Cheer me up about moving to Phoenix??? (Tucson, Scottsdale: school, living in)

[stephen431]

Originally Posted by observer53

If you are suggesting that any of the areas you list in that last paragraph have a lot of jet noise, they don't. You'd have to be right on the main approach from either east or west to get enough noise to disturb sleep.

Oops, not Scottsdale. That far south and west of Camelback is back into Phoenix.

I have some friends who live in Tempe and with their windows open the noise is noticeable during the daytime.

http://www.azre.gov/AirportMaps/Publ...se&Traffic.pdf

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by stephen431

I seriously didn't even scratch the surface. If you like to be outdoors, there is so much to do here, you couldn't do it all in 2 lifetimes.

Tubing down the Salt River is very popular here. We have 5k's and marathons almost every weekend. We have one of the Ironman events here (which is fun to watch even if you're not competing). If you or your husband like to golf... forget it, you'll never leave Phoenix. I've seen people hang-gliding over Moon Valley & South Mountain. I see people hot-air ballooning over North Phoenix all the time. We've got 2 or 3 different glider (soaring) flying schools here if you've ever wanted to ride thermals. You can windsurf at Lake Pleasant (1 hour drive). Skiing/Snowboarding on Humphrey Peak (2 1/2 hour drive) or Mt. Lemmon (3 hour drive). Rock climbing, caving, mountain biking & canyoneering are all over the place (on a trip to Monument Valley, make sure you stop at Antelope Canyon).

I'm sure you're already aware of the miserably hot summers, so make sure you plan trips out of the city when you can. Phoenix is pretty, but it is awfully brown. If you need to see some green, Phoenix has large forests to the north and to the east, each a little over an hour away. The red rock canyons & forests of Sedona is one of the most beautiful places in the country and it's just 90 minutes away, but it's at a higher altitude so it has much cooler temps than Phoenix. Zonies frequently drive to San Diego (5 1/2 hours) in the summer to escape the heat. Another common destination is Rocky Point (gringo for Puerto Penasco) down in Mexico (7 hours). Sky Harbor has cheap, direct flights to a lot of cities (90 minute flight to SLC means you can go from your front door to skiing the slopes around Park City in under 4 hours).

So, all that bad stuff you've heard about Phoenix... has zero impact on our great weather, our beautiful surroundings, and it won't affect the fun, unique things you can do here for the next 5 years.

It takes about 4 hours for me to get to RP, Mexico from Goodyear. I can't see it taking that long from other parts of the metro. It's only a couple hundred miles. It can take longer to get back depending on the border crush. El Golfo south of Yuma is pretty easy to get to as well. Both places are pretty darn hot in summer, though.

[stephen431]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

It takes about 4 hours for me to get to RP, Mexico from Goodyear. I can't see it taking that long from other parts of the metro. It's only a couple hundred miles. It can take longer to get back depending on the border crush. El Golfo south of Yuma is pretty easy to get to as well. Both places are pretty darn hot in summer, though.

Typo. It's 4 hours to Rocky Point.

[CalA]

Just wanted to say thanks to the OP and all the replies! I'm in a similar situation, in that my husband took a job at ASU (best choice out of the options, but certainly not a place I was excited about moving) and I've also been trying to jazz myself up about all the many great things this area has to offer. We're also only planning to stay for a "short" time (7 years) unless we really love it . Hopefully Phoenix will happily surprise us!

[hazelnutmom]

I lived in Arizona four years ago ended up moving back home to Ohio and now my husband daughter and I are moving back to AZ and I cant wait. I absolutely love it there. Yes the summers are hot, but personally I prefer the heat over snow any day! even if its 117 degrees! Look at moving there as an adventure. If you think poorly about the move you will not enjoy your time there. If you go there with an open heart and mind you will appreciate all Arizona has to offer. Remember if you both dont like it in five years you can move back to the midwest. We wont be back there until after the New Year, but I am counting down every single day till we get there.

