Also see Specific Destinations, Travel and Location Humor.

Page Toppers

• Amazing Arizona
• Arizona Daybreak
• Arizona Lightning
• Arizona Rain
• Arizona Sunset
• Barefoot in Phoenix
• Come Back to Arizona
• Dear Old Arizona
• Land of Sunshine
• Ridin' Neath the Arizona Moon

Quotes

• Arizona is gorgeous. The sunshine in Arizona is gorgeous red. (Cecilia Bartoli)
• The Grand Canyon is carven deep by the master hand; it is the gulf of silence, widened in the desert; it is all time inscribing the naked rock; it is the book of earth. (Donald Culross Peattie)
• I am enamored with desert dew because it's usually the closest thing we get to rain. (Linda Solegato)
• The trip across Arizona is just one oasis after another. You can just throw anything out and it will grow there, I like Arizona. (Will Rogers)
• Welcome to Arizona, where summer spends the winter--and hell spends the summer.
• You know you're an Arizona native when you take rain dances seriously. (Skip Boyer)

Arizona Symbols

• Nicknames: Grand Canyon State; Sunset State; Copper State; Sand Hill state
• Motto: God enriches
• Colors: Blue and Gold
• Song: Arizona
• March: Arizona March Song
• Dance: Square Dance
• Animal: Ringtail (related to a racoon)
• Bird: Cactus Wren
• Fish: Apache Trout (found only in AZ)
• Amphibian: Arizona Tree Frog
• Reptile: Arizona Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake
• Butterfly: Two-tailed Swallowtail
• Tree: Yellow Palo Verde
• Flower: Saguaro Cactus Blossom
• Fossil: Petrified Wood
• Gemstone: Turquoise
• Mineral: Fire Agate
• Neckware: Bola Tie
• Pro Sports Teams: Phoenix Suns (men's basketball); Phoenix Coyotes (hockey); AZ Cardinals (football)AZ Diamondbacks (baseball), Phoenix Mercury (women's basketball)

Facts About Arizona

• Capital: Phoenix
• Residents: Arizonans
• State Name Origin: based on an Aztec word meaning "silver bearing" or a Pima Indian words meaning "little spring place"
• Admitted to Statehood: 14 Feb 1912
• Order of Admission: 48th state
• Length: 400 miles
• Width: 310 miles
• Area: 113,998 square miles
• Length: 400 miles
• Width: 310 miles
• Area: 114,007 square miles
• Number of Counties: 15
• Streams and Rivers: 90,373 miles
• Geographic Center: 55 miles ESE of Prescott in Yavapai Co.
• Mean Elevation: 4,100 feet
• Highest Point: Humphreys Peak, 12,633 feet
• Lowest Point: Colorado River, 70 feet
• Commercial Products: electronic equipment, transportation and industrial equipment, instruments, printing and publishing, copper and other metals
• Average Annual Rainfall: varies by area (3.3 inches in Yuma, 7.6 inches in Phoenix, 18.3 inches in Flagstaff)
• Average Winter Low Temperature: 38 degrees
• Record Low Temperature: -40 degrees (7 Jan 1971 Hawley Lake)
• Average Summer High Temperature: 100 degrees
• Record High Temperature: 128 degrees (29 Jun 1994 Lake Havasu)
• Official Language: English
• More information about Arizona

Page Idea

Put a large saguaro cactus die-cut on the page. Decorate with ornaments and Christmas lights. Put trees around the bottom.

from Arizona

(words by Margaret Rowe Clifford, music by Maurice Blumenthal)

Come to this land of sunshine
To this land where life is young.
Where the wide, wide world is waiting,
The songs that will now be sung.
Where the golden sun is flaming
Into warm, white shining day,
And the sons of men are blazing
Their priceless right of way.

Chorus:
Sing the song that's in your hearts
Sing of the great Southwest,
Thank God, for Arizona
In splendid sunshine dressed.
For thy beauty and thy grandeur,
For thy regal robes so sheen
We hail thee Arizona
Our Goddess and our queen.

Items of Interest

• Arizona has the largest Native American population of any state. More than fourteen tribes are represented on twenty reservations.
• Part of the Navajo Nation is located in the Four Corners region of AZ, CO, NM, and UT. The capital of the Navajo Reservation is Window Rock.
• Arizona has a higher percentage of its land set aside and designated as Indian lands than any other state.
• Oraibi, founded by the Hopis, is the oldest Indian settlement in the U.S.
• The amount of copper on the roof of the Capitol building is equivalent to 4,800,000 pennies.
• The original London Bridge was shipped stone-by-stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City.
• Four Corners is the only place in the U.S. where a person can stand in four states at the same time.
• The world's largest solar telescope is located at Kitts Peak National Observatory in Sells.
• At one time camels were used to transport goods across Arizona.
• The average age in Sun City, Arizona is deceased ;-) (Bob Uecker)

Notable Natives

Some of these were born here, others just lived a while in the state.

