Letter #131 from Arizona

Letter #131 comes from Garci in Arizona.She lives in a suburb of Phoenix.She says she has learned a lot through meeting people,travelling and having international penpals.Phoenix is the sixth largest city in the U.S. and Arizona was the 48th state to join the union in 1912,so there will be celebrations next year for the centennial.The state's anniversary shares the same date with a popular holiday,Valentine's Day.

She also says that Arizona is known for the 5 c's - copper,cattle,cotton,citrus,and climate.She lives in the desert region so they get very little rainfall and lots of sunshine.They have mild winters,which attracts many tourists,including retirerees who go there to get away from the snow up north and then go back home in the summer,which they call "snowbirds".I know in Michigan,many people would go to Florida for winter and then the Upper Peninsula (in Michigan) during the summer.

In Northern Arizona,there are many pine trees,mountains and of course,the Grand Canyon.She also told us that Route 66 runs through the state.It's a very popular highway that many people like taking,especially for cross country trips.There are many diners and stores with 1950's memorabilia.I have always wanted to travel on Route 66 and take in all the views.

Arizona has 27 different Native American Indian tribes.Garci even attended a Miss Arizona Native American Indian Beauty Pagent and says that it was quite interesting,especially with their unique costumes and dance.

Another thing in abundance in Arizona are palm trees ( I love palm trees).They are not native to the area,but were brought in from another place and they happen to grow really well in her area.

Garci loves to ride with her fiance on his motorcycle,travel,create mail art and penpal.Thanks Garci for your lovely letter and for the postcards highlighting the treasures of Arizona,the Grand Canyon,Route 66,cactus and since we love blythe dolls,she also sent a blythe postcard.You can see them all below:

Letter #35 from Arizona

This letter comes from Misha in Tucson,Arizona.Misha is also homeschooled,she is currently a sophomore but will graduate next May,a year earlier.She lives in the beautiful Sonoran Desert surrounded by four mountain ranges.Most people can figure out their location by using the mountains as their guide.

In the summer she says it can get quite hot,up to 100 degrees,usually in May and June.In July they get rainstorms that they call monsoons almost every afternoon.I didn't even realize we got "monsoons", or at least that we called them monsoons in the states,so that is quite interesting to know.It can be pretty scary with thunder and lightning and since it pours down so hard for 1-2 hours,they can often get flash floods.

Misha says that in her city there are trenches called "washes" found all over that help to direct the water.She says they can be quite dangerous,so people are not allowed to play in them.

Something unique to the Sonran Desert,she writes,is the Saguaro Cactus,which can not be found anywhere else in the world.They take a long time to grow.It takes an arm of one cactus 50 years to grow and most cacti have several arms,so I guess it could take centuries for it to be fully grown.She also told us something quite sad,a few years ago they had a really bad freeze and all the saguaros froze and when they thawed out,all their "arms" drooped down because all their muscle tissue was weakened by the freeze and so it couldn't hold up its arms anymore.That is very interesting,I never would have thought that could happen.I've never seen a cactus on tv with droopy arms so I assumed that wouldn't happen.She says it's a crime to vandalize the cactus so they are protected and that their flowers are the Arizona state flower.In springtime,she tells about how the desert explodes with life.She used to live in California,so I think she felt she would miss out on nature moving to the desert,but she has been quite pleased with the natural beauty in her area.

One of the postcards she sent us is of the University Medical Center,which is she likes because she wants to work in the medical science field,either in genetics or chemistry when she is older.That is definitely a great profession to work in...I hope you are very successful with all your goals Misha!

She also enclosed a ticket from the Gaslight Theatre,which is local to her area.She says it's a small,old fashioned theatre where you are seated around a table and served complimentary popcorn and have interactive shows.It seems quite fun because she says people boo the villains and cheer the heroes!That sounds like a great theatre since you can really be involved in the show.

Next is a picture she enclosed of a lightning strike taken two summers ago during a monsoon.

