Arizona vs. California

Ok I am a victim of creating lists and comparing things.

1. The heat.

Ok so it's not a surprise that it's 110+ here all the time. At night the temp only drops to the high 80's. Our A/C is on 24/7. It's sort of like when it's winter in northern CA. The heat gets turned off during the day but it comes back on when you get home. It's our A/C here. We turn it to 82 when we leave in the morning, which means it doesn't kick on at all. Our power bill is going to be about $200/month. Small price to pay if you think about it... because it beats putting up with 115 degree indoors!

2. Helmet law.

Apparently there is none here in Arizona. It kinda scares me when I see motorcyclists here riding on the freeway with no helmet. I mean... why wouldn't you want to wear a helmet??

3. HOV lane.

It's High Occupancy Vehicle lane here in AZ. It's a double solid white lines that you can move in and out of at anytime and there's no breaks. No one told me this and here I thought you're trapped in the lane until there's a break in the lines like in LA. durrr...

4. Where are the Rice Rockets?

I am going to risk sounding really really racist right now, but there are no rice rockets here! It's kinda nice because you're not dodging (or them dodging you) stupid little cars all the time like back home. It's probably because there is hardly any asians here.

5. The friendly people

I don't know what it is but people here are so much more friendly and nice. Not saying people in the bay area aren't friendly... they're just more stand-off-ish. I don't know. People here are so much more approachable and warm. Easier to talk to.

6. Our little dinky town

I never thought I would say this but we love our dinky town of Maricopa. We definitely live in the 'Tracy' of Arizona. We're a half hour (no traffic) outside of Phoenix and the only way you can get to our town is on a 2 lane road through an indian reservation. It's 20 miles from the next town with a hospital. lol. If we ever have an medical emergency... lord help us.

7. Peet's? Starbucks? Where are you?

There is one Starbucks in our town, yes ONE Starbucks and it's inside the grocery store. Which means it's not the quick in and out like I'm used to. And Peet's? These people have never heard of it. I guess we'll have to get our fix when we come home again. But I did find a Tully's coffee and they make KILLER iced mocha's.