Today

Combining aspects of Native American, Hispanic, and European cultures, Arizona is one of the most culturally diverse states in the country. While the wealthy residents of Scottsdale raise Arabian horses as investments, the Navajos of the Four Corners region ride hardworking horses to herd sheep, which they still raise for sustenance and wool. Vacationers on Lake Powell water-ski through flooded canyons while cowboys in the southeast corner of the state still ride the range.

Although Arizonans are today more likely to drive Mustangs and Thunderbirds than to ride pintos and appaloosas, cowboy boots, cowboy hats, blue jeans, and bola ties are acceptable attire at almost any function in the state. Horses are still used on ranches, but most are kept simply for recreational or investment purposes. In Scottsdale, once one of the nation's centers of Arabian-horse breeding, horse auctions attract a well-heeled (read: lizard-skin-booted) crowd, and horses sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Even the state's dude ranches, which now call themselves "guest ranches," have changed their image, and many are as likely to offer nature hikes and massages as horseback riding.

A long legacy of movies being filmed here has further blurred the line between the real West and the Hollywood West. More city slickers wander the streets of the Old Tucson movie set and videotape shootouts at the O.K. Corral than ever saddle up a palomino or ride herd on a cattle drive. Even dinner has been raised to a cowboy entertainment form at Arizona's many Wild West steakhouses, where families are entertained by cowboy bands, staged gunfights, hayrides, and sing-alongs.

For Arizona's Indians, those were days of hardship and misery, and today the state's many tribes continue to strive for the sort of economic well-being enjoyed by the state's non-native population. Traditional ways still survive, but tribes are struggling to preserve their unique cultures -- languages, religious beliefs, ceremonies, livelihoods, and architecture.

Arizona is home to the largest Indian reservation in the country -- the Navajo nation -- as well as nearly two dozen smaller reservations. As elsewhere in the United States, poverty, unemployment, and alcoholism are major problems on Arizona reservations. However, several of the state's tribes have, through their arts and crafts, managed to both preserve some of their traditional culture and share it with non-natives.

Lately, however, many non-natives have been visiting reservations not out of an interest in learning about another culture, but to gamble. Throughout the state, casinos have opened on reservation land, and despite the controversies surrounding such enterprises, many native peoples are finally seeing some income on their once-impoverished reservations.

Many of the people who visit these new casinos are retirees, who are among the fastest-growing segment of Arizona's population. The state's mild winter climate has attracted tens of thousands of retirees over the past few decades. Many of these winter residents, known as snowbirds, park their RVs outside such warm spots as Yuma and Quartzsite. Others have come to stay, settling in retirement communities such as Sun City and Green Valley.

This graying of the population, combined with strong ranching and mining industries, has made Arizona one of the most conservative states. Although by today's standards Barry Goldwater could almost be considered a liberal, his conservative politics were so much a part of the Arizona mindset that the state kept him in the Senate for 30 years.

Arizona's environmental politics have been somewhat contentious in recent years. Although many people think of the desert as a wasteland in need of transformation, others see it as a fragile ecosystem that has been endangered by the encroachment of civilization. Saguaro cacti throughout the state are protected by law, but the deserts they grow in are not.

In many parts of the Tucson metropolitan area, houses have been built right up to the edge of national forest lands. The consequences of creating such a stark line between wild and developed lands came to the forefront of the news in 2004, when mountain lions moved into the popular Sabino Canyon recreation area and were even seen on the grounds of a public school. The presence of the big cats caused the immediate closure of Sabino Canyon and other nearby trails into the national forest. Today when you visit Sabino Canyon, you'll be warned repeatedly about the presence of mountain lions in the area.

Way up at the north end of the state, remote Grand Canyon National Park is suffering from its own popularity. With roughly four million visitors a year, the park now sees summer traffic jams and parking problems that can make a visit an exercise in patience. To help alleviate congestion and air pollution, the national park now uses alternative-fuel buses to transport visitors around the South Rim and Grand Canyon Village, and in 2007 added extra lanes at the park's most popular entrance.

Efforts at preserving the state's environment make it clear that Arizonans value the outdoors, but a ski boat in every driveway doesn't mean the arts are ignored. Although it hasn't been too many years since evening entertainment in Arizona meant dance-hall girls or a harmonica by the campfire, Phoenix and Tucson have become centers for the visual and performing arts. The two cities share an opera company and a ballet company, and the Valley of the Sun is home to a number of symphony orchestras and theater companies.

The arts, though, are often overshadowed by the Phoenix area's obsession with professional sports. Downtown Phoenix has positioned itself as the state's primary sports and entertainment mecca, with Chase Field, the US Airways Center, and numerous sports bars and nightclubs. However, it isn't just downtown Phoenix that is big on professional sports. The city of Glendale, west of Phoenix, is now home to both Glendale Arena, where the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes play professional hockey, and University of Phoenix Stadium, where the NFL's Arizona Cardinals now play football.

Suburban sprawl has long been a fact of life in the Phoenix area, but there are signs that even Phoenicians are tiring of the metro area's never-ending expansion. Inner-city Phoenix neighborhoods are beginning to be rediscovered, and old homes are finally being restored. There are even hip new loft-style condominiums being built near downtown Phoenix, and a trendy, urban art scene has begun to flourish in long-abandoned commercial and industrial neighborhoods in downtown Phoenix.

The new urban vibe that is taking hold in the Phoenix metro area is most evident in the Old Town Scottsdale area, which is now home to the ultra-hip Hotel Valley Ho and is getting a W Hotel as well. Scottsdale also now has one of the hottest nightlife scenes between New York and Los Angeles, and high-style bars and clubs attempt to outdo each other with their daring interior decors.

It isn't just in Phoenix that Arizona style is changing. Chic hotels have opened in Sedona and even Lake Havasu City. Prescott, a classic small-town-America sort of place, even has a great little jazz club. What's a cowboy to do?

Today the New West and the Old West are coming to grips in Arizona. Hopis still perform their age-old dances atop their mesas, while in Phoenix and Tucson, fashionistas dance to the latest techno beats. Grizzled wranglers lead tourists on horseback rides across open range, and ranchers find they have something in common with environmentalists -- preserving Arizona's ranch lands. All these people share something else: a love of sunshine, which, of course, Arizona has in abundance.