Welcome to this Strange Land - Arizona
This picture is perfect because it shows how different Arizona really is - from everywhere really, but especially Michigan. There are no trees, the land is dirt and rock and there are these strange things called cactus....I knew even then that this place was nothing like anything I had ever known, or even seen on television (my gateway to the world of course). I also wondered why the heck we went there...a question I still ask my parents who also seem to wonder what drew them there...something about my father seeing it on a road trip and falling in love with it...
The funny thing is, my friends parents all describe something similar - some contact with the town of Tucson in the mid and late seventies that left them with the desire to live in this desert. I have three best friends and all of them grew up like I did - coming from the east at a young age because of something their parents were either running towards or away from - sometimes both.
We all grew up in this strange town until we were old enough to leave. At nineteen I decided to continue the road trip my family to find a more hospitable place to live - something I hated less than the desert.