Please Help Me Narrow Down Which Cities To Choose From (Mesa: insurance, house)

[Melanie53]

Originally Posted by rebelcork

Thanks Melanie. Surprise is near the top of our hopeful list right now. When you drove during rush hour was it the same both ways or just the one direction (kinda like the south bay). The reason I ask is I'm hoping I can drive my wife to work (using the car pool lane) and then I'd be on my own after that (so no car pool lane for me).

When I drove on Olive (the name of the same street is Dunlap in Phoenix) at around 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., there wasn't much traffic in either direction. I only noticed one backup in one spot; it was where people heading west were waiting to get onto the 101. That was the only place I saw any problem, and it didn't even seem that bad.

I would not want to commute on the I-10. Avoiding the I-10 was another reason we chose Surprise over areas that were further south or north. We found other houses and areas we liked, but we didn't want to deal with commute traffic on or near the I-10, or with commute traffic going east/west on the 101.

[Great Joy]

Originally Posted by Melanie53

When I drove on Olive (the name of the same street is Dunlap in Phoenix) at around 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., there wasn't much traffic in either direction. I only noticed one backup in one spot; it was where people heading west were waiting to get onto the 101. That was the only place I saw any problem, and it didn't even seem that bad.

I would not want to commute on the I-10. Avoiding the I-10 was another reason we chose Surprise over areas that were further south or north. We found other houses and areas we liked, but we didn't want to deal with commute traffic on or near the I-10, or with commute traffic going east/west on the 101.

I agree; I wouldn't want to commute daily on the I-10. However, the 101 rarely has any issues, even during rush hr.

[rebelcork]

Great Information. Thanks a lot. I will keep coming back to this site. Keep posting more here if you like. Thanks again.

[rebelcork]

OK, so with your help we have narrowed down the list as follows:

Avondale
Chandler
Fountain Hills
Gilbert
Goodyear
Glendale
Litchfield Park
Mesa
Peoria
Scottsdale (wishful thinking)
Surprise
Tempe
Youngtown

The ones in bold we are very interested in checking out. We will be heading there in ten days. Any final suggestions or comments? Thanks again everyone.

[Finger Laker]

enjoy your time out here - really not sure of the why on Youngtown..........

you could probably hit peoria, swing over into surprise and then down the 303 into Goodyear. Things to note in Goodyear as far as development would be the new shopping plazas going up at Cotton & Yuma - also note the spring training stadium being built at Yuma & Estrella as this intersection will be the heart of the city under the plans - also at McDowell & Bullard there will be a regional mall that should be open in 2010 - also check out Palm Valley and some of the other communities N of the I 10

from goodyear it would be really easy to swing up to litchfield park which is pretty nice

if you are looking for food/drink recomendations or just things to do in general just throw out what you are looking for

[MotleyCrew]

While in Peoria, please take a drive up Lake Pleasant and see the wonderful lake we have here. If you get hungry, 83rd and Bell has a great "restaurant row" and there are tons of great places to choose from. Please check out our master planned communities, Vistancia, West Wing, Sonoran Mountain Ranch.
Good hunting. Oh, please let everyone know what you decide on.

[rebelcork]

Great ideas. Thanks. As for Youngtown, well, we just don't know a lot about it, but saw some nice 'Adobe'(?) type homes at good prices online. What we are hoping to do on each of these mornings is to get a feel for different areas, see what's there, find a nice path for an hour walk, and grab some lunch to talk about what we've seen. As for lunch, we like things like Ruby Tuesday, Vietnamese, Mexican/Taqueria, Thai, Dim Sum, Irish Pubs... Any suggestions? MotleyCrew, any of these or similar in that 'restaurant row' you mentioned? Thanks again.

[ABQSunseeker]

Fountain Hills, on your list, is in one of the most beautiful parts of the Valley and when you're in it, your surrounded by wonderful mountain vistas in every direction. The town is very pretty, rolling hills, growing downtown, etc.

Downsides are that it's pricey, it's somewhat far out from employment centers, and it has very limited access in and out.

[MotleyCrew]

We have a Famous Daves bbq which is fantastic. Elephant Bar, PF Changs, Red Robbin, Cheesecake Factory, Firebirds (steak house) McDuffy's, Harley Davidson sports bar, Abuellos (fantastic) Texas Road House, Hooters...trying to think of the name, Italian place called Buccos or something like that. They are in the process of building an Irish pub as we type and I can't wait. Up a ways on Bell, Tagliano Italian, Fridays, Olive Garden and Red Lobster, Carvers, On the Border Mexican food. Over 200 restaurants within a 10 mile radius of the "row." When we were making our many trips over here looking for a house, it was my favorite spot in Peoria. Just the smell of it will drive you crazy.

[Finger Laker]

I used to live in that area and loved the options - although I was pretty upset when the Monastery Too was sold off .......... loved that place

if you are looking for good wings there is a place called Buffalo Wings & Rings off Indian & Thomas which has seriously good bar food - the chicken is really fresh and they make their own sauces & bleu cheese

there is a little place tucked by the LA Fitness & Walmart off Dysart between the I-10 and McDowell - it's a louisianna style fish and chips place - the guy who owns it is from that area - really reasonable and you can get it fried or grilled - shrimp, catfish, red snapper, etc

appetites BBQ off of Indian School and just a little east of Dysart is KC Style and really good - they have a signature dish of sorts, a baked potato topped with pulled pork - my wife loves it

All the chains can be found from Chilis, to Applebees, Native New Yorker, Streets of New York, Pei Wei, NYPD Pizza as well

there's actually a ton of sushi restaurants in goodyear as well - seems like a new one opens every few months

I really don't grab mexican food in the area - although there are options - i really can't recommend any of them

I also really don't think the metro does chinese food all that well and have yet to find anything impressive in the SW Valley

there are a couple decent thai places in west phoenix that i'll go to, but would probably be a bit out of the way