Moving to Phx area from WI: Honest Opinion

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by cmist

Ya, I'm not trying to bash it here...

but people need to have an interest in more than just finding a place that doesn't have to shovel snow. After all, what are you going to do with all that free time now that you don't have to shovel snow in the winter?

The things I list are things that I really believe you have to like to endure it here over the long haul... You can't just come here cause you "hate" snow and expect to be happy... you also have to LOVE heat, monotony, and the sacrifices that come with this climate.

I don't know. I have relatives all over that I go visit - even in Germany. Their lives don't seem any more exciting than mine. We raise our kids, do the dishes, watch TV, shop, clean the house,mow the lawn, take the dog to the vet. I've been home taking care of my sick daughter today. Spent a lovely day watching Sponge Bob and animated vegetables and talking animals of all sorts. That's the kind of life most people live and Phoenix is a reasonably good place to live that kind of life.

[Nea1]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

I don't know. I have relatives all over that I go visit - even in Germany. Their lives don't seem any more exciting than mine. We raise our kids, do the dishes, watch TV, shop, clean the house,mow the lawn, take the dog to the vet. I've been home taking care of my sick daughter today. Spent a lovely day watching Sponge Bob and animated vegetables and talking animals of all sorts. That's the kind of life most people live and Phoenix is a reasonably good place to live that kind of life.

yep thats it, ourlives. While most urban dwellers see it as boring, I see a very nice living and happy kids. Thats what happens when you grow up.

[IHatePhoenix]

I moved here 2 yrs ago from CA and absolutely hate it. The heat is not the problem....that's what a/c is for and energy is much cheaper here than in CA. What sucks is the lack of culture. Voted by a national educators' assn as the dumbest state in the Union this year, it is the capital of obesity, profanity, crassness, mental sluggishness and physical ugliness.. The city and state are decades behind the rest of the West. They even rave about their "posses". Aside from all that, Phoenix is BROWN..no lush green foliage. Water is expensive if you want to have a lawn. You're in the desert here and I believe that the unrelenting sunshine and heat has dulled the senses of it residents. Even counting change seems a daunting task at businesses! Big mistake to move here. My house is on the market after the holidays. California...here I come (again).

[Nea1]

it is brown and hot, duh, it is the desert!!! what a posses? enjoy your move.

[cmist]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

I don't know. I have relatives all over that I go visit - even in Germany. Their lives don't seem any more exciting than mine. We raise our kids, do the dishes, watch TV, shop, clean the house,mow the lawn, take the dog to the vet. I've been home taking care of my sick daughter today. Spent a lovely day watching Sponge Bob and animated vegetables and talking animals of all sorts. That's the kind of life most people live and Phoenix is a reasonably good place to live that kind of life.

When you are stuck at home with infants or toddlers, I agree... it wouldn't matter if you were in the Caribbean or Phx... you are going to be confined to 4 walls, sheltering your babies, needing to be close to your doctors and the routines your young children require. I have kid too and know how it goes.

When your toddlers though are no longer content hanging around the house with you watching "sponge bob" they will want to actually do things.

I have grown up here and at the time I didn't think it was bad... I spent my whole childhood in my backyard pool. However, when I visit my cousins that live on the east coast, they have much more to do together as family. They go to the beach regularly, boating, crabbing, fishing, dragnetting in the bay. Short train rides to NYC for fun.

Camping right on the ocean in their RV and not just some parking lot in the middle of the desert. Rivers, creeks, fireflies, etc. Fun in the snow in the winter without having to drive a few hours.... sledding, school closes with a bad snow in... If you think about the kids, not YOU shoveling it, that is fun for THEM.

All of the weather elements may sometimes wreak some havoc, but it keeps life interesting and a little unpredictable and kids would have a lot more to look back on with amazement than anything they will ever see here...

If all you want to do is hang around inside your overpriced air conditioned 3500 sqft house with a backyard barely big enough for a patio cover... you can do that here.

There are PLENTY of people that move here and LEAVE because they end up missing the seasons, even though originally they wanted to get away from it.

I'm not an unhappy person and realize a place generally is what you make it, one mans "sh1thole" is another man's waterin' hole!

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by cmist

When you are stuck at home with infants or toddlers, I agree... it wouldn't matter if you were in the Caribbean or Phx... you are going to be confined to 4 walls, sheltering your babies, needing to be close to your doctors and the routines your young children require. I have kid too and know how it goes.

When your toddlers though are no longer content hanging around the house with you watching "sponge bob" they will want to actually do things.

I have grown up here and at the time I didn't think it was bad... I spent my whole childhood in my backyard pool. However, when I visit my cousins that live on the east coast, they have much more to do together as family. They go to the beach regularly, boating, crabbing, fishing, dragnetting in the bay. Short train rides to NYC for fun.

Camping right on the ocean in their RV and not just some parking lot in the middle of the desert. Rivers, creeks, fireflies, etc. Fun in the snow in the winter without having to drive a few hours.... sledding, school closes with a bad snow in... If you think about the kids, not YOU shoveling it, that is fun for THEM.

