I just returned from a wonderful weeklong family vacation in phoenix. This was our third trip staying at a family resort with a water park. All I an say is that it was wonderful. Here are some interesting things I learned about phoenix.

Good: 110 degrees is not that hot when you spend the day at the pool.

Bad: Phoenix has no good beer. I didn't even SEE an IPA while I was there. Everything is very bland.

Good: Hard alcohol is sold in grocery stores. Sweet. This seems to be their alcohol of choice.

Bad: They have no concept of wine there. Just forget about trying to get wine at most restaurants.

Good: The women are amazing. They seem to have very high standards there. Much higher than Seattle or my home town of Yakima. I saw quite a bit of plastic surgery and many many advertisements for plastic surgery.

Good: Besides looking good the women dress extremely nice. There were stores there that I had never heard of. My wife and I did some shopping and made out quite nicely.

Bad: The men were fairly slovenly. This really surprised me after seeing all the women. Lots of extremely overweight guys and their clothing was on the level of skateboarders for the most part.

Good: In the summer the resorts are incredibly affordable. i stayed at a hilton, with a water park, and there was a seperate room for the kids for about $80/night. Amazing. Three restaurants, seven pools, kids conciers as well as the regular conciers.

Good: The food was amazing. A very wide variety and reasonably priced. For $15-20 you can have a great meal. In my home town $20 buys you much much less.

Good: Taxes were very low at about 5%. My sales tax is over 8%! According to my brother they also have about 3% unemployment. A very nice combination.

Bad: I10 is pretty harry at rush hour. I avoided it.

Good: Very nice architecture, lots of roadside vegetation (not as dry as you would think), tons of entertainment options.

In the end I have to say I'd move there given the opportunity. The only thing I could find that I did not like was the road conjestion at rush hour and the amount of sprawl. It made everything look better to not be all stacked on top of each other but you have to drive 30-45 minutes to get anywhere. There you have it folks.

Dave

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Ukulele music I couldn't find anywhere else.
[colquhoun.info]

Sounds like you had a good time. I don't like beer or wine so I can't tell you about that. But I'm sure they have every kind of beer you can want, you just missed it. Maybe a nice Pabst or Hamms.

I used to have to fly to Phoenix Monday thru Friday at 7am and back to L.A. at 6pm for about a year and a half (whew). Imagine 110° to 71° in an hour.

I loved it there. I thought you could always buy whisky in the grocery store. Lots of hotties there for sure.

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davemchine
Good: The women are amazing. They seem to have very high standards there. Much higher than Seattle or my home town of Yakima. I saw quite a bit of plastic surgery and many many advertisements for plastic surgery.

This sentence of yours intrigues me greatly. You seem to be associating "high standards" (whatever THAT means!) with boob jobs. Is that what you meant?

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chas_m




[crawlingfromtheusa.blogspot.com] <-- Moving to Canada blog

He lives in Yakima Chas, what's your guess?

What's the population? Less than 100K?

No disrespect Davemachine but Phoenix is not large as cities go, the adjustments from where you live now would be huge. Not to mention that Phoenix is now worse to commute into and out of than LA.

Hard to imagine that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2007 06:08AM by RgrF.

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vision63
Maybe a nice Pabst or Hamms

Nice? First time I heard that about those swills.

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Da Good Life



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2007 06:59AM by spearmint.

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Good: Hard alcohol is sold in grocery stores. Sweet. This seems to be their alcohol of choice.

You mean there's someplace in the country where this isn't the norm? I live in a dry county these days (Saline County, Arkansas) but back in New Orleans, hard alcohol was available *everywhere*.

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I moved here 2 years ago and I like it alot, your observations were pretty good. I do dress like you say most men flip flops, cargo shorts and (example) gap shirt, and the women do dress good. If you drive through the neighborhoods in the summer no kids are out playing because it's 110 degrees they are on the computer or at a swimming pool.

When I say the standards seemed higher for the women I DID mean the physical standards (since I broke out dress seperately). In my home town you don't see many women who take care of themselves. The standards are much lower.

I mentioned the plastic surgery and of course I meant boob jobs (i'm a guy) but I suspect there were other types of plastic surgery going on also. There were ALOT of advertisements for skin treatments, breast enhancements, and liposuction. In general there was alot more skin showing. I saw slim legs, tight tummies, and perky...well you get the idea.

I really can't say enough about how much I enjoyed my trip and I'm not just talking about the women or the water park. I find Pheonix to be a very clean, well thought out, and a beautiful city. If it weren't for the traffic (and family of course) I'd move there in an instant.

Dave

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Ukulele music I couldn't find anywhere else.
[colquhoun.info]

My sister lives near Phoenix...

My only objection to the area is that that ONE city sucks up most of the fresh water for the ENTIRE southwest.
With no "native" supply of water, I would be concerned that with a relatively minor infrastructure problem, and 100 deg plus tempertures, you'd have half a million deaths in about 4 days.

Nice city though... I agree. (too warm for me personally).

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
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Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
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Eureka, CA

Sounds like you had a good time, I was born and raised in AZ, but now live in
Seattle.

Well, if you consider that most of the Zonies have invaded bfd's corner of the southwest from June-September, the low prices make sense… in the high season (Oct-April) those same rooms go for triple the rate …

Did you go to that rotating restaurant at the top of the Hyatt?

I did not eat at the Hyatt but I sure had some good meals while I was there.

Sam's club - great atmosphere with the hard wood floars and the big wooden rafters. I shared a salmon over sweet potatoes with my wife.

PF Changs - I can't resist the spicy scallops.

Chocolate factory - black pepper shrimp, absolutely amazing. Finished with the peanut butter cheesecake and white chocolate.

Hole-in-the-wall - this was a restaurant at the resort, I had pulled pork sandwiches there several times. Had my meals overlooking the pool

Aunt Chilada's - one of my favorite mexican restaurants, the chips are amazing. I had an enchilada filled with scallops and shrimp. Had dinner outside by the misters.

Ruslers roast - I probably got that name wrong but it was a western themed restaurant overlooking the city, country western band, sawdust on the floor, and a slide to get the kids into the restaurant. I had the pork ribs and they were quite good.

Rula Bula - an irish restaurant where I had my father's day meal. I enjoyed bangers and mash until I couldn't eat anymore. Now they did have some good beer there but I cannot remember what it was called.

I'm probably missing something but those places were great! If you like looking at other people's vacation pics you can see mine here:
[web.mac.com]

Dave

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Ukulele music I couldn't find anywhere else.
[colquhoun.info]