Arizona Theme

State of Arizona

Nicknames	The Grand Canyon State The Copper State
Motto	Ditat Deus
Spoken languages	English 72.58% Spanish 21.57% Navajo 1.54%
Demonym	Arizonan, Arizonian
Capital	Phoenix
Largest city	Phoenix
Largest metro area	Phoenix Metropolitan Area
Area	Ranked: 6th in the US Total: 113,998 sq mi Width: 310 miles Length: 400 miles Water: 0.32%
Population	Ranked: 16th in the US Total: 6,392,017 (2010) Density: 56.3/sq mi
Elevation	Highest Point: Humphreys Peak 12,633 ft Mean: 4,100 ft Lowest Point: Colorado River 70 ft
Before statehood	Arizona Territory
Admission to Union	February 14, 1912 (48th)

State Symbols

Amphibian	Arizona Tree Frog
Bird	Cactus Wren
Butterfly	Two-tailed Swallowtail
Fish	Apache trout
Flower	Saguaro Cactus blossom
Mammal	Ring-tailed Cat
Reptile	Arizona Ridge-Nosed Rattlesnake
Tree	Palo verde
Colors	Blue Old Gold
Fossil	Petrified wood
Gemstone	Turquoise
Mineral	Fire Agate
Rock	Petrified wood
Ship	USS Arizona
Soil	Casa Grande
Song	Arizona Arizona March Song

Arizona is a state of the United States of America located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix. The second largest city is Tucson, followed in size by the eight Phoenix metropolitan area cities of Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, Scottsdale, Gilbert, Tempe, Peoria, Surprise and then by Yuma in Yuma County.

Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912 - the 50th anniversary of Arizona’s recognition as a territory of the Confederate States of America. Arizona is noted for its desert climate, exceptionally hot summers, and mild winters, however it also features pine forests and mountain ranges in the northern high country, with cooler weather than in the lower deserts.

Arizona is one of the Four Corners states. It borders New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, touches Colorado, and has a 389-mile (626 km) international border with the states of Sonora and Baja California in Mexico. It is the largest landlocked U.S. state by population. In addition to the Grand Canyon, many other national forests, parks, and monuments are located in the state, while more than a quarter of its territory is Federal Trust Land which serves as the home of the Navajo Nation, the Hopi tribe, the Tohono O’odham and Apache people and various Yuman tribes, such as the Yavapai, Quechan and Hualapai.

Silly Joke

Arizona is on the border of Mexico, and many people in Arizona eat Mexican foods. That’s why an Arizona weather report once said, “Chile today, hot tamale!”

Theme Elements

The state colors for Arizona are blue and ‘old gold’—I’m not exactly sure what ‘old gold’ is—is it more rusted looking than ‘new gold’?—but I figured using the gold color on the state flag was close enough. The blue just looked wrong when I tried to work it into the theme, however, so I switched to ‘cardinal red’ instead with blue as the highlighted color when you hover your mouse cursor over links. The title bar is from a photo I used for June in the 2008 calendar taken by GeishaGirl in Saguaro National Park. Lots of saguaros in Arizona! I used an image of a two-tailed swallowtail, the state butterfly, to hide the break in the repeating pattern. The image in the lower right corner (which doesn’t seem to work with some older versions of Internet Explorer, so you might not see it if you use that) is of the Grand Canyon. This is the Grand Canyon State, after all! The Brown Knight took this photo, which was also used in the 2008 Calendar for September.

And for those of you wondering about that symbol that marks the gaps in the menubars, that’s Kokopelli, a symbol you’ll see used all over the Southwest United States.

Members

Now, time for a quick shout out to everyone on Atlas Quest from this state!

Letterboxing Cities

And, here are all of the cities in Arizona we’ve hit with letterboxes!