How nice is Arizona?

VERY NICE!

And I don't just mean the history or scenery.

We found that Arizonans, in general, were among the nicest people we ever encountered.

Exactly what do I mean?  Well, when you think about NYC, you think people are rude, loud, moving fast, not particularly polite.  And there is some truth to that in some people.  When you think about people in the deep south, you think people are slower, more polite, kind to each other.  These are broad generalizations, but I'm sure you can all think of instances when you were in the south or in NYC when you encountered a clerk in a store who was just like that.  In Maryland and in California, and in a lot of other states we've traveled through, most people are just so-so.  By that I mean, we run into a fair number of polite, even pleasant, clerks or receptionists, but we also run into a fair amount of them who are at best barely doing their job or at worst downright rude.  There was never the feeling that going to a store or an office would be a great experience or a bad experience.  It was just whatever it was, and if it went to an extreme at some point, then that was noteworthy.  Here in Florida, Mark and I have found store clerks and receptionists and wait staffers, in general, to be much nicer than those in Maryland.  Florida is not considered "deep south," but it does have some very nice people here in the retail and service industries.  Maybe that's because it relies heavily on the tourist dollar.

Not in Arizona!

We drove from Anaheim into Phoenix that first day, so our first experience with Arizonans was at the Super 8 in Phoenix and the waitresses at the Denny's that night for dinner.  Mark and I both enjoyed those experiences and commented that those people were really friendly.  In fact, at Denny's that night, as we spoke to each other at our table for two, TWICE people from different tables who obviously overheard us, just chirped up cheerily to chip in their two cents worth about whatever it was.  One conversation was about baseball and the other was about where we might find a grocery store.  We had lovely conversations with the families at both of those tables during dinner, and when we left, we talked at length in the car about how unusual it was that people from other tables felt comfortable jumping in to our conversations and about how pleasant the wait staff had been.  Then we didn't give it another thought, chalking it up to an isolated incident.

How wrong we were!

The next day we went to the ballgame.  We walked the half mile or so the stadium.  It was 108 degrees out, so there were not a lot of people walking, but those who did smiled or nodded as we walked.  That happens here in Solivita, but not always everywhere else.  When we got to the stadium, the ticket taker was super nice.  So was the usher.  So was every woman I ran into in the ladies' room.  So were the other spectators sitting around us.  Especially so was the traffic cop on the corner when we walked home.  He was so friendly that we almost missed our walk sign having such a fun conversation with him!  After that one, we both said when did we EVER have a pleasant experience with a traffic cop in downtown Baltimore?  NEVER.

And it went on and on and on.  Every city, every hotel, every restaurant, every store, every museum docent or ticket taker.  We NEVER encountered a rude, rushed, unpleasant person in Arizona. Is that possible?  Is it a state culture of niceness?  Maybe.  I don't really know.  But I do know it carried over into their driving habits.  EXCELLENT drivers are in Arizona! 

Anyone driving up and down the east coast or even in California has witnessed terrible driving, rude driving, downright unsafe driving.  But not in Arizona.  At no time did someone pass me unsafely, fail to let me in the lane when my turn signal was on, weave in and out, or speed excessively.  It was delightful.

It's almost enough to  make me want to move to Arizona.

Almost, but not quite.