aside as designated Indian lands.

He State of Arizona's highest mountain is Mount Humphreys and is north of Flagstaff and rises to a height of 12,633 ft.

Multicolored corn is grown byArizona's Hopi Indians.

The oldest Indian settlement found in the U.S.is Oraibi and was founded by the Hopi

Indians.

The Grand Canyon's Marble Canyon was named for its 1000 ft thick seam.

At the Kitt Peak National Observatory in the city of Sells can be found the worlds largest collection of optical telescopes.

Arizona's Most Popular Natural Wonders

Of course, top of the list the Grand Canyon

Kartchner Caverns

Lake Powell/ Rainbridge Bridge

Petrified Forest/Painted Desert

Monument Valley

Sunset Crater

Meteor Crater

Sedona Oak Creek Canyon

Salt River Canyon

Superstition Mountains

Pichacho Peak State Park

Saguaro national park

Chircahua National Monument

The Colardo River.

What about the Weather

Well, Arizona has an average of 300 sunny days a year and the skies are for the most part cloudless. But in winter it may be warm in the south and west the north may get snow.

Arizona sees little rain but when it does come there are two seasons one between July and September and the second between December and March. These rains can turn into fast flowing rivers and along with these storms you can see some spectacular lightning.

Arizona is the place to go for fun and relaxation and there you will most definitely find something to keep the whole family happy.

Source: Arizona and Grand Canyon - Published by DK Publishing