|
The
tourism industry in ARIZONA has,
literally, one colossal advantage
– the Grand Canyon of the
Colorado River. It's the single most
awe-inspiring spectacle in a land of
unforgettable geology, and one of
the few places in the world that you
absolutely have to see at least once
in your life. However, the Grand
Canyon is by no means the most
interesting or memorable destination
in the state. Indeed, in comparison
to its inhuman scale, other parts of
Arizona have a more abiding
emotional impact, precisely because
of the sheer drama of human
involvement in this forbidding but
deeply resonant desert landscape.
Over
a third of the state still belongs
to the Native Americans who
have lived here for centuries, and
who outside the cities form the
majority of the population. In the
so-called Indian Country of
northeastern Arizona, the
reservation lands of the Navajo
Nation hold the stupendous Canyon
de Chelly and dozens of other
marvelously sited Anasazi ruins,
as well as the stark rocks of Monument
Valley. The Navajo surround the
homeland of one of the most stoutly
traditional of all Native American
peoples, the Hopi, who live
in remote mesa-top villages.
The third main tribal group are the Apache,
in the harshly beautiful
southeastern mountains – the last
Native Americans to give in to the
overwhelming power of the white
American invaders.
Away from the reservations, Wild
West towns like Tombstone,
site of the famed gunfight at the OK
Corral, give a clear sense of
Arizona's characteristically
rough-and-ready, pioneer mentality;
this was the last of the lower 48
states to join the Union, in 1912.
The cities, however, are not
much fun. In Phoenix, the
capital, well over a million souls
are scattered over a 500-square-mile
morass of shopping malls and
tract-house suburbs; Tucson is
a bit more civil, but still wears
thin after a day or so.
Though the open spaces of
southern Arizona can be harsh and
violent – most of the southwestern
quarter, along the parallel I-8 and
I-10 highways, is used as a bombing
range – the bleakness is balanced
somewhat by the many nature reserves
which protect its amazing flora and
fauna, such as Saguaro National
Park, just outside Tucson, with
its giant cactuses, real-life
roadrunners and rare Gila monsters.
Click here to go to
Arizona State |
