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Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
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Major cities being:
Albuquerque (New Mexico), Phoenix & Tucson (Arizona), Las Vegas (Nevada), & El Paso (Texas)
I'm going with Arizona. I like their stock of cities best. Tucson is a great city, IMHO better than the others. I haven't been to Las Vegas ever, so I wont comment about it as if I know it, but the others I've been too and Tucson is my favorite.
Arizona is also the prettiest desert state, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Flagstaff during winter time is beautiful at the San Francisco Peaks.
^You can still talk about that area. People-probably Arizona would have more diversity even though all the desert areas have a large Mexican population Better future-Seems like NM is starting to get better, West Texas has wind turbines which sets a boom, NV seems it might be declining? Not sure and not sure about AZ either. All will face water problems. Economies- All I know is in WT wind is now dominate Scenery- I say New Mexico hands down, then Arizona, but they all have beauty. Cities- Arizona has the better cities, imo(Tuscon being a favorite). NV has Las Vegas which gives it recognition. I actually think NM cities are quite nice and WT has El Paso, but not many other big or small cities to choose.
I voted for Arizona because I used to live there In addition, the Sonoran Desert gets rain both in the Winter (from the Pacific) and from the Summer Monsoons, keeping the desert relatively green. Phoenix doesn't feel that much drastically different than most parts of Inland Southern California, and Tucson is one of the most underrated cities in the Southwest.
Nevada gets my vote as having the driest deserts in the United States, both the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert. Nevada is unique in the respect that it has both a cold desert (Great Basin) and a hot desert (Mojave Desert).
Population Estimates (http://www.census.gov/popest/states/NST-ann-est.html - broken link)
All statistics are the most updated I can find from varying US government agencies:
Arizona
Population: 6,595,778
Demographics:
58.8% Non-Hispanic White
29.6% Hispanic,
4.1% Native American,
3.4% Black,
2.3% Asian
1.5% Two or More Races
Nevada
Population: 2,643,085
Demographics:
58.0% Non-Hispanic White
24.9% Hispanic
7.1% Black
5.9% Asian
2.3% Two or More Races
1.1% Native American
New Mexico Population:2,009,671
Demographics:
44.5% Hispanic
41.9% Non-Hispanic White
8.7% Native American
2.0% Black
1.3% Asian
1.3% Two or More Races
West Texas (El Paso, Hudspeth, Culberson, Jeff Davis, Presidio, Pecos, Reeves, Brewster, Terrell, and Crockett Counties)
Population: 781,420
Demographics (just of El Paso alone..731,000 of the 781,000 live in this county anyways. I didn't feel like adding everything right now):
81.4% Hispanic
13.9% Non-Hispanic White
2.5% Black
1.0% Asian
0.3% Native American
0.3% Two or More Races
I'll do something more thorough if people are interested I feel like West Texas should be part of Southern New Mexico anyways, especially since most of West Texas is in the Mountain Time Zone (and far away from everything else in TX)
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Santa Fe is the most unique and resembles strong southwestern and adobe character. Also the mountains in Northern NM are impressive with the best skiing in the desert SW.
Vegas has the best nightlife and entertainment.
Arizona is the best overall for diversity with the Grand Canyon, mountains, Phoenix, Sedona, and Tucscon.
Southern Utah is impressive with several National Parks and probably the best red rock scenery, I love the natural arches.
Not sure what West Texas merits, I won't judge, it's just not very well known.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
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People(population,diversity,etc...): Subjective, good people are everywhere.
Better future: West Texas, simply because economically it's in Texas. Other than that, New Mexico. Arizona needs to bounce back from this recession to get there and I hope they do. Nevada has the worst economy in the country right now... but I would like them to bounce back strong someday.
Economies: Texas has the best, New Mexico afterwards, Arizona 3rd but it's not looking too hot, & Nevada state wise has the worst economy in the country right now...
Scenery: All of them are really nice, but Arizona easily beats the others. I'll explain my experience below.
Cities(skylines, amenities, etc...): Well the mother city for this region is Phoenix- largest city with most amenities, but Las Vegas has the best skyline out of all of them. My favorite city in the country in all of USA is Tucson. But I like all the desert cities, they really hold a lot of value to me.
I have seen all of Arizona every corner of the state. Hot Yuma, pretty Sedona, my favorite Tucson, the large Phoenix, and the very nice Flagstaff.
Flagstaff is a place that I learned how to snowboard back when I was just 13, and I have gone back there during winter time twice afterwards... I really like it, San Francisco Peaks are very beautiful.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ckzona
Awesome Danny i agree about Scenary. Arizona Wins that battle. The 1st pic is actually of Browns Peak, which is right next to the Phoenix Valley.
Yeah that picture in general didn't look familiar to me like the other two. I searched Flagstaff and it was among the first choices lol, so I went ahead with it without giving it much thought.
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In addition, the Sonoran Desert gets rain both in the Winter (from the Pacific) and from the Summer Monsoons, keeping the desert relatively green. Phoenix doesn't feel that much drastically different than most parts of Inland Southern California, and Tucson is one of the most underrated cities in the Southwest.
