What surprised you when you moved to Phoenix? (Chandler, Tempe: skateboarding, home)

[twiggy]

Yea, a season for the most part "monsoon" season in Aug mostly but we just had one this week so it depends. Our weather guys were soooooo excited this week! Tornados, dust, rain that lasted more than 5 min., it was a hay day!

[twiggy]

Oh yea, kids don't play out side here in the summer, they play out side in the winter. Just flip things around a bit and you will be fine..lol

[westcoastbabe]

Thanks twiggy for the facts about Phoenix...Feeling a little better about the place..I believe it is what's needed for me. Change of scenery would do me some good/Short driving distances to other cities such as Diego/Angeles/Vegas. Plus way bigger than Charlotte, NC.....With the size of the city, it would give me more employment options.

[Beware_of_Dog]

Has anyone mentioned the UFO nuts who love filming plane lights in the distance lined up to land and pretend that they are UFOs. Then somehow convince the news stations to run a segment on it with one of Phoenix's well known conspiracy nuts as their scientific spokesman.

Talk about bugs....they have what I call atomic bugs. Reminds me of those sci fi movies where radioactivity has produced giant bugs. I swear I used to have those sewer cockroaches in one apartment I lived that were as big as your hand (I admit I have a small hand). What was funny was one night I saw one and had those big size Roach Motels. So I knelt down and put it right in the path of this atomic roach and he walked right in one side and out the other. I kept moving it in front of him and he just kept walking right through it. So I got my tennis racket and kept clobbering him to no avail. He just looked up at me like saying, "Is that all you got?"

I have gotten up in middle of night to find a giant scorpion right in middle of kitchen floor. For some odd reason I turned on the light that night when I usually didn't. So saw him before I stepped on it.

Walked out one night to look at the stars and heard a hissing sound in the darkness of my carport. Turned on the light and there was a rattlesnake there. Glad I didn't have music or tv on loud at that time, I might not have heard him warning me. He was right where I was going to walk to.

I had one home that had these huge atomic black widow spiders in all the bushes. I swear that these were as big as my hand also.

For some reason, some of the species of bugs in the desert here grow several times the size of the same bug or spider I have seen in other parts of the country.

Now sleep tight my little ones!

[RCR]

Originally Posted by Beware_of_Dog

Talk about bugs....they have what I call atomic bugs. Reminds me of those sci fi movies where radioactivity has produced giant bugs. I swear I used to have those sewer cockroaches in one apartment I lived that were as big as your hand (I admit I have a small hand). What was funny was one night I saw one and had those big size Roach Motels. So I knelt down and put it right in the path of this atomic roach and he walked right in one side and out the other. I kept moving it in front of him and he just kept walking right through it. So I got my tennis racket and kept clobbering him to no avail. He just looked up at me like saying, "Is that all you got?"

I have gotten up in middle of night to find a giant scorpion right in middle of kitchen floor. For some odd reason I turned on the light that night when I usually didn't. So saw him before I stepped on it.

Walked out one night to look at the stars and heard a hissing sound in the darkness of my carport. Turned on the light and there was a rattlesnake there. Glad I didn't have music or tv on loud at that time, I might not have heard him warning me. He was right where I was going to walk to.

I had one home that had these huge atomic black widow spiders in all the bushes. I swear that these were as big as my hand also.

For some reason, some of the species of bugs in the desert here grow several times the size of the same bug or spider I have seen in other parts of the country.

Now sleep tight my little ones!

Nice job scaring everybody. You realize it will now take about 100 truthful posts to counter your one post exagerrating the "critter" problems we have here.

[LocoAZnative]

Originally Posted by twiggy

Oh yea, kids don't play out side here in the summer, they play out side in the winter. Just flip things around a bit and you will be fine..lol

Man how did I ever survive playing outside all summer long in Phoenix. Kids are just more sheltered now cuz of all the transplants. Plus, with video games this also brings kids inside more.

[azriverfan.]

Four things surprised me

1. Phoenix was much more green than I thought. I was expecting it to be brown everywhere and look like some city in the Middle East with sand dunes on the side of the highways. Instead, it's pretty green and manicured with palm trees, grass and flowers. Sure, it's not like the Pacific Northwest in which their are rows upon rows of pine trees but I was never into that scene anyway. I like the clean manicured look of Phoenix.

2. How Young it is - I was expecting mostly retirees and old people. I attended a conference in Sun City prior to moving to Phoenix years ago and assumed the city was going to be old. What I discovered is the core or central part of the Phoenix metro is extremely young and the retirees live in cities on the periphery like Sun City, East Mesa, Goodyear, North Scottsdale but Phoenix, Tempe, South Scottsdale, Chandler and Gilbert were very young.

3. Weather - I was expecting the worst with regards to the heat. I was assuming it was going to be the warm version of a bad winter in that the summers were going to be intolerable and miserable. What I discovered is that it felt no worse than Texas and Florida in the summer except that the dial on the thermostat showed a higher number but in terms of feel, it was no worse than a hot humid summer elsewhere. I found it a small price to pay for 8 months of great weather.

4. Southern California feel - Being a Los Angeles native, I was surprised to discover how much Phoenix resembles L.A. and Southern California. I was expecting Phoenix to look more like Albuquerque, Dallas, or San Antonio. That was definitely a plus for me because it made me feel like I was still living on the West Coast minus the beach of course but for most Los Angeles area residents, they don't see the ocean anyway.

[AZGOBUCKS]

cloud formations are beautiful
the interstates are very clean and workers keep at it almost daily
desert plant life is beautiful and colorful
you better learn how to drive 70-80 mph or you will get run off the road
2-3 hours away you can see all the snow you want (Ohio guy with no urge yet)

[Phxguy]

I lived in Phoenix my whole life, and it still suprises me how some people who've never visited it don't like it and assume it's a massive brown suburb in the middle of no where. But one visit changes their feelings and assumptions towards the city and they love it enough to move here. Interesting how seeing the real thing sure changes things around.

[phoenixscorpiogirl]

You'll definitely get better Mexican food here. However, there are lots of festival shere year round that celebrate different cultures such as African, Irish, etc.

Twiggy-I must disagree about the sports comment. People here do go crazy about the Suns, and football is popular. I know there are several Steeler bars alone, and now more people are into the hometown team-the Cardinals since they went to the Superbowl.
The other comment about leaving things in the car was right! Have you ever forgotten chap stick in there? I tried to use some once I had forgotten and ended up with hot sticky wax all over me!
And dust...I know girl!! lol I hate dusting...and it's true, I only do it occasionally or when people are coming b/c it never ends! Especially when you have tile floors.
And anyone who moves to Phoenix better be a defensive driver, cuz just about everyone drives fast or drives crazy!
And people not from here think we don't get floods, well we do when it rains a lot. Streets get flooded quick and washes flood and people have to be rescued from trying to drive through it.
And winters do get cold..it's not just hot all year long.