This is Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. Note the desolation, free of cars, trucks, buildings, cities, pollution, etc. My wife and I spent many hours hiking and gawking here some years back. I would be happy if my last steps upon this Earth were taken in those mountains! Frank
What??? Where's my photo?? (Sorry @Frank Sanoica ; I couldn't resist. ) Many of our state and national parks are breathtakingly beautiful.
I've lived in Virginia since I was 9 years old, and Indiana before then. We vacationed on Lake Michigan and near Ocean City Maryland. We never ventured west. I finally took a week in New Mexico (with a couple I met on another forum) in 2008. I landed in Albuquerque and drove 200 miles up to the Colorado border. Before that trip I had a business meeting on the Arizona/Mexico border, so flew in to Phoenix and and opted to drive the rest of the way (again about 200 miles) so I could see at least a little bit of that part of the nation. It certainly is different from the eastern part of the country. While I would not want to lose the seasons and the greenery I'm accustomed to, the west has its own stark beauty. I've always said I would not want to live in a city with all those buildings in my face because I'm used to a horizon. Then I think someone here posted a pic stating how much she liked the vast openness of where she lived out west, and it reminded me of those trips and made my tree-lined horizon feel smaller.
@John Brunner You may not be aware of just how extensive the climatic "span" is in Arizona. Where we are located it never snows, winter low temperatures are rarely below the freeze mark, rainfall is sparse, which limits growth of larger plant life, only desert trees found naturally are Mesquite and a variety of different Palo Verde. Only 170 miles east of us, around Flagstaff, snow can occur 12 months of a year (but usually subsides after June), summertime highs may be around 80 degrees, lows in the 40s normally. 150+ inches of snow a year. Trees? Humphrey Peak, highest point in Arizona: Flagstaff trainstation: Typical Flagstaff area highway scene: Town of Flagstaff nestled below Humphrey Peak:
That's insane. We have swings here (probably not so extreme) from the Atlantic coast to the mountains. The one thing I recall when driving through Arizona at night was "What a great place to bring my telescope." I guess you'd still have to be pretty far from a city.