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ARIZONA LIVING

Living in Arizona is very different from any other place in the United States. Living in the heart of the Southwest used to be a chore and you were lucky to survive the summers. Today, it's been transformed into a desert oasis that has been developed into the 8th largest and the 2nd fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States. Arizona is a great place to live and raise a family.

People in Arizona don't live for the city. We don't live for tall buildings and an amazing city night life. We live for the mountains that surround the valley and the sunsets that light up our sky, not the buildings that create our skyline or the city that lights up our night sky. Our lives revolve around hiking, families and people. Many people don't realize the difference when they move here and they become disappointed with Arizona. They expect Arizona to be similar to Chicago, New York or Los Angeles. We'll it's not anything like any other city in the world. We're the heart of the southwest, with beautiful mountains, rugged cowboys and the most beautiful scenery in the world.

Although city life doesn't define Arizona, we have as many of the big city things as you could possibly want. Everything from the shopping in Scottsdale and around the Arizona Biltmore; to having every major sports league in the United States. Our pride and joy is the 2001 World Series Champion Diamondbacks. They ignited this city with baseball fanaticism within 4 years of getting their franchise. Our other teams are the Phoenix Suns(NBA), the Arizona Cardinals(NFL), the Phoenix Coyotes(NHL), the Phoenix Mercury(WNBA), the Arizona State Sun Devils(NCAA) and the University of Arizona(NCAA-Tucson).

If you love sports, Arizona is the place for you. In the past 10 years, Arizona has hosted every major sporting event with the exception of the Stanley Cup and the Major League Baseball All Star Game. We've had the 2001 World Series, Super Bowl XXX, 1992 NBA Championship, 1992 NBA ALL Star Game, the Cactus League (MLB Spring training), Fiesta Bowl NCAA Football National Championship, NCAA National Champion Basketball Team (University of Arizona), NCAA Football National Championship Contenders (1996 Rose Bowl-Arizona State University) and The Phoenix Open PGA Championship Tournament.

Most people don't know that Arizona has a large network of lakes and rivers throughout the state. One of the favorite places people like to go in the Summer is to tube the Salt River. It's a river on the north east side of the Phoenix Metropolitan area that is the run off of Saguaro Lake. All summer long, people will float down it in an inner tube. It sounds like a small town thing to do, but on any given day during the summer you will find thousands of people out there tubing the river. They even have shuttle buses out there taking people back to their cars. Be careful though, it's a rough ride.

There are also several lakes situated around the Phoenix Area. Most of which come from Central Arizona and stretch down into the north east side of Phoenix. There is Roosevelt Lake (very big and deep lake), Apache Lake (usually quite and peaceful; difficult to get to.), Canyon Lake (a lake that runs directly through a canyon, definately the fan favorite), Saguaro Lake (Closest to town and is fairly large), Bartlett Lake (north of Scottsdale and Carefree and is not very crowded).

There are also lakes all over northern Arizona. Many people love to go fishing and hunting up in the White Mountains (Showlow/Pinetop). It's a great place to go fishing and there are so many lakes that are tied to river. So if you like fly fishing or boat fishing, you will be a happy camper either way.