Thomas Burke & Others

Instead of enjoying our wet spring here on the Central Coast, I bugged out of town in mid March to Joshua Tree and Arizona. Having grown up in Phoenix, I can tell you that Spring in Arizona is beautiful, but since it only lasts 3 days, you’ve got to get your timing just right.

Every time I visit Phoenix, I’m struck by contrasts — the beautiful desert, unrestrained development, water delivered over 300 miles from Colorado River dams, fantastic golf courses, a fountain that blasts water 300 feet in the air, the sweet smell of citrus blossoms, — a state where the former Republican Presidential candidate is too liberal.

Sometimes I think the adaptations we’ve made to live there are kind of nuts. The temperature reaches or exceeds 100°F on an average of 110 days during the year, and tops 110 °F an average of 18 days each year. That’s hot, Riyadh and Baghdad hot.

To cope with all that heat Arizonans live in air conditioning, and to run them they built the largest nuclear power plant in the U.S., Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. Even with three reactor containment vessels, it’s a little hard to find. As it turns out, it was right on my route home. I find this sort of thing fascinating, so here are a couple of photos.