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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
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    the desert
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    883

    Tell me about Phoenix

    I'm considering a job offer in Phoenix. The offer is good and the job is exactly what I want so now I just have to figure out if I can live there. I've searched, but this being a ski forum hasn't yielded much.

    I'm coming from the east, and ideally I would be moving closer to ski country but in this economy I'm not getting picky. AZ is pretty close... From my short visit during the interview, this is what I can tell:

    The Good:

    Very cheap living expenses.
    Nice, safe suburb type environment.
    Great airport with cheap fares and direct flights to anywhere.
    Great MTB/hiking/desert wilderness.
    2 hrs to decent mountains/wilderness/skiing in Flagstaff.
    Sedona.
    Good central location to access the southwest (Grand canyon, NM, CA, Vegas, Moab/Utah, etc)
    Golf.
    Perfect winter weather (given no snow).
    Diversity and culture, restaurants/bars.
    Great city planning/roads/no traffic.

    The Bad:

    Brutal summers.
    Everything looks the same; sprawling suburb environment.
    Proximity to skiing.
    Every day is sunny, monotonous (is this a bad thing?)
    Everybody is a transplant; moves there for a job.
    Smog.
    Dry air.

    Me: First job out of grad school. Engaged, so nightlife is not a priority but living somewhere "lively" is still important. Access to outdoors activities is a must, and with my schedule I will get 4 days off in a row every two weeks to take trips wherever. Skiing will suffer, but MTB is good, and it's a direct flight to SLC/Reno/DEN and still a major upgrade coming from NJ/NY.

    I'm gonna do it, for the job itself, and although not my top location choice it should still be fun. I suspect this will be complete culture shock coming from the east coast but I am looking forward to the adventure. Job is in Chandler so I will be looking for a spot in the East Valley. Scottsdale sounds exciting but maybe something near SouthMountain and the airport.

    So what am I missing? Fun stuff to do, things/places to avoid, etc?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    639
    You're not missing anything, just a word about the heat.

    Arizona in the summer is unbearably hot. It's not really the heat that's the problem either, it's how often it's hot, which was every single day, all day long, and at night. But it's definitely a cool place otherwise.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Jongistan
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    I have two friends that have moved to Phoenix, both from the East Coast.

    One moved back after two years, couldn't stand the heat and distance from friends/family. Said jobs were plentiful and he made a killing doing construction work (he suffers here doing the same).

    Other one is still there and last I knew loved it, even gave up skiing and got used to the heat.

    Both have told me that the availability of guns and places to shoot them make AZ way more fun. (neither were really into guns before living in AZ)
    Quote Originally Posted by Tunco perfectly summarizing TGR View Post
    It is like Days of Our Lives', but with retards.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Looking down
    Posts
    50,491
    Dear lord, the real estate is cheap.

    Not exactly one of the hippest cities in America.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Posts
    1,011
    What CookieMonster said.

    The heat is unbearable. It starts in mid-May and does not stop until Halloween. The evenings do not cool down so it's like being in an oven for 5 months.

    My wife and I lived there for 4 years. She was ready to move after year 2, but stuck it out until she couldn't handle the heat anymore.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    10,101
    Dumb attractive tail at ASU?

    Year round amazing golf (and by year-round, I mean "during ski season")

    Property is cheap, but to borrow a page from the end-of-the-economic-world-as-we-know-it types, you would not want to be there if the economic SHTF. Too many guns, not enough food/water aside from peyote and what you can squeeze out of a cactus.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Corner of Percocet and Depression
    Posts
    4,185
    If you like to climb it could be good living down that way. Lots of climbing, not much in the way of crowds.

    As far as culture is concerned it's pretty bad with a few pockets of resistance.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    crown of the continent
    Posts
    13,947
    Similarly to any bigger western city, the perfect fall hiking weekend around Flagstaff is shared by a few hundred/thousand others from PHX. Not sure about the 'quality city planning', always looked like mindless mega-sprawl to me.

