On our last excursion to Arizona, we took some time out from house-building to do a little sightseeing. I composed this panoramic image of the Hassayampa River which runs through Wickenburg. Although it is dry in this image, it flows in the springtime and sometimes during the August/September monsoons. The presence of water ensures that the riparian vegetation stays green and lush even in the desert climate. Click on the image to see the full panorama.
When I tell people we’ve moved to Wickenburg, they often ask “why there?” I give them the usual answers that the climate is nice (we like the heat), property values are good for buyers, historic small town atmosphere, friendly neighbors, plenty of services for a small town and most importantly, one of the lowest crime rates in Arizona and the U.S. I studied crime rates within the state at four locations which seemed reasonable places to relocate; Tucson, Marana, Phoenix Metro and Wickenburg.
Tucson and Marana are located in Pima County in the southern part of the “Valley of the Sun” (basically along I-10 south of I-8). Phoenix and Wickenburg are in Maricopa County. Even though the vertical scales differ slightly on the graphs above, you can see that personal and property crime rates in Wickenburg are relatively small. The graphs came from a real estate appraisal website’s demographics section for each of the four areas. Click on the image to enlarge.
I think that this is a hedgehog cactus. It’s growing adjacent to our new driveway in Arizona. I’m hoping that it will sprout some bright pink flowers next spring. Click on the image to enlarge.
I was rummaging through some of the archived photos today and ran across this one from Christmas Eve (Verna’s Birthday) in 2008. We were in a rented motorhome just coming into Wickenburg. Verna snapped this photo of the now familiar Wickenburg Way. Make a left at the signal ahead, go a quarter of a mile and turn left into Casandro Wash. We’re about 700 feet up the road.
We spent the night in an RV park just at the south end of town on US 60. It was our first night in Wickenburg. We left town the next morning headed for Flagstaff, our next stop on the winter vacation. The day after that, we were in Grand Canyon NP.
After attending the National Rifle Association convention in Phoenix in May of ’09, we went back and stayed at that same RV park five months after our first visit, still not knowing that we would be making Wickenburg our home.
Yesterday, I listed the appliances for the new house. Today, Bob went on to Lowe’s virtual room designer and built the kitchen seen here. Our actual kitchen will not be quite wide as this model. The appliances will be placed approximately as shown. The cabinets will probably look a bit different since we went with a rustic southwestern finish.
One of the best things about building a new house is having the flexibility to do everything our way. Last week in Arizona we went to the appliance dealer in town and specified all of the appliances for the house.
The kitchen appliances will all be stainless steel. We ordered a stainless side-by-side freezer and fridge. The six burner stainless range and oven is a one-piece built in unit. Ditto for the dishwasher. We will have a stainless two-tub sink under the kitchen window looking out on the back yard and patio.
For the laundry, I picked out a washer and dryer and pedestals in turquoise (pictured). We also plan on having a tankless water heater, refrigeration cooling and gas heater.
