When you’re visiting or living in Phoenix, you’re essentially trying to tame the desert temporarily. You get enough water, sunscreen and air conditioning, and you feel safe and comfortable—but subconsciously somewhere, you might wonder: ‘How long will this last? When will the water finally just end?’
Maybe Phoenix will exist forever, or maybe it’ll turn into a massive ghost city one day. Either way, it’s a curious place.
1. The dry heat
- you can practically see it from the airplane window.
Runway at Sky Harbor Airport by Kevin Dooley
2. The color beige
- as if a large Western city could hide itself within a desert, merely by using neutral color schemes.
Zen bus stop by Kevin Dooley
3. Luxurious retirement communities
- with golf carts instead of cars and dogs instead of children.
what we've been missing by alyssa
4. The vast emptiness that surrounds the city
- Phoenix appears out of a literal nowhere.
arizona sky by Jon Rawlinson
5. Palm trees
- without the ocean.
Nuclear sky by Kevin Dooley
6. Desert boneyards with no explanation
- leading you to believe that all unsolved mysteries somehow trace back to a desert.
Convair 240 in an Arizona boneyard by Phillip Capper
7. Upscale resorts with obscene levels of water consumption
- it’s a bit ridiculous.
Lounges by John Morgan
8. Shadows
- no matter how small, you will try to stand underneath them.
That's interesting by Kevin Dooley
9. Blue-windowed buildings
- oh wait, that’s just the sky.
Taxi stand by Kevin Dooley
10. The overlord sun.
Pollution by Kevin Dooley
11. The empty summer streets
- when all the winter Phoenicians [i.e. snow birds] flee back to Minnesota & Wisconsin.
Outside phoenix looking towards the camelback by Matthew Robinson
12. The famous saguaro
- you’re not allowed to chop them down. The city ‘just’ transplants them.
Saguaro by Kevin Dooley
13. The fabulous sunsets…
Sunset at Gila Springs subdivision #5 by Kevin Dooley
14. And the merciful night.
Chandler sunset by Kevin Dooley
