Not that I am an expert, by any means. I am a Midwestern transplant, and very new to the area. The one thing I realized immediately however, is the variety of activities Tucson has to offer. In the span of two weeks I’ve gone hiking, visited historic downtown buildings, listened to some excellent live music, and walked the path of a beautiful city park. This week I am attending a Freethinker Discussion Group, attending a triple-A ball game and visiting the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
If you have a favorite social activities you’d like to recommend to me please let me know, and I’ll report on them here. As my work involves various freelance projects, I will have opportunities to venture out at random hours of the day.
So I invite you to discover along with my new home town, “The Old Pueblo.”
First, a brief description of the city of Tucson.
The English name Tucson derives from the Spanish name of the city, Tucsón, which was borrowed from the O'odham name Cuk Ṣon, (pronounced roughly "chook shown"), meaning "at the base of the black [hill]", a reference to an adjacent volcanic mountain. Tucson is sometimes referred to as "The Old Pueblo." [1]
Tucson is surrounded by five minor ranges of mountains: the Santa Catalina Mountains and the Tortolita Mountains to the north, the Santa Rita Mountains to the south, the Rincon Mountains to the east, and the Tucson Mountains to the west. The high point of the Santa Catalina Mountains is 9,157-foot Mount Lemmon, the southernmost ski destination in the continental U.S., while the Tucson Mountains include 4,687-foot Wasson Peak. [2]
In other words, no matter where you look, you’ll always have a spectacular mountain backdrop.
You’ll almost always have a clear view too. The annual average percentage of sunshine is one of the highest in the United States, at 85%. [3] Compare that to the 46% [3] of my old home town. I am SO looking forward to living here!
That doesn’t mean it never rains in Tucson. As I write this it is monsoon season in Tucson. Storm clouds come up very quickly and I’ve already seen some fantastic lightning displays. The cloud formations are spectacular too, as you may have blue sky off to the west, bright white cumulus clouds overhead and dark gray storm clouds moving in from the east.
But just as quickly as they appear, the rain clouds dissipate leaving fresh air and cooler temperatures in their wake.
Since you’ll be seeing plenty of sunshine in future posts, I’ll end this one on a slightly different note. See you on the sunny side of the street!
Sources:
1, 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucson,_Arizona
3 http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/online/ccd/avgsun.html
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