Howdy from Stanley in Arizona

I love Arizona! I arrived in time for Valentine's Day and met two very nice girls Flat Amelia, injured in a fridge incident, and Flat Kya...piano. We hit it off!


We enjoyed romantic ice cream at Mary Coyle's and boogied under the pink disco ball.




These nice girls offered to show me all around. Lots of people like to live in Arizona because it is warm all the time. Even people who live other places for the rest of the year, come hear to live for the winter. They are called "Snowbirds" because they come here like the birds do to get away from the cold, snowy weather. Since it never snows it's perfect for outdoor sports, like golf and swimming.


There is nothing like kicking off your cowboy boots for a nice dip in the pool!



In the desert it hardly ever rains. They try to save water by not watering lawns, intead they have desert plants and rocks. They do have grass at parks and for the golf courses.


I got to see what the Gila River Indian Reservation looks like.


Arizona has more land for Native Americans than any other state, so there are a lot of Native Americans here. Since Arizona is right next to Mexico there are a lot of latins here too. In fact 1/4 of the people are from Mexico.


Kya and Amelia introduced me to some homeschooled friends Sarah, Rachel and Adam. We learned all about a kind of cactus called Saguaro at South Mountain.


We learned that they have to grow for 80 years before they can start growing arms. A cold frost makes the arms droop funny. Even the arms can grow arms. The Saguaros are filled with water and weigh up to 1 ton. They grow to be 200 years old.


There were a lot of Saguaros.


My favorite parts were the baby cacti,


this awesome lizard (I wish I could have brought him home),


and meeting Cowboy Joe. He takes people on horseback rides and tells them interesting things about the desert.


After studying the cacti we all drove right into downtown. Can you believe what a diverse area this is to have golf courses, swimming pools, Indian Reservations, cowboys, and ballerinas all in one big city? After all Phoenix, Arizona is the fourth largest city in America!


Here we are at Symphony Hall to watch Ballet Arizona perform the classic Sleeping Beauty ballet. We met other homeschoolers there, did you know Arizona is one of the
most homeschooled states?


We also met Mrs. Arizona 2009. She is a mom and a school teacher, just like Mrs. Bennett!


Arizona was a great place to visit. I hope you all get to enjoy it some day!