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I always send postcards with outrageous Arizona themes like a surfer riding a camel with a shotgun just to rustle some jimmies.
We are in the news a lot so I get a lot of calls. *_____* The only ones who realize the misconception are those relatives from the south. They go through the same thing. We laugh about having no teeth and wearing rattle snack hats, shooting our neighbors and not being able to spell our names. lol
You have NO idea. I'm out here going to school, my parents give me ***** all the time... I'm back east right now, helping them move, and it's just one joke or remark after another.
My parents are convinced that Phoenix is one of three things:
- An independent, 3rd world country.
- A suburb of Los Angeles
- Part of Mexico
They're absolutely convinced that everyone here is a Mexican, who speaks nothing but Spanish. They think crime is huge, and say how I must be lucky, since I haven't been mugged yet. They're also convinced my car is going to get stolen one of these days... They keep saying that it's just too hot in Arizona (by the way, it's 85 degrees right now in southern Mississippi, where they are. 85 here feels like 105 in Phoenix). When I mentioned, back in February, that I went snowboarding, they asked if I drove all the way to Denver, and how much it cost... I told them I only did a day trip, and that the slopes were two hours from my house. They still don't believe me.
They refuse to visit ("...too hot." or "We don't want to get robbed."), as well.
My family and friends are mostly in Oregon. My daughter always asks me how hot it is. "gee, it's only 100 today. Perfect swimming weather". She thinks I'm crazy when I tell her that 100 is pretty comfortable because of no humidity. Just because she is hot when it's 75 in Oregon with 90% humidity, she thinks it must be horrificly hot here. She is coming down in July.
A good friend of mine lives in Bend Oregon. I've told him how much I like it here but not long ago, he says "I'm sure you'd like to live in So. Cal if you could afford it" and my answer was NO WAY. Too many people, to much traffic, just plain too much of everything for me. If I want to hang at the beach, I can do that with a few hours drive but I don't want to live there.
He was incredulous. He figured I'd like somewhere else better since he heard that Phoenix was a crime ridden, meth lab ghetto where snakes, scorpions and black widows are prevalent and that's not to mention the illegal aliens robbing you where ever you go. He finally came down for a visit a few months ago and was shocked at how this place was actually a great place. He now is looking at moving here himself. It's funny because he has done very well for himself. He could live anywhere he liked and I can't. I'm on a VERY limited budget but he likes precisely the area I live in.
It's also funny how friends and family visit me here more (during winter of course) more than they did in Oregon. My sister in law lives in California and she and her daughter (my brother passed in 2008) are kind of stuck up thinking that if you don't live in So. Cal, you are a hick living in a 3rd world country. She has a 900 sf house that is worth almost a half million. Her taxes are insane.
My niece just bought a house in San Diego 2 months ago. Even though they were offered jobs in other areas, they didn't consider them because they weren't in Cali. The house they bought is a very small house on the outskirts of San Diego. It's almost not San Diego, that's how far it is from the ocean. Nothing special about it. Small yard, shared garage wall with the next house, HUGE HOA fees and they paid $350K for the place. They make great money but that's all the house they could afford. They make well over 100K per year but can't even afford cable TV.
I bought a VERY cool house for less than 1/5 of what they paid, I've got a pool on a little less than 1/2 acre, it's 2.5 times as large and I'm close to lakes and the outdoors. I haven't found work yet and even when I do, I'll make 1/3 what they make. I'm living far better with better winter weather IMHO.
I'll take Phoenix any day of the week. They are coming out in 2 weeks for a visit. This ought to be fun. lol. They visited my once in Oregon and said they would never go to Oregon again but since the Phoenix area is similiar to Cali in so many ways, I have a feeling they will be impressed to say the least.
Last edited by maverick974; 05-30-2012 at 12:46 PM..
I think many of our friends/family in the northeast conjure up an image of a few residential streets grouped together and lined with palm trees, where snakes and scorpions lie in wait, surrounded by large areas with dirt roads lined with sagebrush, tumbleweeds and cacti, protruding like phallic symbols. Many think there are illegal day laborers on every corner, blocking traffic and waiting to "get us", who go back to way-too-close-for-comfort flop-houses after dark, to receive another group of smuggled humans. I'm sure many envision "the rest of us" walking around a la John Wayne, with a cowboy hat and holster over their jeans. At least they know we drive cars and horseback riding isn't our main mode of transportation.
I think some of our friends in TX have more of a realistic opinion, but still pretty skewed.
Before we came to AZ, my mental picture of the entire state closely resembled Tucson.
My family and friends are mostly in Oregon. My daughter always asks me how hot it is. "gee, it's only 100 today. Perfect swimming weather". She thinks I'm crazy when I tell her that 100 is pretty comfortable because of no humidity. Just because she is hot when it's 75 in Oregon with 90% humidity, she thinks it must be horrificly hot here. She is coming down in July.
A good friend of mine lives in Bend Oregon. I've told him how much I like it here but not long ago, he says "I'm sure you'd like to live in So. Cal if you could afford it" and my answer was NO WAY. Too many people, to much traffic, just plain too much of everything for me. If I want to hang at the beach, I can do that with a few hours drive but I don't want to live there.