    Other benny, close to Puerta Penasco, nothing fancy, but not the worst Mexican beach getaway.
    Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there's a fit about to get thrown
    And I never hear a single word you say when you tell me not to have my fun
    It's the same old shit that I ain't gonna take off anyone.
    and I never had a shortage of people tryin' to warn me about the dangers I pose to myself.

    Patterson Hood of the DBT's

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    bozone
    Posts
    673
    silly cheap flights to bozeman for your powder fix

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    On another tangent.
    Posts
    3,854
    FWIW, Phoenix is +/- 8 hours drive from Taos. Wolf Creek, Durango and Telluride. I'm pretty sure you have a lot of direct flight options to the smaller airports (ie, Durango) since Phoenix is a hub for a lot of small communities, including skiing and biking, etc options.
    Best regards, Terry
    (Direct Contact is best vs PMs)

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  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    la la land
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    5,801
    Scottsdale is nice.
    `•.¸¸.•´><((((º>`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸.•´¯`•...¸><((((º>

    "Having been Baptized by uller his frosty air now burns my soul with confirmation. I am once again pure." - frozenwater

    "once i let go of my material desires many opportunities for playing with the planet emerge. emerge - to come into being through evolution. ok back to work - i gotta pack." - Slaag Master

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  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
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    Loveland, Chair 9.
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    4,902
    Quote Originally Posted by tom111869 View Post
    What CookieMonster said.

    The heat is unbearable. .
    second that.

    coming up from houston, thought it would be better considering you dont get hummidity; but i'll take 95 and 95% humidity any day over 110; that was brutal.
    TGR forums cannot handle SkiCougar !

  13. #13
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    May 2006
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    Corner of Percocet and Depression
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    Quote Originally Posted by SkiCougar View Post
    second that.

    coming up from houston, thought it would be better considering you dont get hummidity; but i'll take 95 and 95% humidity any day over 110; that was brutal.
    Fuck that. You are an alien. I spent over a week camping in 115 temps just north of Vegas and I would take that for years over any day between July and September in Houston. I grew up in east Texas, 100 for 6 months with 85% humidity. You can't do much when its that hot outside.

  14. #14
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    Dec 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by brice618 View Post
    Fuck that. You are an alien. I spent over a week camping in 115 temps just north of Vegas and I would take that for years over any day between July and September in Houston. I grew up in east Texas, 100 for 6 months with 85% humidity. You can't do much when its that hot outside.
    Actually that's like sorta the same, but not really. Compared to anything in the backcountry around vegas/death valley, both vegas and phoenix feel a full 10 degrees hotter, due to the plethora of asphalt and irrigated land like yards and golf courses. So your 115 was like 105 in the cities. When it gets above 110 in vegas/phoenix, it gets pretty ugly.

    But then again, that's why God invented beer...
    Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there's a fit about to get thrown
    And I never hear a single word you say when you tell me not to have my fun
    It's the same old shit that I ain't gonna take off anyone.
    and I never had a shortage of people tryin' to warn me about the dangers I pose to myself.

    Patterson Hood of the DBT's

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    Jongistan
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    No thanks, I'll stick to the North East where it doesn't even break 90 every summer.
    Quote Originally Posted by Tunco perfectly summarizing TGR View Post
    It is like Days of Our Lives', but with retards.

  16. #16
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    May 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tye 1on View Post
    Actually that's like sorta the same, but not really. Compared to anything in the backcountry around vegas/death valley, both vegas and phoenix feel a full 10 degrees hotter, due to the plethora of asphalt and irrigated land like yards and golf courses. So your 115 was like 105 in the cities. When it gets above 110 in vegas/phoenix, it gets pretty ugly.

    But then again, that's why God invented beer...
    It was hot enough that I braved the most misnomered river in the history of the world - The Virgin. 105 in the shade in Houston is WAY worse than 115 in the shade in Phoenix and I've definitely felt the heat island effect of concrete jungles.

    Beer. Thats how I'd live in Houston or Phoenix.

