Today I want to tell you about a few things we've learned since making it out west. I've been keeping a list, lol. Here goes...
Weather Terminology in Vegas
The meteorologists in Las Vegas call the wind there "the blowdryer." They report the weather by telling you what setting (cool, warm, hot and low, medium, high) the blowdryer is set at. Weird, right? But it's true. It usually feels like a blowdryer set on high power high heat. The least satisfying breeze/wind I've ever experienced.
Monsoons
(Photo credit: nps.com)
Did you know the United States had a monsoon season? I didn't. I do now. Luckily, we avoided it until the Bryce Canyon area, and even then, we were able to do our sightseeing in between downpours. Apparently, similar to Florida's daily downpours, the desert west also has daily soakings (and massive lightening storms). Forrest Gump style rains, if you get my drift.Â
Drought
(Photo credit: National Climactic Data Center)
Anyone who questions that climate change is real should visit the southwest. We went almost 4 solid months without even a threat of rain in the forecast. Lake Mead is emptying out, and no one expects it to ever refill. Let that sink in. Drought is REAL there. Fires are burning everyday. Climate change exists. We saw it.Â
Colorado
As majestic and spectacular as the Rocky Mountains are, so big you can't see the tops sometimes ... snow at the summits in July ... they come and go so fast while crossing the state, you question whether you just were in the mountains at all. We were so focused on crossing those 11,000+ foot climbs, we just assumed we would continue to see mountains on the horizon after Denver. Not so. As soon as you cross through the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnel at Loveland Pass, you start descending and you never go back up. Denver is the end of mountains until east of the Mississippi (on i70 anyway). The Great Plains actually start in Colorado. Currently were driving through Kansas, and we're still descending.Â
Deserts
We have been through them, in them, and not one is like the last.Â
Texas (though arguably not technically a desert) has trees and cacti, and dry river banks. Â
New Mexico has grass, bushes, and a different kind of cactus, more river bends completely dry .Â
Arizona, still grassy, still trees, pipe cacti (the BIG ones), but does have rivers and streams in places with actual wet water in them.Â
Nevada, mostly dirt, not the pretty rolling dunes you'd expect though, short bushes, and Joshua Trees (you do NOT have to stop at the National Park to see this tree, but you do need to get out into the longitudinal area). No water in Nevada unless you go to the ever emptying Lake Mead area.
California, well... here you have several examples of different desert. The eastern side looks a lot like Nevada. But then you cross The Mojave Desert, and you get glimpses of the deserts portrayed by Hollywood. Not much vegetation but still some, and swaths of white sand here and there. The only water we saw inland was the California Aqueduct.Â
Utah... had lush green areas, big New England-like trees, then there's the Moab Desert. THAT is where we looked out our windows and said, "Yes, this is a desert."
All of this commentary is setting aside the mountainous areas of each state, which are unique and amazingly different as the deserts are. I'll save my commentary on the mountains until later.
I hope you are all enjoying your summers. I hear your weather is much like ours has been... HAWT! So, stay cool, stay healthy, be happy.Â
Until next time...
All photos were taken by me unless otherwise noted.