It is very exotic, especially to people from Europe (particularly Germany) who make up a very large number of the tourists here, but also to most Americans. I would find it tough to live here, but it's nice that it's only a short drive (~3 hours to this park) because when it's too snowy to get into the mountains here we can still do outdoorsy things.

There are actually amazing wildflowers here in the spring, but we were too early for them this year. Just a few cactus blooms and desert lupine starting, but some years we've seen really beautiful displays. You're right that most of the growth is by the rivers and streams, cottonwoods and willows and tamarisk (which is invasive and we've been trying to kill it off now for ages without much success).