Personal Challenge 2018 - Week 48

This is the 48th week of my personal 50-week States of the Union Challenge. Each week I research one of the 50 United States (in the order they attained statehood). I share tidbits of information about the state here on my blog and I create a card that is inspired by something about that state.

This week's state (the 48th one to attain statehood) is...

Arizona

Date of Statehood: February 14, 1912

Arizona is large enough to fit all six states of New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) plus the state of Pennsylvania inside of it.

In area, Arizona is the sixth largest state in the United States (behind Alaska, Texas, California, Montana and New Mexico). Arizona is close to 114,000 square miles. It’s about 340 miles wide and 400 miles in length.

Although Arizona is the sixth largest state in the US, only about 17 percent of it is privately owned. The rest goes to public forest and park lands, state trust lands, and Native American reservations.

Arizona is the 15th most populous of the 50 states with over 6.7 million people.

A person from Arizona is called an Arizonan.

No other state of America is as native as Arizona. It has the largest amount of land designated as Indian lands and has 22 Indian tribes which are federally recognized by the American government. Navajo language is the most widely spoken language here after English and Spanish.

Arizona is the only state in the nation that elects a Mine Inspector.

Arizona has the 2 largest man-made lakes of America, Lake Mead, and Lake Powell. Lake Powell has a shoreline of 2,000 miles, more than the Pacific Coast.

There is a village called Supai located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon which happens to be the only place in the country where mail is delivered by mule trains. The mule train makes the 8 miles, 3-5 hour trip 5 days every week carrying a ton of mail that includes letters, food, supplies, and furniture.

Arizona’s famous attractions include the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Fort Apache, and the reconstructed London Bridge at Lake Havasu City, etc.

For a few hundred dollars, one can sleep in a 22 stories underground hotel room of sorts at the Grand Canyon Caverns in Peach Springs for a few hundred bucks a night. 

In 1956, two planes detoured over the Grand Canyon’s airspace for a better view and ended up colliding directly over the canyon. The FAA was created in 1958 as a result.

The Arizona Trail is 800 miles long and is dedicated to hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding and cross-country skiing.

Arizona has more mountains than Switzerland, and more golf courses than Scotland.

The sun shines in Phoenix and Tucson for 85% of the time and 90% of the time in Yuma, even more than Florida and Hawaii.

According to the National Weather Service, the biggest snowfall ever recorded in Phoenix measured one inch—once in 1933 and again in 1937.

Arizona’s diverse climate can record both the highest and lowest temperatures in the US on the same day. In fact, you can be tanning in Phoenix and skiing in Flagstaff just a few hours away.

The saguaro cactus blossom is the official state flower. In April or May the saguaro or “The Giant of the Desert” blooms, giving way to edible fruit. The fruit splits open when ripe, exposing the brilliant crimson inside, which is often mistaken for a cactus flower.

It can take up to 100 years for a Saguaro cactus to grow an arm in areas of low precipitation.

You can find roadrunners running up to 17 mph from their enemies in Arizona. 

Two of the top-rated waterfalls in the United States are located in Arizona: Grand Falls and Havasu Falls.

Arizona grows enough cotton each year to make more than one pair of jeans for every person in the United States.

The world’s first McDonald’s drive-thru was installed in Sierra Vista, Arizona in 1975 for the soldiers from Fort Huachuca as at the time; they were not allowed to leave their vehicles while in uniform. So, McDonald’s installed a drive-thru and soldiers were finally able to get a Big Mac during their lunch hour and have been Lovin’ it ever since.

England’s original London Bridge which was replaced in the 1960’s was purchased, dismantled, shipped stone by stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where it still stands today.

The Four Corners is a spot in the United States where a person can stand in four states at the same time, and includes Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.

The legendary Gunfight of 1881 at the O.K. Corral in the Arizona town of Tombstone is one of the most famous shootouts in the American history and guess what, it lasted only 30 seconds.

Women in Arizona were granted the right to vote in 1912, eight years before national suffrage.

Arizona has some interesting laws... donkeys are not allowed to sleep in bathtubs and it’s illegal to refuse a person a glass of water. 

If you cut down an endangered cactus like this Saguaro in Arizona, you could face up to a year in prison.

Hunting camels is prohibited.

Any misdemeanor committed while wearing a red mask is considered a felony.

When being attacked by a criminal or burglar, you may only protect yourself with the same weapon that the other person possesses.

Cards may not be played in the street with a Native American in Globe Arizona.

A Mohave County decree declares that anyone caught stealing soap must wash himself with it until it is all used up.

I decided to go with this bit of Arizona information for my card's inspiration... rainfall averages for Arizona range from less than three inches in the deserts to more than 30 inches per year in the mountains. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Stamp Set: My Favorite Things Rain or Shine stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Papers: Recollections Black and 110# White and SU Bordering Blue CS and Making Memories Navy Marble DP

Embellishments: Recollections Rhinestones and Washi Tape from an unknown vendor