It's always hotter in Arizona

The Baltimore area has been crippled by extreme heat over the past two weeks and it's been just miserable.  Good thing I've been prepping for the heat because three weeks ago I was on a site visit in three areas of Arizona and the coolest weather I encountered was a mild 105 degree day in Tucson.  It was absolutely brutal.

I actually attempted to walk 6 blocks in downtown Phoenix to get back to my hotel from a meeting on a Friday afternoon at 2pm.  I'm not kidding you, I had to dive inside a building lobby for a few minutes half way through my walk because I thought I was going to pass out. The things I'll do to save on cab fare!

I will give Arizona credit where credit is due: Arizonans recycle and they respect water! Every where I went someone was offering to either give me a bottle of water, recycle my bottle, or refill my bottle.  Each of the three hotels I stayed in had recycling containers in every room.  Public parks, street corners, and gas stations even had recycling containers at every garbage can.

I also met with a variety of housing developers and they were incredibly proud of the green building measures that they were putting into place in their projects.  Everything from recycled concrete roof tiles to gray water systems were utilized.  It was really amazing to see.

The only thing interrupting the clear blue sky is the framework of a house. 

Recycled concrete roof tiles.  50 year lifespan and roughly the same cost has shingles.  Perfect for long-term sustainable housing. 

I don't think I actually met Bob, but I'm thankful he could lend me a clean hard hat.  

Not my idea of a garden, but sure why not. 

Wait, is this sign warning me that there are warring factions of scorpions and snakes waiting to battle?

I think I could feel the water evaporate out of my veins it was so dry out.

 

Did you know that it takes roughly a 100 years for a cactus to grow an arm?  Some folks in Tucson told me that little tidbit of information. 

So, so, so hot. 

You know things are warm when you see a city park and there isn't a kid in sight.  I kept waiting for an alien ship to come down and put all the people back in their places. 

I was probably a bit too excited that I was able to pack for a full week of site visits (flew out Sunday night and returned Friday night) and fit everything into my carry-on bag.  Unfortunately because of all the sand I left the heels in the bag the entire trip! I hate when that happens because they took up valuable suitcase space. I was pretty ticked when my bag had to get gate checked on my return flight.  I hate online check-in because if you don't do it promptly 24 hours before your flight time then you're stuck at the end of the pack and I wasn't even flying on Southwest!