A return "home"

At some point during or after my travels to Arizona it occurred to me that I had returned to the state of my birth for the first time since leaving (not counting layovers in an airport). This isn’t exactly the homecoming I envisioned, but it’ll do for now. I don’t know how many people reading my blog understand what Arizona is like, but I’ll try to paint a picture based on my limited view. Arizona has a very unique natural beauty. It has the desert landscape that the southwest is known for, but at the same time it also had some water areas that are equally beautiful. The town that I’m staying in reminds me of Daytona Beach or Panama City (both in Florida) in that it primarily survives on the vacationing public. I’ve seen license plates from as far away as Mississippi. There are a lot of over tanned large people wearing tank tops and flip flops. That might seem a bit judgmental or even stereotypical, but that is what I see. One thing I find ironic is when I go into a bar it is hard to find something other than ‘domestic’ or ‘all American’ beers. Coming from the Bay Area I love my microbrews and local beer. The beers of choice out here are Miller, Coors, and Budweiser. I wonder if everyone who talks about only drinking a ‘good old American’ beer realizes that all three of those brands are now owned by two multinational conglomerates that also own a whole host of other very recognizable brands. Another thing I noticed out here and I was very excited to see was an actual roadrunner. Yes I was definitely thinking about Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons. Needless to say the roadrunner in reality is a very underwhelming little bird, but he did move quite fast as he skittered across the road. Just as I lost track of him I noticed that he even had the little tuft of feathers sticking up like in the cartoons. So my brief and limited view of Arizona.