Finally returning to the beloved desert!!!!!!!! (Phoenix, Tucson: transplants, home, high school)

[Leavin the swamp]

I would just like to say how wonderfully lucky you zonies are. I was a former transplant back in 1980. I went to grade school through high school in Tempe. I left the desert in 1991. I visited on several occasions and hated to leave everytime. I have since lived in Georgia and currently reside in Florida. I have missed the desert everyday since I have been gone. My husband who is a Florida native, and I are going to be making the move back to Arizona. I have been reading the posts about transplants not liking the desert or complaining that it is to hot. They need to try living in a swamp. Florida is a swamp. They complain about bugs. I can't even sit outside on a summer night without an entire bottle of bugspray on me. It rains constantly in the summer.....Every afternoon....I am estatic about coming back to the desert. No place on earth is better. I look so forward to the warm sunsets with the orange and hot pinks against a beautiful mountain backdrop. I can't wait to sit on the summit of a mountain again and watch the thunderstorms off in the distance and see the twinkling lights of the city. I can't wait to have unobstructed views of the horizon. I look forward to the vastness and openness of the desert. It is truly a beautiful, magical awe-inspiring place.

[Bummer]

WELCOME HOME, Leavin The Swamp!

Having lived in Florida and Georgia, I understand and sympathize fully!

[ZonyPony]

Originally Posted by Leavin the swamp

I would just like to say how wonderfully lucky you zonies are. I was a former transplant back in 1980. I went to grade school through high school in Tempe. I left the desert in 1991. I visited on several occasions and hated to leave everytime. I have since lived in Georgia and currently reside in Florida. I have missed the desert everyday since I have been gone. My husband who is a Florida native, and I are going to be making the move back to Arizona. I have been reading the posts about transplants not liking the desert or complaining that it is to hot. They need to try living in a swamp. Florida is a swamp. They complain about bugs. I can't even sit outside on a summer night without an entire bottle of bugspray on me. It rains constantly in the summer.....Every afternoon....I am estatic about coming back to the desert. No place on earth is better. I look so forward to the warm sunsets with the orange and hot pinks against a beautiful mountain backdrop. I can't wait to sit on the summit of a mountain again and watch the thunderstorms off in the distance and see the twinkling lights of the city. I can't wait to have unobstructed views of the horizon. I look forward to the vastness and openness of the desert. It is truly a beautiful, magical awe-inspiring place.

Now, THIS is a person who truly understands the wonders of the Arid Zone! My compliments to a very well written post, Mr Current Swamp Guy!

[RyanCOAZ]

Originally Posted by ZonyPony

Now, THIS is a person who truly understands the wonders of the Arid Zone! My compliments to a very well written post, Mr Current Swamp Guy!

Actually Zony, I think that it's a Swamp Girl!

[ZonyPony]

Originally Posted by RyanCOAZ

Actually Zony, I think that it's a Swamp Girl!

Oooops... sorry, ma'am! Now, get outta that swamp, will ya?

[xwideopenskyx]

Originally Posted by Leavin the swamp

I would just like to say how wonderfully lucky you zonies are. I was a former transplant back in 1980. I went to grade school through high school in Tempe. I left the desert in 1991. I visited on several occasions and hated to leave everytime. I have since lived in Georgia and currently reside in Florida. I have missed the desert everyday since I have been gone. My husband who is a Florida native, and I are going to be making the move back to Arizona. I have been reading the posts about transplants not liking the desert or complaining that it is to hot. They need to try living in a swamp. Florida is a swamp. They complain about bugs. I can't even sit outside on a summer night without an entire bottle of bugspray on me. It rains constantly in the summer.....Every afternoon....I am estatic about coming back to the desert. No place on earth is better. I look so forward to the warm sunsets with the orange and hot pinks against a beautiful mountain backdrop. I can't wait to sit on the summit of a mountain again and watch the thunderstorms off in the distance and see the twinkling lights of the city. I can't wait to have unobstructed views of the horizon. I look forward to the vastness and openness of the desert. It is truly a beautiful, magical awe-inspiring place.

Happy Homecoming Zonie!
.........from a transplant that feels blessed to wake up each and everyday to the awe-inspiring beauty of the AZ desert.

[mainegirl]

Originally Posted by Leavin the swamp

I would just like to say how wonderfully lucky you zonies are. I was a former transplant back in 1980. I went to grade school through high school in Tempe. I left the desert in 1991. I visited on several occasions and hated to leave everytime. I have since lived in Georgia and currently reside in Florida. I have missed the desert everyday since I have been gone. My husband who is a Florida native, and I are going to be making the move back to Arizona. I have been reading the posts about transplants not liking the desert or complaining that it is to hot. They need to try living in a swamp. Florida is a swamp. They complain about bugs. I can't even sit outside on a summer night without an entire bottle of bugspray on me. It rains constantly in the summer.....Every afternoon....I am estatic about coming back to the desert. No place on earth is better. I look so forward to the warm sunsets with the orange and hot pinks against a beautiful mountain backdrop. I can't wait to sit on the summit of a mountain again and watch the thunderstorms off in the distance and see the twinkling lights of the city. I can't wait to have unobstructed views of the horizon. I look forward to the vastness and openness of the desert. It is truly a beautiful, magical awe-inspiring place.

Congratulations on being able to go back to where your heart is. The way you write about Arizona reminds me of myself and my love of the coast of Maine. I dream of being able to go to where my heart is someday as well. Best wishes for a smooth transition back home and a happy life there.

[MantaRay]

Neither Florida nor Arizona is the same all over. I've lived in the Pensacola area before and visited Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Orlando, Tampa, and Pensacola is a lot more bearable humidity-wise than those other places. Still humid but not as much. I actually didn't mind being outside during the day.

Likewise when I traveled to Arizona, I visited Tucson, Phoenix, Sedona, Flagstaff, and the Canyon. It was summer and the Tucson heat and sun almost fried me. By the time I got to Sedona and Flagstaff, the weather was nice. It was still summertime weather, but that part of the desert was much more bearable than Tucson and Phoenix. I actually didn't mind being outside during the day.

Point being all of Florida is not a sweltering swamp, only some is, and all of Arizona is not a skillet of a desert, only some is. Neither is really a place I'd retire to, because when I'm out riding my bike in the middle of the day, I don't want to be fried by the scorching 105+ sun and I don't want to have to try to breathe water either. But both are nice places to visit.

[azhiker]

Congrats, Leavin the Swamp.

I'm really happy for you. Feel like I was in the same boat as you. I had previously lived in AZ and loved it, then had to live elsewhere (a number of places), but always dreamed of, and planned to, come back to AZ.

Finally had the opportunity to last May, and it's just as good as it was the first time.

I agree with the poster who said something about following your dream. Also, I'd rather be poorish in a place that I love than make way more money in a place that I hate.

I moved back here from Florida too.

Good luck and I hope it works out that you can move back here.