[DR2012]

I got here a week ago and so far I like it, I know it's not super hot yet so that helps. But what helps me is comparing it to where we last were, and where we'd be if not here, and wow it was awful. This place is so much prettier and nicer to me.... I love the mountains! The tall palm trees are neat.... I love the change in scenery. Was so tired of flat lands and humidity. I love to hike and I went this weekend and was in heaven. The housing is better - our last place we had our pick of 3 places, and they were all old, run down, inefficient ACs (It got up to 118 with humidity there so that was awful) toilets falling apart, etc. And what could be better than an NHL stadium, I told my husband if the Coyotes leave we have to leave too LOL. I already have a job prospect that should pan out in less than a week, after a year at my last location I had nothing, not even a crappy minimum wage retail job. I could so do worse than here in Phoenix. Even the grocery stores are better here. Fry's is so cool! My husband and I didn't even make it past the first aisle without ooohing and ahhing. It was overwhelming, we wanted to buy everything. That probably sounds funny to a lot of you but where we last where was so ghetto and rundown and dirty looking.

[goolsbyjazz]

DR2012, where did you move here from? I'm glad you like our desert so far because it's one of those places you either like or you don't. To really get the AZ experience you must travel around the state to see the diversity in climate and topography. It truly is a beautiful place, even though we don't have an ocean we do have the mountains and lakes.

[Zathras]

I will echo what many have said in this thread.
After being stuck in Ohio for 32 years, we finally took the plunge almost 2 years ago. We arrived in town on the first day of summer. I think it was about 112 that day and we loved it. Nowadays I prefer it to stay under 110.
This is a beautiful area with the desert and mountain scenery and great climate. It's a huge city with something for everyone, and yet you can still find secluded and untouched places a short drive in any direction. Close to vegas, socal, the rockies.
The people we've met have been great as well.
And Monday Night Football is over by 9pm!

I think you'll love it here.

[DR2012]

Originally Posted by goolsbyjazz

DR2012, where did you move here from? I'm glad you like our desert so far because it's one of those places you either like or you don't. To really get the AZ experience you must travel around the state to see the diversity in climate and topography. It truly is a beautiful place, even though we don't have an ocean we do have the mountains and lakes.

I was in Shreveport/Bossier City, Louisiana. Everyone who isn't familiar with LA thinks I must be around New Orleans. It was 6 hours.... so none of that fun culture. I hated it there, we both did. Not our kind of place at all, I never found my niche there.

I do look forward to going to other parts of the state. I've been to the Grand Canyon and Sedona, I think Sedona is so neat and I can't wait to see Flagstaff, well I went through it and liked what I could see. I like that here, you can go for a day up north a couple hours and have quite a change in climate too. In LA, you go 3 hours in any direction and it's all about the same - flat, hot, humid, NOTHING.

Well I hope I really like it then, so far I do but honestly I survived hating it in Louisiana and at least here there's so much more to do that I like. Having work will be key and so far that's going MUCH better. Our house (we got one today) Is MUCH better too. I can't see how I'll hate it here more than there... so it's already a step-up.

[chavest]

You know it is gonna be hot in the summers, just as you assume it is gonna be freezing in Minnesota in the winter. You will learn to tolerate it.

One thing you will love is the themed bars. So if you look the you will find a bar that hosts certain colleges so you can meet people there. Also lots of theme bars for NFL teams as well. So if you are into that you can meet people from you home town easily.

Lots of great eating, look at a website called Arizona Local News - Phoenix Arizona News - Phoenix Breaking News - azcentral.com Has a up to date list of what is going on in the valley, there are tons of things going on here, but he city is so HUGE you will miss stuff if you do not always check.

your 4 hours from everything by car, or 2 hrs by air.

within a 4 hour driving range:
Tucson: awesome town with lots of history
Flagstaff: cool mountain town
Las Vegas NV
San Diego CA
LA, CA
Showlow: Best ski resort in the state


2 hr flights
Albuquerque (one hour south of Santa Fe: one of the top vacation spots for sophisticated couples in the nation and a amazing 400 year old cit
Las Vegas
San Diego
LA
Salt Lake City
San fran is just over 2 hours
Denver is 2 hours
Lots of small airlines fly out of Mesa/Phoenix airport and a major hub to most major airlines to get you anywhere super cheap.


I personally want to live in Denver for the long haul, but phoenix has a lot of offer as well