This Body Ain't Built for the Desert
Dryness, heat, and freezing cold pools — not for me!
I just got back from a week-long trip celebrating a friend’s wedding in Phoenix, Arizona. The wedding was beautiful and I had a lot of fun, but it was also an interesting trip because it was the longest time I’ve ever spent in the desert.
Most of you know this by now, but I’m a born-and-bred Midwesterner. I expect rainy springs, humid summers, temperate autumns, and dry, frigid winters. The breadth of all four seasons is part of normal life for me. But in the desert, it’s just hot and dry all year round (save for monsoon season, where it’s still hot but slightly less dry).
The first time I went to Arizona, which was just a few weeks before the wedding, I stepped outside the airport and could feel how dry it was just by breathing. I spent a night at my friend’s house (the same one who got married last week) and she graciously let me borrow her humidifier. On that trip I was just passing through on my way back to Milwaukee, but if I had stayed longer, I know I would’ve gotten a sore throat and a nosebleed at some point.
So when I went back to Arizona for the wedding, I wanted to be prepared. I brought a mini humidifier from home, saline nasal spray, face oils, and lotion. Oh, and of course I brough my Hydroflask and planned to drink lots of water.
It’s amazing how quickly you can get dehydrated out there. I'm one of those people who always carries around a water bottle and is typically very good about staying hydrated. But in the desert, I I had to force myself to drink more water than I felt like I needed. It wasn’t even that hot out, but I could tell I needed more fluids when I’d go a few hours without peeing or start to feel woozy.
My skin got dry soooo easily, too. It was amazing how quickly it would suck up moisture when I applied any oils or lotion. I felt like I had to slather extra goo onto my face and hands to keep them from getting flaky (or having my eczema flare up).
But the unsung hero of my trip was saline nasal spray. I used it every day and had no nosebleeds and barely any sinus issues. Coupled with the humidifier, my airways were nice and moisturized. (Definitely recommend this combo if you’re going on a similar trip.)
Beyond dryness, there were some other things I learned about the desert on my visit. It feels like another world sometimes, and I even think Arizona looks a lot like Mars when you view it from an airplane.
I made a list on my phone during the trip called “weird things about the desert.” Weird to me at least, as someone who doesn’t spend a lot of time there. These are the things that stood out to me the most:
Even when it’s warm, there are barely any bugs. To be fair, I visited Arizona during spring, and I think there are less bugs this time of year. But I was surprised I didn’t have to constantly swat at mosquitoes even when it was 75 degrees outside. Mosquitoes and warm weather go hand-in-hand where I’m from, probably due to the humidity.
People wear jackets when it’s 70 degrees outside, which is wild to me. 70 is WARM! I was in a sundress almost every day I was there. The heaviest layers I wore were a light cordurouy jacket or a cotton sweater in the evenings.
Citrus trees grow everywhere. Lemons and oranges galore! I even got to pick some oranges from my friend’s parent’s tree in their backyard and bring them home.
The backyard orange tree The sun constantly feels like it’s trying to murder you. When it was 75 degrees outside, the air felt cool but the sun felt super hot. My friend told me about the UV index, which I’ve literally never checked in my life. Where I live, either the sun is out and shining or it’s cloudy — not a lot of variation with the strength of the sun. Anyway, UV can get to 10 out there which is really high and can quickly burn you to a crisp if you don’t have sunscreen.
If you’re lucky, you might spot a coyote! We saw one running around in broad daylight near a public trail. Poor guy seemed pretty scared of us (which is probably a good thing).
There are a lot of cool birds. Honestly, anytime you go somewhere new there’s gonna be cool birds because they’re just birds you’re not used to. I enjoyed seeing quail, hummingbirds, and great-tailed grackles.
You can get sick from breathing in desert dust. A fungi called coccidioides lives in the soil in Arizona and a few other states, and when it’s really dusty you can breathe it in and get sick. This condition is called valley fever and it’s usually mild, but it feels like the flu so it certainly doesn’t sound fun!!
There are pools everywhere. And no one seems to swim in them until it’s blazing hot outside. I went to one of the pools in my friend’s neighborhood during my visit and was the only one there. It made sense though because the pool was FREEZING. They keep it ice-cold, probably so that you can actually cool off when you use it. In the Midwest, we have a lot of heated outdoor pools because it doesn’t get as hot here. My friend’s pool had a hot tub as well, but it felt like normal bath water. I’m used to blazing-hot hot tubs, so that was nice.
Arizona was fun to visit, but knowing myself, I don’t think I could ever live there. My body just isn’t built for the dryness or the heat. Do you know how much of a wimp I am when it comes to the summer? Anytime we see temps over 85 degrees, I barely wanna go outside. (Yet when it’s -30 with the wind chill, I have no problem going for a walk for some reason.)
I’ll stick to my cold winters and mild summers, and y’all desert dwellers can have your mild winters and hot summers. To each their own — but I’ll be sure to visit when I need a change of scenery.
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I can't say I like “desert living”, nor do I like “desert visiting.” However, it sometimes beats the dregs of winter in Wisconsin. It's not that I dislike winter, but I do dislike what winter has become in Wisconsin and that is cloudy skies and not so warm Temps. Some cold, some warm but day after day of clouds just sucks in my world. I know you can buy a light, etc. but it's not the same.
Give me snow every day, I would appreciate winter more:)
It gets dry here in Southern California but the aridity in Arizona is on another level! I use saline nasal spray regularly and it’s definitely an extra godsend in the dry winter months.