She also mentioned a great place to go if anybody ever visits Tucson,it's called Eegee's and they sell the most amazing slushie type drink.She says it's not as sweet as a slushie and it has chunks of fruit in it.There are three regular flavors-strawberry,lemon and pina colada and also a flavor of the month that changes with each month.Seems like a great place to visit since she lives in the desert! :)

Well,Misha,thanks so much for the lovely letter,postcards,ticket,photo and a dried flower...nobody has sent in any flowers,you are the first Misha. :)

Please enjoy her letter below:

Updated:finally took the picture of her letter,postcards,picture and flower,enjoy!

Letter #27 from Arizona

Wow,I can't believe we are getting close to 30,that's a good number.I know at first we weren't sure how many we would get,but so far things are looking good.Letter #27 comes from Chris in Tucson,Arizona.He lives about 60 miles from the Mexican border with his wife and step son...congrats on the recent marriage!He says that Tucson is a metropolitan city with a population of about 1 million people.There are even some cowboys in the area.He says it's a very diverse area and that the community feels much smaller than it really is.One thing that he mentions that I know many people are talking about is the hispanic population.He says that while they are a big part of the population,most people don't even think about it, that "people are just people,really".He said that the media has made it into a bigger issue than the people there make it.That is something the media is always good at doing...dividing people on very personal issues.

Chris works for the local University as a network engineer to make sure that the University's network and its connections to the internet work as they should.That is definitely an important job since everybody relies on the internet for information and communicating.

He has also enclosed a wonderful souvenir that we love from Washington,DC that he got last summer (maybe we saw you there?).It's a gallery pass to the House Chamber for the 111th Congress.He told us that you can ask your representative for the gallery passes...no appointment needed or anything,you just go and get the passes.I can't believe we didn't even think of this when we went,but will definitely check this out the next time we go.I think it's very important for us all to see our government at work and to show our kids.I think it would definitely be an experience my kids wouldn't forget,so thanks for telling us about this!I might not have thought about it when we go again,but now I will remember to do this.

Here is the letter from Chris below.I didn't get a picture of the back,but it was sealed closed with a wax seal...we all thought that was cool. :) Thanks Chris for the great letter!

Letter #7 from Arizona

Wow,we are getting so close to having double digits which makes it seem so much closer...at least we are getting farther away from 1 letter & moving up. :) This letter is from Semeeah's friend Tracey who lives in Arizona.She has a cat and dog.She became penpals through a wonderful site called Postcrossing.If you love meeting people from all over the world,this is a great place to go.After meeting so many wonderful people there,we decided to come up with this letter project since it was quite easy to meet so many people,so we felt that our goal could easily be achieved since there are so many people on the forums and the regular site.But I must warn you,you will become addicted to this site.Thanks to postcrossing,we have many happy mail days! :) Enjoy Tracey's letter and super pretty stationery (isn't it cute?) below:

4th and 5th letters have arrived from Finland and Arizona

As promised,here are todays 4th and 5th letters.They are both from my youngest daughter's only penpals & let me tell you they are the sweetest women ever!She really enjoys her letters from them,so she was happy that we got letters from both of them on the same day! :)

This first letter below is from Kati in Finland...she sent us a great recipe for shrover buns...we will have to try these once we get our new oven put in. :) She wrote us about Shrover on the postcard.Thanks or should I say kiitos Kati for the letter,postcard & recipe!It is greatly appreciated!

Now,onto the next letter.It comes from Tracey in Arizona.We met her through postcrossing just recently.Along with a letter,she has sent some cute notecards and stickers...as penpalers know,you can never have enough of those,right? :) Thanks so much Tracey for also joining our project!Every letter brings us much happiness!

We seem to be averaging one new sign up everyday, but we will need more than that to reach our goal.Please join in so you can see your letter on this blog,too.As always,please feel free to grab our blog button,tell your friends,tell anybody you think would be interested in seeing their letter on our blog for all the world to see.Maybe one of your goals for 2011 is to write more,well,now is the best time to start,right?So why not write to someone that you know will really appreciate a letter from you...us! :)