Chapter 18:Hawaii

Beautiful Hawaii... I haven't been lucky enough to go there yet but I have heard great things. Hawaii is near the middle of the Pacific Ocean.Until the last two centuries, Hawaii has been able to keep isolated. However now, these islands have become an important focus of shipping, whaling, and political maneuvering.

 Hawaii's oceanic location greatly affects the climate.  It surprised me to hear that Honolulu's record high was 88*F. I'm used to Arizona heat at 120*, 88* is nothing. Their high temperatures occur in September and October. There is little seasonal change in temperature because it has a tropical location. The islands' topography creates an extreme variations in precipitation from one location to another.

Sugar and pineapple fueled the Hawaii's economy for decades after the 1860s. The relative importance of agriculture has declined greatly. Even though they provide a substantial share of the world's sugar harvest.

Today, over 7.4 million people visit Hawaii each year. Tourism produces over $1 billion per year for the Hawaiian economy and employs more than 171,000 people. It also brings upon a negative aspect of it. The more tourists you have the more hotels being built along the beautiful island.

Chapter 16:The North Pacific Coast

Much of the North Pacific Coast's regional character is tied up in beauty and bounty of its landscapes. Another key component is the relative location. Precipitation is high here because of its maritime influences. The greatest average annual precipitation on the continent is found there; averages above 190 centimeters are common. However, not all of the Northern Pacific Coast has high precipitation. Mountains are the main reason for the high precipitation and the substantial climatic variations that exist inland.



Not surprisingly, the North Pacific Coast is a land of mountains. Except for the tundra above the treeline and the drier lowlands, all of the North Pacific Coast is, or was, covered by forest. Tree growth is encouraged by the region's plentiful moisture and moderate winter temperatures. No other part of Canada or the United States provide as much lumber as the North Pacific Coast.

More than 10 million people live in the North Pacific Coast.Most live in a long cluster of cities and towns along the lowland. Seattle has been the largest city along the North Pacific Coast since its boom era of the late nineteenth century.

Chapter 15: California

Good old California. Home of some of the greatest legends. And a place I like to call home as well. Many people have skewed vision of California. Whether they believe a lot of dumb people live here or if they believe it's the best place to be, all the rumors are probably true. California is home to 12 percent of Americans. With that many people you are bound to have a melting pot of people, which is just what California is. There are many contrasts in California, from the Northern parts to the Southern parts, or even the varied topography. California has the lowest and highest elevations in the coterminous United States; Death Valley and Mount Whitney. Even the weather is dramatic, 90 degrees one day and the next day could be rainy and 60 degrees. People either love California or hate it.















Luckily we don't have to worry about hurricanes or tornadoes. However, earthquakes are definitely our enemy. Small earthquakes are very common across California and the large ones come occasionally. Wildfires are also something we have to be cautious of. In the hot and dry months in the fall, wildfires always seem to kick our butts.

The climate in California is called Mediterranean climate. It is climate with moderate precipitation concentrated almost always in the winter months, and one that has mild winters and hot summers.

The variety of climatic regions and the market demand of California's own bulging population are the principle contributors to the state's crop diversity. Many cities are located in the midst of good farmland, and urban land users prefer the same flat land that is most valuable to farmers. One problem is that urban expansion, may become even more so as some farmers choose not to sell their land until surrounding land is urbanized.

Overall, I think most people would agree California isn't such a bad place to live after all.

Chapter 14: The Southwest Border Area

Today, the Southwest Border Area's tricultural complexity lends it its special character. Acculturation (cultural borrowing and sharing among groups) in the Southwest Border Area became more complex when Anglos arrived. The cultural impact of Indian and Spanish groups on the regional landscapes is obvious. Spaniards expanded into the Southwest from their colonial core in Mexico. When they encountered a difficult or different environment, the expansion halted. The aridity of Arizona, New Mexico, and bordering areas in Utah and Colorado discouraged large scale Anglo agricultural settlement in the nineteenth century.

