Brian A. Thomas .com

It is time again. Time to consider relocating from this dying city, and dying faster now that Hoover is closing shop, and move to a better place. Something warmer and sunnier.
Before we go on our tour, make sure you get Google Earth, perhaps one of the coolest tools around, as I’ll have a “(Go there)” link after each city that will take you there using Google Earth. If you don’t have it yet, you’ll find yourself playing it for hours, so I’ll see you when you get back. Your browser may give you a warning about if you want to open or allow the link, just say yes, and Google Earth will fly from wherever you have it open at, or where it is currently located to the new location. There you can get a short Wikipedia article and more.
Arizona is the place under consideration at the moment. What parts of Arizona? Here is the city/town list:

The Greater Phoenix area (go there). Some have advised us to stick to the East end, and most of the suburbs we were considering were on the East end. The negative side with Phoenix and it’s suburbs? The heat… which Sara will consider living with just to get the much needed sun.
Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix (go there). Which according to Money Magazine is the #3 big city to live in ((link, you’ll need to navigate to the “Best Big Cities” link and follow it to Mesa.) This was the first area I actually considered once we decided to look at the Phoenix area.
Scottsdale, yet another suburb of Phoenix (go there). We quickly discounted this one due to the fact it costs a ton to live there. However, if we could afford it, it would be cool (well not cool in the heat factor sense…)
Sara suggested somewhere between Phoenix and Tucson as to have quick access to both cities.
Chandler, yet another suburb of Phoenix (go there). Intel is one of the big employers here, and you can bet I already sent a resume there… actually the only resume I sent to anybody in Arizona at all yet. A bonus for me, there is are a couple In-N-Out Burgers there (Wikipedia article on In-N-Out Burger) there. Finally a chance to see if it lives up to the hype… not as important to Sara or Ari as they are vegan.
Tempe, yep another suburb of Phoenix (go there), which Sara and I both could have sworn we saw as Temple for a long time… Just one of the suburbs we might consider. Home to yet another famed burger joint, this one the Heart Attack Grill. And no, the burger joints in these two suburbs are not part of the criteria of if we would locate to these areas.
Gilbert, another suburb of Phoenix (go there).
Outside the general Phoenix area we have:
Prescott (go there), pronounced “press-kit.” This is a mile up in the mountains, and 1 1/2 to 2 hours from Phoenix. Much, much cooler than Phoenix, but I am not sure the high tech jobs are there, though with how nice it looks, I would gladly work outside of my career if I could comfortably live there. It looks like the night skies would be outstanding, plus it gets you that much closer to some of the major attractions in Arizona while staying reasonably close to Phoenix for day trips to the big city. It is the #3 small town according to Money Magazine (link, you’ll need to navigate to the “Top 5 Towns” link and follow it to Prescott).
Payson (go there). I haven’t really looked at this place too much, but it looks nice. It is also in the mountains, but moves you Northeast from Phoenix rather than Northwest as Prescott. It is about 15 minutes closer to Phoenix it according to Google Maps than Prescott.
Of course one has to consider Sedona (go there) Unfortunately, I don’t think there are too many job options outside tourism, which would be fine if a job could be found that makes a living there. It is however, one of the most beautiful places to visit or live.

Some employer options in the area beyond Intel. GoDaddy, Google, Motorola, Raytheon, US Airways, Honeywell and host of others beyond the usual large retails places. All part of the reason the area is growing fast.

Tags: Arizona, General