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I always dreamed of living in the West, but if you've seen my username before, you've probably heard me say before that I dreamed of the western Pacific Northwest particularly. But now, something is making me excited about living in a desert. The greenery in the PNW and the West in general is gorgeous and it looks completely different than the ugly/basic looking greenery of the East. The entire West is dramatic looking in general and we are blessed to have it.
Pros of living in greenery:
1. Great for growing plants, crops, etc.
2. Less lack of water.
3. One thing I love about having greenery is the amount of trees. You can hike in trees and hide in the woods.
4. The greenery of the PNW is absolutely wonderful, but there are some parts that may look a bit East Coasty.
Cons of living in greenery:
1. Obviously you need humidity to cause greenery to even grow. Pacific Northwest is damp, cloudy, and rainy, which is why it is green. I thought I would love this kind of weather, but I am kind of tired of the gloomy winter days we have here on the East (NJ), and something is making me excited about living in the desert with the beautiful sunshine. Here in NJ, we do get a lot of sunny days in the winter, and I like days like that.
2. Too much lawn work. Grass grows constantly, which means constantly have to mow a lawn. Not a big fan having a huge green lawn and having to keep it neat. Green lawns are overrated in my opinion
Pros of living in deserts:
1. Less lawn work. Grass may not grow as fast, or you may not have grass at all. You can own a big piece of land do less to it.
2. Less dampness/humidity is better!
3. Something about the desert sounds like the scenery could be more dramatic!
4. Colorfulness in the scenery
5. More sunshine
6. Less chances of precipitation like snow, but it still does snow badly in some desert climates.
Cons of living in deserts:
1. Can't grow plants and crops!
2. Hot desert climates are dangerous and brutal.
3. Too Perfect desert climates like suburban parts of AZ (Sedona, Prescott, etc) attract too many retirees.
4. Sandstorms.
5. Lack of water.
6. Less woodsy areas to "hide" in.
In the West, is a desert better than the greenery? Deserts are making me excited and I am watching driving timelapse videos on the internet and I seem to gravitate towards deserts.
Last edited by moshywilly; 11-18-2018 at 10:59 AM..
I'm from Seattle but lived in Boise for six years. In the desert I found myself appreciating the small things more...a little gully in the sagebrush, a couple trees next to an irrigation canal, and Boise's tree-filled river valley (actually much of the city).
Trees are better, especially if you value shade. But both have charms.
I'm from Seattle but lived in Boise for six years. In the desert I found myself appreciating the small things more...a little gully in the sagebrush, a couple trees next to an irrigation canal, and Boise's tree-filled river valley (actually much of the city).
Trees are better, especially if you value shade. But both have charms.
Dang it! I forgot that trees provide shade. Oh people would definitely need shade to shade from the hot desert sun. Shade is totally useless in the humid East.
I understand your thread well...traveled a lot in the SW desert and loved it so...
but, was raised on the east coast and now live in a National Forest. I'm positive I'd miss the greenery and lushness, coolness and beauty of the greenery if I moved to the SW...
I guess it depends on where you live in the desert. We lived in a suburb of Phoenix several years ago and having lived in the upper Midwest/Great Lakes region all of our lives the scenery at first seemed very exotic and the sunshine was glorious.
After a few months, we felt more and more like everything was basically some shade of tan or brown: most houses and commercial buildings were tan/brown, the land was tan/brown, the mountains were tan/brown...and we got tired of it. We also, believe it or not, got tired of the relentless sunshine. At first it is great but then after a few months it starts to feel like a continuous laser beam and it's like you're just kind of wishing for at least a partly cloudy day and on a day when it actually rains you just want to go outside and play in it.
Obviously, not everyone would agree and that's great, different strokes for different folks. But I can tell you that when we flew back into Michigan when we moved back home, I wanted to get out and kiss all of that "ugly/basic looking greenery". Even the weeds in the ditches looked beautiful to me!
I just returned home late last week, from a trip to Scottsdale, and I loved it. We even looked at some houses. Problem is, there is a water issue, that I think is not being dealt with. There are no restrictions, some lawns have grass, and, of course, lots of beautiful golf courses. I think the area is stunning, but one day in the not too distant future, if they don't figure out a way to get more water into the desert, it may all collapse. Who wants to own property, if they can't get water? It might not be in our lifetime, but it will happen. Wayyy too many people living in the desert.
I always dreamed of living in the West, but if you've seen my username before, you've probably heard me say before that I dreamed of the western Pacific Northwest particularly. But now, something is making me excited about living in a desert. The greenery in the PNW and the West in general is gorgeous and it looks completely different than the ugly/basic looking greenery of the East. The entire West is dramatic looking in general and we are blessed to have it.
Pros of living in greenery:
1. Great for growing plants, crops, etc.
2. Less lack of water.
3. One thing I love about having greenery is the amount of trees. You can hike in trees and hide in the woods.
4. The greenery of the PNW is absolutely wonderful, but there are some parts that may look a bit East Coasty.
Cons of living in greenery:
1. Obviously you need humidity to cause greenery to even grow. Pacific Northwest is damp, cloudy, and rainy, which is why it is green. I thought I would love this kind of weather, but I am kind of tired of the gloomy winter days we have here on the East (NJ), and something is making me excited about living in the desert with the beautiful sunshine. Here in NJ, we do get a lot of sunny days in the winter, and I like days like that.
2. Too much lawn work. Grass grows constantly, which means constantly have to mow a lawn. Not a big fan having a huge green lawn and having to keep it neat. Green lawns are overrated in my opinion
Pros of living in deserts:
1. Less lawn work. Grass may not grow as fast, or you may not have grass at all. You can own a big piece of land do less to it.
2. Less dampness/humidity is better!
3. Something about the desert sounds like the scenery could be more dramatic!
4. Colorfulness in the scenery
5. More sunshine
6. Less chances of precipitation like snow, but it still does snow badly in some desert climates.
Cons of living in deserts:
1. Can't grow plants and crops!
2. Hot desert climates are dangerous and brutal.
3. Too Perfect desert climates like suburban parts of AZ (Sedona, Prescott, etc) attract too many retirees.
4. Sandstorms.
5. Lack of water.
6. Less woodsy areas to "hide" in.
In the West, is a desert better than the greenery? Deserts are making me excited and I am watching driving timelapse videos on the internet and I seem to gravitate towards deserts.
Sounds like you need a halfway point, like Denver. Somewhat green, but brown for a good chunk of the year because it's not rainy. Denver is sunny, not hot, and rains a bit more than desert climates. It's plains, sure, but there's mountains nearby.
When you posted in the Arizona forum it's clear you wouldn't like it here. That's not going to change. What you want doesn't work here. Maybe Albuquerque since it's colder, but it still has the desert cons (minus the hot desert, because its cold desert).
he greenery in the PNW and the West in general is gorgeous and it looks completely different than the ugly/basic looking greenery of the East.
Those are some very broad brush strokes....There are many areas of the Intermountain East from North Georgia northeastward through east Tennessee, western North Carolina, southwest Virginia, eastern West Virginia and western Maryland that if dropped into blindfolded would be indistinguishable from areas of the Pacific Northwest.
Why would East Coast greenery be ugly/basic to you? Just curious.
The East Coast has generic looking trees. If you asked a child to draw a picture of a "tree", they would just draw an ordinary tree, which is what you find back East. Personally, I think ordinary trees are ugly. The only thing that makes them beautiful is the colors in Autumn. There are some places in the East that are so beautiful that I won't even see it as ugly. There are places in Vermont I have visited (in August) that have ordinary trees and exotic looking trees and I think all of that was beautiful.
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