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Some of the more expansive views of the city/area that I live in have me sometimes wishing for more green, it depends on the season and as others have pointed out we are in a serious drought in many parts of the west, California especially so and it does show.
Usually spring can look like Ireland for a few weeks, not this year of course, and there is the peculiar California phenomenon known as 2nd spring, when, a couple weeks after the autumn rains, a whole extensive green growth will blanket all the hills and canyons that unlike the Midwest, East and upper South does not then die off to a leafless, dead brown and tan landscape as winter settles in. Of course we absolutely do have the dry golden hills here for the summer months that is different than those other areas which are lush green.
But as it turns out in my garden and view into the canyon/park as I enjoy it right now (and year long) it is always lush green with layers of manicured shrubs and dense groves of trees in the background; looking very much like it could be New Hampshire except the trees happen to be Eucalyptus stands. We pay a little more to water our city sized garden (and aggressively conserve indoors to do so) and so the reality of living in an area that often gets less rain than the Sahara Desert is often unnoticed.
Whatever blows your skirt up" my mom said that when i was little, but at 54, its true- i just stand the midwest winters, 7 yeats of living in soyth dakota after living in dallas tx over 20 years. Palm springs ca here i come.
IMO, the sheer ruggedness and remoteness of Nevada, America's driest/most barren state, makes it the most scarily beautiful state in the entire country.
No I don't. The brown gives Arizona one of the best sunsets in the world (the one thing I can thank dust for)
When I get to travel I get to admire the greenery in other places. I get to see the tree-lined streets, and think "wow". I see how thick the grass is, how soft it looks... It's a similar reaction for tourists when they come to Arizona and see the plants here.
Anyway, I wouldn't want to change Phoenix's desert. Besides, in about an hour, there's greenery anyway up north on the 17.
The only thing I can't stand about AZ, NM and SoCal is the pervasive Latino influence. Nothing against them, but I just find that it would be extremely hard to get accustomed to.
I wouldn't mind a larger window for the survival of green landscapes where I live in the inland West, but in fairness, the brown color doesn't last nearly as long as the gold during summer and fall. The white is pretty nice, too.
Man, i've loved the scenery and greenery out here in the east, but it's not kind to arthritis sufferers and the politics are screwey. update is, i'm headed back to the dirt fields. lol I'll always love the southeast though... and you just can't beat virginia.
It's weird because I've seen a lot of posts from you these past couple days (I know this one is older) and you recently said you visited 48 states in another post...so I'd assume you've been to the PNW by now? What did you think?
As a Southern Californian, my favorite time of the year is from about November to June (in a non-drought year), because that's when the hills turn green, flowers bloom, and everything is just gorgeous.
Unfortunately most visitors come during the summer when everything is brown and dead, and they assume that it's always like that.
I consider that living through the brown summer months is not that much different from enduring the grey, leafless winter months in a different climate. Either way, part of the year is not so good looking.
And of course, it's been so dry the past few years that we haven't had much green time even when we should.
As for the true desert, say Joshua Tree, it is stunningly beautiful to visit, but it would not be my choice of a place to live.
I've spent a lot of time in the Pacific Northwest, because I have family there. It is nice to see a lot of water and green trees, for a while, but I do start to feel claustrophobic after a few days. I can't see the horizon because there are too many trees in the way in every direction. I've hiked around Mount Rainier, and I keep waiting for the place along the trail where I can see a panoramic view, but it never happens. Too many trees.
I suspect I would feel about the same in the South or East Coast. Greenery is nice but you can have too much. (And where there's lots of water, there are lots of bugs.) I find I do like the wider views out here, the dry summer weather and the scrub habitat of the hills. But then I never had to "get used to it," as I was born here.
Green in the desert is a silvery-tinted light green, probably helps protect from intense sunlight. We have seasonal green spells. I suspect that what people miss are the trees...although I've always thought that the trees back east were very ugly in winter. I live in a desert area but can be in a pine forested mountain range in a little more than a half hour.
In wet years or in a rainy season the desert can be very green.
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