• Rex Allen - singer, actor (Wilcox)
• Bruce Babbitt - political leader
• Rose E. Bird - jurist
• Erma Bombeck - author, humorist
• Lynda Carter - actress (Phoenix)
• Cesar Estrada Chavez (1927-1993) - labor leader (Yuma)
• Cochise - Apache leader
• Joan Ganz Cooney (1929- ) - producer of Sesame Street (Phoenix)
• Alice Cooper - rock star
• Dennis De Concini - U.S. senator
• Wyatt Earp - western frontier lawman
• Barbara Eden - actress
• Max Ernst - painter
• Louie Espinoza - first world champion boxer from AZ (Chandler)
• Geronimo (1829-1909) - Apache leader (Clifton)
• Barry Goldwater - senator, presidential candidate (Phoenix)
• Zane Grey (1872-1939) - author of many Western novels (Payson)
• Carl Trumbull Hayden - politician (Phoenix)
• Helen Hull Jacobs (1908-1997) - tennis champion, writer (Globe)
• William "Bill" Keane - cartoonist
• Percival Lowell - astronomer
• Frank Luke, Jr. - WWI fighter ace (Phoenix)
• John McCain (1936- ) senator, war hero, presidential candidate in 2000
• Phil Mickelson (1970- ) - pro golfer (Scottsdale)
• Charles Mingus - jazz musician, composer (Nogales)
• Sandra Day O'Conner (1930- ) - first female supreme court justice in 1981
• Dan Quale - U.S. vice president
• Linda Ronstadt (1946- )- singer (Tucson)
• David Spade (1965- ) - comedian, actor (Scottsdale)
• Steven Spielberg (1946- ) - film director (Phoenix)
• Kerri Strug - Olympic gymnast (Tucson)
• Tanya Tucker - singer
• Morris Udall - public official
• Stewart Udall (1920- ) - former Secretary of the Interior (Saint Johns)
• Frank Lloyd Wright - architect (built a studio near Phoenix in 1939)

The Arizona State Flag
The flag was adopted in 1917. The 13 rays of red and gold in the top half of the flag represent both the 13 original colonies and the rays of the setting sun. The red is the same shade of red found in the US flag. Red and gold were the colors carried by Coronado's Spanish expedition. The lower half of the flag is the same Liberty Blue found in the US Flag. There is a copper star in the center of the flag to symbolize AZ as the largest copper producing state.

You Know You Are in Arizona When...

• The AC Service Man is on your list of best friends.
• All of your out-of-state friends start to visit after October but clear out come the end of April.
• The best parking is determined by shade...not distance.
• The four seasons are: Tolerable, Hot, Really Hot, and Are You Kidding Me!
• The heat you feel when you walk outside is comparable to what hits you in the face when you open the oven.
• Hotter water comes from the cold water tap than the hot one.
• It's noon in July, kids are on summer vacation and yet all the streets are empty of both cars and people.
• Kids ask, "What's a mosquito?"
• Most of the restaurant names start with 'El' or 'Los'.
• No one would dream of putting vinyl inside a car.
• People who have black cars or black upholstery are assumed to be from out of state--or nuts.
• People break out coats when temperature drops below 70.
• The pool can be warmer than you are.
• Salsa is a part of your daily diet.
• Some fools will market mini-misters for joggers and some other fools will actually buy them. Worse...some fools actually try to jog.
• Sunscreen is sold year round, kept right at the checkout counter.
• Sunscreen with less than 50 SPF is a joke.
• The water from the cold water tap is the same temperature as the hot one.
• Vehicles with open windows have the right-of-way in the summer.
• You actually burn your hand opening the car door.
• You buy salsa by the gallon.
• You can attend any function in shorts and a tank top.
• You can be in the snow, then drive for an hour...and it will be over 100 degrees.
• You can hear the weather forecast of 115 degrees without flinching.
• You can make sun tea instantly.
• You can correctly pronounce Saguaro, Tempe, Gila Bend, San Xavier, Canyon de Chelly, Mogollon Rim, Cholla, Hassayampa River, and Ajo.
• You can say Hohokam and people don't think you're laughing funny.
• You discover, in July it only takes two fingers to drive your car, because your steering wheel is so hot.
• You don't find anyone at a park until 7:00 PM.
• You have over a hundred recipes for Mexican food.
• You know a swamp cooler is not a happy hour drink.
• You know hot air balloons can't rise because the air temperature is hotter than the air inside the balloon.
• You notice your car overheating before you drive it.
• You put on fresh sunscreen just to go check the mail box.
• You realize that "Valley Fever" isn't a disco dance.
• You would give anything to splash cold water on your face.
• You run your a/c in the middle of winter so you can use your fireplace.
• You think a red light is just a suggestion.
• You think six tons of crushed red rock make a beautiful yard.
• You think someone driving wearing oven mitts is clever.
• You've signed so many petitions to recall governors you can't remember the name of the incumbent.

It is So Hot and Dry in Arizona That...

• The cows are giving evaporated milk.
• You see two trees fighting over a dog.
• You no longer associate bridges or rivers with water.
• You eat hot chilies to cool your mouth off.
• You can make instant sun tea.
• You learn that a seat belt makes a pretty good branding iron.
• The temperature drops below 95, you feel a bit chilly.
• You know the best parking place is in the shade, not distance from the door.
• Your biggest fear in the case of a wreck is, "What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death?"
• A sad native prayed in Church today, "Please, God, let it rain--not so much for me, cuz I've seen it--but for my 7-year-old."

Songs about Arizona

• Arizona - Mark Lindsay (1969)
• Arizona Clay - Jack Reno (1972)
• Arizona Daybreak - Craig Chaquico (1997)
• Arizona Lightning - Robert Hunter (1974)
• Arizona Rain - 3 of Hearts (2001)
• Arizona Spiritual - Terry Allen (1976)
• Arizona Star - Guy Clark (2002)
• Everything in Arizona - Michael Harter (2002)
• My Dear Old Arizona Home - Rex Allen (1947)
• Ridin' Neath the Arizona Moon - Dick Thomas (1945)
• Send Me Down to Tucson - Mel Tillis (1979)
• Tucson Too Soon - Tracy Byrd (1996)
• There is No Arizona - Jamie O'Neal (2001)
• Tombstone, Arizona - Bobby Barnett (1985)

Songs about Phoenix

• Barefoot in Phoenix - String Wizards (1993)
• By the Time I Get to Phoenix - Glen Campbell (1967)
• Night Ride Out of Phoenix - Ian Gillan Band (1981)