All of the weather elements may sometimes wreak some havoc, but it keeps life interesting and a little unpredictable and kids would have a lot more to look back on with amazement than anything they will ever see here...

If all you want to do is hang around inside your overpriced air conditioned 3500 sqft house with a backyard barely big enough for a patio cover... you can do that here.

There are PLENTY of people that move here and LEAVE because they end up missing the seasons, even though originally they wanted to get away from it.

I'm not an unhappy person and realize a place generally is what you make it, one mans "sh1thole" is another man's waterin' hole!

I could write a book about all the places there are to go both locally and throughout the state. But others already have. I think if you truly believe there is nothing for families to do, you really are jaundiced and should move on. One of the things that keeps me here in spite of the summer heat and the unbearable congestion is that there are so many opportunites for outdoor family activities in this state.

Like a lot of people who have been here a long time, though, I am getting weary of trying to get out of town to get to them. I certainly understand how you feel about that. If we lived in a smaller town somewhere I guess it would be easier to get to whatever it is they have. But we really do have a lot of things to keep us interested if we are willing to deal with the hassle of driving to get to there. We've been thinking of moving to Anthem just so we could be closer to the things we used to do in AZ, and still would if we didn't have to mess around with the traffic. I am mulling whether that is a better option than running off to Oklahoma (another story) looking for a life that probably doesn't exist anyway.

[cmist]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

I could write a book about all the places there are to go both locally and throughout the state. But others already have. I think if you truly believe there is nothing for families to do, you really are jaundiced and should move on. One of the things that keeps me here in spite of the summer heat and the unbearable congestion is that there are so many opportunites for outdoor family activities in this state.

Like a lot of people who have been here a long time, though, I am getting weary of trying to get out of town to get to them. I certainly understand how you feel about that. If we lived in a smaller town somewhere I guess it would be easier to get to whatever it is they have. But we really do have a lot of things to keep us interested if we are willing to deal with the hassle of driving to get to there. We've been thinking of moving to Anthem just so we could be closer to the things we used to do in AZ, and still would if we didn't have to mess around with the traffic. I am mulling whether that is a better option than running off to Oklahoma (another story) looking for a life that probably doesn't exist anyway.

Well, I have taken my kids camping all over the place through AZ...Payson,Prescott,Sedona,Flagstaff,Canyon de Chelly,Colorado River,superstitions,lake pleasant,white tanks etc,hassayampa box canyon, etc. etc. We skiid/snowboarded in snowbowl/sunrise/taos, NM. We did the sunset volcano thing in flagstaff, meteor crater, grand canyon, dune riding in glamis or quads/4 wheeling in multiple areas... I don't need you to write a book... I've done a fair share of fun things here. I don't debate that a person who has weeks of leisure time can find escapes throughout the state. Its a great place to vacation.

We aren't discussing AZ recreation, but the city of Phoenix...

As a city, Phoenix is bland & full of let downs. I don't need a lot to get me excited... If just on my way to work everyday I crossed over a bridge called NEW RIVER and saw real running water it would give me a little boost, or I get all excited that a rainstorm is coming only to find out it drizzles a little mist and the sun is back in full force a second later. I feel faked out all the time by apt complexes named like River Run / Crystal Creek / Garden Lakes but there are no creeks, rivers, lakes anywhere near. The landscape is transformed into an illusion of perfectly manicured grass/flowers/trees but again its just a big fake out. I would prefer if we are really in the desert that it look something more like the wild west than a wanna-be california metro without the ocean or water.

Struggling to make a place something that its NOT personally leaves me feeling a little empty & disappointed in a daily setting... when I leave Phoenix, even for other places within AZ, I feel better... but for those that love it... no offense.

Oh, and Ponderosa... ANTHEM???? If you move there, your next move will be running out of here so fast to Oklahoma just to escape the nightmares you will have of Nazi HOA loving Anthemites. That is probably as FAR from what you would remember of OLD AZ as you could get!!! Its full of people from the "northeast side" that can't afford scottsdale, but that are too good for the "west side". They trick themselves into believing that 27th Ave is not the west side, but since they overcompensated by going so far north, its OK... It sounds ludicrous, but there is truth to it... Of course there are always exceptions, but its a VERY stuffy community without any real cause.

I have friends & family in Anthem and they are a different breed of person than what you know of in Goodyear... You tell your new neighbors in Anthem that you moved from Goodyear and watch... their eyes will unconsciously scan you up & down and their mouth will instinctively curl downwards into a frown of disgust as they say, "oh, thats nice"...

LOL! I'm exaggerating, but not all that much...

[cmist]

Originally Posted by AussieGirl

He was referring to one thing, and one thing only, and that was regarding the ranking of St. Louis as the most dangerous 'city' for 2006. It's extremely difficult to rank 'cities' because some cities don't have suburbs, and some have adjoining 'cities' that may or may not be even more dangerous.

The ranking of a metropolitan area is far more accurate because it includes the cities and suburbs that are connected. In the case of Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale though, for some reason Tempe was not included, but if it was, then it would have rated even lower!

Tempe is the #1 HIGHEST crime suburb outside of Phoenix proper... for a fact... it was probably left out for a reason!