Over the course of our careers, we’ve often been guided by the mantra of “figure out what you want your life to look like, then figure out how to finance that life.” As we’ve begun to think about what we want our lives to look like going forward, geography has been a significant consideration. Having lived in the Boston area our entire lives, we knew we wanted to experience life outside New England. We would often ponder “mountain, ocean, lake?” (also knowing that we absolutely need to spend at least some part of our time in the city). We had never included “desert” in our discussions, but we are now! In our opinion, there is so much to love about the desert. Two big things: the landscapes are stunning, and the (fall/winter) climate is delightful for us former New Englanders (warm days/cool nights). We spent a week in Scottsdale with good friends who not only hosted us in their lovely casita but made sure we were able to really immerse ourselves in the area.
Some of the many highlights:
Inventive cocktails in a train car (well, not really a train car, but a bar set up to really feel like one—right down to the lightly-shaking seats).
Touring Taliesin West, “Frank Lloyd Wright’s desert laboratory in Arizona.”
Wandering the Desert Botanical Garden and starting to realize the richness of the desert landscape.
Date shakes! Who knew that dates + French Vanilla ice cream could taste SO GOOD?
Of course, we fully realize that desert living has its limitations —it’s hot as hell during the summer, and water is an increasingly scarce commodity throughout the region. It’s also tough to ignore that the politics in some desert cities and towns don’t exactly map to ours. That being said…we are intrigued! Stay tuned for more desert reflections after we spend some more time in Arizona, and get to know New Mexico.
PS: Michele is also fascinated by desert horticulture. The challenges for a gardener are so different from what we dealt with in Newton, and the opportunities for creative use of space and plants are inspiring! Plus, one of her very favorite plants (lantana) grows vigorously in the region.