Postmarked Phoenix AZ, dated 27 November 2004.
Arizona
Centuries old structures compliment what nature has perfected.
Pictured left to right: Saguaro cacti in winter; London Bridge, Lake Havasu City; desert in bloom; Mission San Xavier del Bac, Tuscon.
The saguaro cactus and the desert in bloom are both very well covered in the comment section of my previous Arizona card.
London Bridge was famously moved from London in the UK when it was demolished because it could no longer cope with the increased traffic in London, then bought to provide a tourist attraction for Lake Havasu City. The facing stones were numbered, transported to Arizona, and used to clad a concrete replica bridge crossing a canal.
Mission San Xavier del Bac is a Spanish Catholic mission founded in 1699. It was destroyed in 1770 and rebuilt 1783-1797. It is still active.
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Nature has perfected Lake Havasu? Hmmmm. :)
ReplyDeleteSorry.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time, the Havasu Indians lived in the Arizona desert near the Colorado River. Of course, they didn't know at the time they were living in a place called Arizona or that the river was called the Colorado. They learned that later.
But they wanted a lake and so they prayed for God to make them one. They prayed for many centuries probably. One day, God heard their prayers and created them a lake. In 1934, I think it was.
Anyway, a few decades later, a drunk white man with WAY too much money fell off a houseboat in Lake Havasu and was struck by a sudden revelation. 2 revelations, actually: First, "Crap but this water is cold!" and, a few seconds later: "Wouldn't this be a fantastic place to put London Bridge?"
Why not.
Nature, indeed.
Thank you, Sheila.
@Max, 'twas not I who said anything about nature, but the card manufacturers. Do allow them some poetic licence, or license even. But I prefer your version of events, much prefer it. :)
ReplyDeleteYes. Well, it's true, Sheila. God came down in the form of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and wrought forth yet another dam across the mighty Colorado. God has planted several dams across that river, in has wrath at the river's carving out the Grand Canyon, I think. Of course, there are those who think it was Pecos Bill instead of the Colorado that created the Grand Canyon, as he was riding a tornado through from Kansas on the way to California. But most of us more sane individuals all agree it was really only Paul Bunyan dragging his axe. I would be interested in an Irish lass's opinion, of course.
ReplyDeleteOh, the postcards I could make you, Sheila!
Max, I would be delighted, nay ecstatic, if you were to make me a postcard. Indeed, I can hardly wait. The mind boggles.
ReplyDeleteAs beautiful as Arizona is, this postcard only depicts what most people stereotype as being.: A big open desert. It is, mostly. I attended NAU (Northern Arizona University) for a number of years and, in my opinion, Norther Arizona is some of most scenic areas of Arizona. From the Grand Canyon to Sedona, the San Francisco Peaks to the petrified forest, the northern half of the state is beautiful at all times of the year. When Phoenix is 110F, Flagstaff is a beautiful 85F. During the fall, the peaks that surround Flagstaff turn every color of fall, and not long after, they are dusted with snow.
ReplyDeleteThen again, if you showed this on an Arizona postcard, people wouldn't believe you. ;)
It's surprisingly difficult I think, to find any postcards that can be associated with a particular geographic that aren't either stereotypical or boring. Postcard manufacturers seem to lack much imagination.
ReplyDelete