Summers in Tucson offer a different experience than what our visitors normally  find in the winter and spring.  Tourist  and winter visitor traffic falls off, making getting around town much quicker and easier.  Our resorts have been advertising “Staycations”, with bargain rates targeted at getting the locals to enjoy an easy weekend getaway.  The pace slows down and everything happens with regard to the heat of the day.  It’s sort of like the cabin fever you northerners experience in the dead of winter.  We tend to do our outside chores at sun up, wearing big hats and long sleeves for sun protection.

But in the midst of oppressive heat come  the monsoons–that glorious time of year when the clouds gather late in the day and the heavens bless us with spectacular rain storms and the fragrant smell of creosote bushes.  The creosote bush, or larrea tridentata, is native to the southern third of Arizona.  It’s a great example of a plant’s ability to adapt to tough conditions.  The creosote has small waxy resinous leaves which emit a wonderful pungeant aroma after a rain.  When I came to Tucson in the summer of 1986 I had never experienced the desert.  The smell of creosote in the rain became something that triggered that “ahhh” feeling in my brain.  It makes me happy;  it reminds me how much I love living in Tucson.  My friend Pam who spends the winters in Tucson sometimes sends creosote cuttings to friends with a note saying, “This is what the desert smells like.”

Come to Tucson– enjoy the summer monsoons and that fragrant freshness the rain brings!

Denise McCreary