He was incredulous. He figured I'd like somewhere else better since he heard that Phoenix was a crime ridden, meth lab ghetto where snakes, scorpions and black widows are prevalent and that's not to mention the illegal aliens robbing you where ever you go. He finally came down for a visit a few months ago and was shocked at how this place was actually a great place. He now is looking at moving here himself. It's funny because he has done very well for himself. He could live anywhere he liked and I can't. I'm on a VERY limited budget but he likes precisely the area I live in.
It's also funny how friends and family visit me here more (during winter of course) more than they did in Oregon. My sister in law lives in California and she and her daughter (my brother passed in 2008) are kind of stuck up thinking that if you don't live in So. Cal, you are a hick living in a 3rd world country. She has a 900 sf house that is worth almost a half million. Her taxes are insane.
My niece just bought a house in San Diego 2 months ago. Even though they were offered jobs in other areas, they didn't consider them because they weren't in Cali. The house they bought is a very small house on the outskirts of San Diego. It's almost not San Diego, that's how far it is from the ocean. Nothing special about it. Small yard, shared garage wall with the next house, HUGE HOA fees and they paid $350K for the place. They make great money but that's all the house they could afford. They make well over 100K per year but can't even afford cable TV.
I bought a VERY cool house for less than 1/5 of what they paid, I've got a pool on a little less than 1/2 acre, it's 2.5 times as large and I'm close to lakes and the outdoors. I haven't found work yet and even when I do, I'll make 1/3 what they make. I'm living far better with better winter weather IMHO.
I'll take Phoenix any day of the week. They are coming out in 2 weeks for a visit. This ought to be fun. lol. They visited my once in Oregon and said they would never go to Oregon again but since the Phoenix area is similiar to Cali in so many ways, I have a feeling they will be impressed to say the least.
I lived in Phoenix for 30 years and never saw one scorpion or rattlesnake (other than those in cages). Black Widows everywhere. Bitten by a Brown Recluse.
What I always laughed about was friends and relatives thinking we all lived on ranches. I'm talking real working ranches and we all lived in the same style ranch houses that we see on tv. Roads, of course, are never paved; and some of them thought horses were the primary mode of transportation.
I agree with the snow stories. Snow in Arizona? Ya, right! Had my best ever toboggan ride down SnowBowl one year. My younger brother and I found a ski-do trail and followed it for twenty minutes down that hill. Took an hour and a half to climb back up, but it was so worth it. Relatives back east thought I was making up stories.
I live in central Oregon (for the last eight years) and get comments from people about how it ALWAYS rains in Oregon - everywhere. We can only wish. This is the high desert and we get about 20 inches of rain a year. Rain here is celebrated like it is in Phoenix.
I have lived in Phoenix metro area for 6 years now. The entire time I have spent struggling to convince some of my family that I'm not living in a tent in the middle of the desert.
they worry about me a lot, and I have found no success at setting their minds at ease. A current concern is that the wildfires are chasing out rattlesnakes, and that my wife and I will be bitten by an angy smoldering mob of snakes...
I've also heard comments like "oh, they have grocery stores there?" These are elderly members of my family, is anyone else experiencing this?
I've been living here for about a year. I moved here from the NYC metro area. My mother asked me the same thing: "They have grocery stores there?" and wanted to send me food (cheese and frozen meat) via UPS
My family used to tell me that I should move to SF, NYC, or Atlanta... they're beginning to finally understand that I am happy here in AZ. It was one of the best decisions I ever made!
You have NO idea. I'm out here going to school, my parents give me ***** all the time... I'm back east right now, helping them move, and it's just one joke or remark after another.
My parents are convinced that Phoenix is one of three things:
- An independent, 3rd world country.
- A suburb of Los Angeles
- Part of Mexico
They're absolutely convinced that everyone here is a Mexican, who speaks nothing but Spanish. They think crime is huge, and say how I must be lucky, since I haven't been mugged yet. They're also convinced my car is going to get stolen one of these days... They keep saying that it's just too hot in Arizona (by the way, it's 85 degrees right now in southern Mississippi, where they are. 85 here feels like 105 in Phoenix). When I mentioned, back in February, that I went snowboarding, they asked if I drove all the way to Denver, and how much it cost... I told them I only did a day trip, and that the slopes were two hours from my house. They still don't believe me.
They refuse to visit ("...too hot." or "We don't want to get robbed."), as well.
Yup~ same here! They think that it's an extension of Mexico! I forgot to add that my family is extremely concerned about Mexican drug cartels. I explain to them that Phoenix is 4 hours north of the border and not to worry.
I have lived in Phoenix metro area for 6 years now. The entire time I have spent struggling to convince some of my family that I'm not living in a tent in the middle of the desert.
they worry about me a lot, and I have found no success at setting their minds at ease. A current concern is that the wildfires are chasing out rattlesnakes, and that my wife and I will be bitten by an angy smoldering mob of snakes...
I've also heard comments like "oh, they have grocery stores there?" These are elderly members of my family, is anyone else experiencing this?
My parents have been to Phoenix and Scottsdale several times, so they knew what I was getting into in Tempe. I didn't have to deal with any of those misconceptions. They're just upset that I'm so far away right now.
that would first mean introducing them to the electric devil box known as a computer
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