  17. #17
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    Jan 2008
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    you see a tie dye disc in there?
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    4,652
    never lived in AZ but travel quite a bit to Chandler for work.... things to consider.....

    window tint = dark
    auto start = with AC on
    house with pool
    misters

    Just about moved there... then I stepped off the plane on July 17, 2006.... I live in Denver now but I had a choice.

    I could think of alot worse places to live

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
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    LV-426
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    21,126
    I lived in Vegas for about a year and a half; lasted through 2 summers. I hated it.

    Phoenix makes Vegas seem like a nice quiet little town, full of interesting architecture and good weather.

    Phoenix is absolutely awful. Scottsdale is much more tolerable, but still very very very hot.

    Phoenix also gets more humidity than Vegas (monsoonal moisture up from the gulf), which makes it even worse.

    Tucson, on the other hand, is nice. Still hot, but more open desert, mountains nearby, not overdeveloped stucco/asphalt/traffic hell.
    Quote Originally Posted by powder11 View Post
    if you have to resort to taking advice from the nitwits on this forum, then you're doomed.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    West Coast of the East Coast
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    7,737
    "Can't you see the white people are melting out here?"

    Do it. It will be fun. It isn't a heat like you are used to. Feels more comfortable than humid climates do, pleasant even. Then you realize that you haven't pissed in 8 hours, despite drinking 5 gallons of water, and it becomes apparent that you are drying from the outside in. You'll get used to it, but be careful on those first couple of outdoor adventures. Oh, and watch that show about snake bite victims. That is based in Phoenix, I think.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    19,814
    Quote Originally Posted by hawkgt View Post
    house with pool
    misters
    You need a pool chiller in Phoenix.

    My mom lives in Tucson. I hate Az. Az. does have good public recreation facilities but I can't stand dirt and cactus.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
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    sandy, sl,ut
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    9,307
    Dunno if its been mentioned, or if you care, but there is some of the best sailplane flying in the country not too far out of town, and one of the best sailplane schools with great instructors as well. Little town called estrella.
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  22. #22
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
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    Making the Bowl Great Again
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  23. #23
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    45
    I'm a Phoenix native and 50 years old, so I can tell you a few things about this town.

    The heat is a factor. But the key is to get out in it. The heat won't go away, so you have to adapt. Being a mountain biker is great way to do it. In April, you just go biking during the hottest part of the day. In will be 90 degrees then. Same thing in May. It will be 100 degrees then. In June, you switch to riding at dawn and keep that up through August. It may take 2 years to acclimate, but you will get more comfortable.

    I live in South Scottsdale (near old town) and highly recommend the area.

    As for skiing, Southwest has cheap flights to tahoe and SLC. There are bus trips to Telluride and Durango nearly every weekend. 3 day trips and someone else does all the driving (12 hours).

    Also, San Diego and Laguna Beach are 6 hours away (driving). Rocky Point is 5 hours away, but the border area is somewhat dangerous. Lots of people still go there without any problems.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by leroy jenkins View Post
    Dunno if its been mentioned, or if you care, but there is some of the best sailplane flying in the country not too far out of town, and one of the best sailplane schools with great instructors as well. Little town called estrella.
    Huge parachuting center nearby too, Marana i believe?
    Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there's a fit about to get thrown
    And I never hear a single word you say when you tell me not to have my fun
    It's the same old shit that I ain't gonna take off anyone.
    and I never had a shortage of people tryin' to warn me about the dangers I pose to myself.

    Patterson Hood of the DBT's

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    the desert
    Posts
    883
    Nice thanks for all the replies. Seems like it won't be terrible, just takes some getting used to. Also having a pool is a must. Looks like I'll be picking up some new hobbies too...and getting really good at golf.

    I've seen that dust storm pic. Looks like fun

    People say the traffic is bad, but I bet they haven't tried to cross the Hudson before.

    Next question: Live near work for short commute? Live near nightlife for walk to bars (Scottsdale)? Or live near airport to get outta dodge frequently? Or it won't matter since everything is about a 15 minute drive...

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