Nowhere else in the world do high-income and low-income societies meet in such close geographic proximity as along the U.S -Mexico border. In 1965 Mexico started the Border Industrialization Program to attract U.S. labor-intensive manufacturing industries to border communities in northern Mexico. For Mexico, this program offered the possibility of jobs for its people.

Like I stated in an earlier bog, the book states that large retirement communities have sprouted in the desert.  One main attraction in Lake Havasu City, Arizona is the London Bridge, where it arches over a newly created and artificially maintained waterway. This is one landmark people remember from Lake Havasu.

In 1967, the Common Council of the City of London placed the bridge on the market and began to look for potential buyers. On 18 April 1968, Rennie's bridge was sold to the American entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch of McCulloch Oil for $2,460,000. When casting his bid for the bridge, McCulloch doubled the estimated cost of dismantling the structure, which was $1.2 million, bringing the price to $2.4 million. He then added on $60,000, a thousand dollars for each year of his age at the time he estimated the bridge would be raised in Arizona. His gesture earned him the winning bid.

http://www.golakehavasu.com/history-of-london-bridge.html

Chapter 13: The Empty Interior

This large area of sparse population stretches from the Rocky Mountains' eastern slopes west to the Sierra Nevada of California, the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, and the coast of British Columbia. . The population density is so low across this space; hence the name "The Empty Interior".  Most of the region is filled with plateaus rather than mountains. The Colorado Plateau is a beautiful example. Lake Havasu City, AZ definitely doesn't have anything this amazing.However, this plateau does run along the middle Colorado River in Utah and Arizona. I have been on the Colorado river and the only thing I remember about it is it was freezing, narrow, and choppy water! This plateau isn't event the biggest in the Empty Interior.

Nearly all of the area in the United States that can be classified as desert is found in the Empty Interior or in the Southwest borderlands.

Irrigated crops dominate agricultural production in the Empty Interior. Without irrigation, a stable agricultural economy would be impossible in this dry region. Today, Arizona depends on subsurface waters to supply several times as much water as the Gila-Salt River system. The pressures on a deficient water supply are growing more acute throughout the drier southern half of the Empty Interior.

Chapter 12: The Great Plains and Prairies

The European settlers had encountered several environmental surprises on the Great Plains. One negative thing about the Great Plains is that they have the coldest winters and hottest summers. The weather is very extreme.

Contrary to many peoples' belief of the land being flat, the Great Plains has a varied landscape.  Another misconception about the Great Plains is that the people all share the same ethnic background. However, the Great Plains actually has many different cultures which make is so diverse.

The strongest images of a place are portrayed in the songs, folktales, and literature. I did not realized that the land influences the work of authors so much as it does.

 The agriculture in the Great Plains is large scale. Instead of having man labor work the fields they have intensive machinery use. The most important crop grown in the region by far is wheat.

Chapter 11: The Agricultural Core

 The agricultural core is defined by its aura of small-town, rural America. The cultural tones underlying it are strong and indisputably agrarian. The people are politically and socially conservative, independent and often friendly to strangers. Unlike Arizona, most of the agricultural core's residents are white descendants of waves of foreign-born migrants. Most people in Arizona are of white descendants but just not foreign. In Lake Havasu City specifically, there are mainly elder Caucasians. There is not as many people with diverse backgrounds in Arizona as there is in California.

Just like the people in the agricultural core, the people in Arizona are also politically and socially conservative, independent and often friendly to strangers. This is one of the main things that attract my fiance and I to Arizona.  California can be filled with stuck up people at times. It is nice to be around genuinely nice people who are laid bacck.

The agricultural core's landscape rolls gently with a few areas of flat or hilly terrain. The persistently rolling landscape permits good soil drainage and restricts swamps to small areas. Their soil falls into two basic groups- alfisols and mollisol. Alfisols form under conditions of moderate moisture and usually associated with coniferous or mixed forests. Mollisols are suited for grain production and are most fertile soil group in the agricultural core.