We began our morning early to Chandler, AZ. We pulled out of the resort in Carefree and headed out before the sun began to rise. But it was beginning to make it's entrance. And just as we approached the gate of the resort I pulled to the side of the road and caught this.
I saw these beautiful cacti pepper the landscape in the moonlight. They are equally awesome in the early dawn.
The desert has without a doubt it's own unique beauty that should be experienced! Spring and Fall are the best times of year to visit, too. Especially is you are not a fan scorching heat. I like heat, but I am not sure what my opinion would be if I visited in August.
I like green, lush landscapes. But I find that my imagination dances anytime I gaze into the desert. What a word, "desert". It's so, uh...deserted...alone...peaceful. The peace the desert has is far from desolate. There is so much life all around, and these giants watch over all of it.
3 comments:
I've been to the coast, the mountains, the plains, and the temperate rain forests, but the one place that I've been longing to visit is the desert. I have a daily image widget on my Google home page, and I'm always in awe of the pictures of the American Southwest.
You mentioned that you hadn't experienced summer in the desert and you said you didn't know if you would like the heat.
Actaully, I traveled the country once in the summer- mostly out west- and the heat is much different in the desert. On the east coast, it is soooo humid and sticky with some nice blessed breezes coming in from the ocean. Here in Atlanta, it is so hot, and the weather is different every day. Georgia weather just can't make its mind up.
In the summertime, the desert is hot of course, but in a different way. When I was in Arizona in July, I climbed a mountain, hiked through state parks, rode horses, and did a lot of outdoor activities, and the heat was not unbearable like it would have been in GA. That's what makes the desert heat so dangerous- you can forget how hot and dehydratd your body is getting.
The reason is because the desert air is so dry and crisp that most of your sweat dries up right away. It is easy for people to get heat stroke in the desert because they forget how hot it is and that they need to drink a lot of water.
It's funny, I forgot that I trvaelded through the west when I was 16. And it was done in a car with no air! I guess I do have some expereince in this weather. But not an extended period of time. One of my dreams is to take a mule ride down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon AND raft the Colorado river.
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