Arizona in Your Future The Complete Guide for Future Arizonans: Job-Seekers, Retirees, and Snowbirds

by Martin, Don W.; Martin, Betty Woo

• ISBN13: 9780942053401
• ISBN10: 0942053400
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-11-06
• Publisher: DiscoverGuides

Summary

This third edition of Arizona in Your Future is a comprehensive relocation guide to one of the fastest-growing states in America and the second most populous state in the West, after California. Completely revised and updated, with every listing rechecked for accuracy, it offers detailed information for relocating families, retirees, and "snowbirds," or seasonal winter visitors. Written by award-winning guidebook writers Don and Betty Martin, it covers essentials such as climate, population trends, job opportunities, schooling, living costs, taxes, economic trends, medical facilities, and state laws -- just about everything the prospective newcomer needs to know. The book divides Arizona into three components: the state, the communities, and the attractions. The state section covers tax rates, automotive laws, and more, with chapters on schools and colleges, where to find jobs, and retirement communities. The communities section lists Arizona's 54 largest cities and towns, with locator maps and specific details on living and housing costs, hospitals and clinics, shopping, community services, and more. The attractions section is a mini travel guide listing the state's visitor highlights and recreational facilities area by area. "Part employment guide, part Arizona directory, part welcome wagon…an excellent introduction." -- Travel Reference Library

Author Biography

Don and Betty Martin have written more than twenty travel books, mostly under their DiscoverGuides banner and its predecessor, Pine Cone Press. When not tending to their publishing company in Las Vegas or retreating to in their second home in an historic California mining town, they explore America and the world beyond. Both are members of the Society of American Travel Writers. They are gold medal winners in the Best Guidebook category of the annual Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, North America's most prestigious travel writing competition. Don, who provides most of the adjectives, has been a journalist since he was 16, when classmates elected him editor of his high school newspaper. (No one else wanted the job.) After graduating, he left his small family farm in Idaho, wandered about the country a bit, and then joined the Marine Corps. He was assigned as a military correspondent in the Orient and at bases in California. Back in civvies, he worked as a reporter, sports writer and editor for several West Coast newspapers, then he became associate editor of a San Francisco-based travel magazine. In 1988, he left to establish Pine Cone Press, Inc. He now devotes his time to writing, travel, sipping decent Zinfandel and-for some odd reason-collecting squirrel and chipmunk artifacts. Betty, a Chinese-American whose varied credentials have included a doctorate in pharmacy and a real estate broker's license, does much of the research and editing for their books. She also has written travel articles for assorted newspapers and magazines and she has sold travel photos through a major New York stock agency. When she isn't helping Don run their publishing company, she wanders the globe-with or without him. Her travels have taken her from Cuba to Antarctica.

Table of Contents

PART ONE: THE STATE
Why Arizona?
Making the decision	10	(3)
Weather or not	13	(2)
Beating the heat & shielding the sun	15	(1)
Driving and surviving the desert	16	(2)
Getting to Know You
The way it was & the way it is	18	(5)
Things Arizonan	23	(2)
Just the facts	25	(2)
Essential Arizona
Taxes and tax rates	27	(1)
Things automotive	28	(4)
Everything else you need to know about the state	32	(10)
School Days
Arizona's education picture	42	(1)
Some of the top public schools	43	(1)
Colleges and universities	44	(7)
The Job-Seekers
Arizona's employment base	51	(2)
Where the jobs are	53	(1)
State-operated Job Service offices	53	(2)
The top job markets	55	(5)
What the jobs are	60	(1)
Starting a business	61	(1)
Licensed occupations and trade organizations	62	(7)
How to land that job; sample resume and cover letter	69	(7)
The Retirees
Finding your place under Arizona's sun	76	(2)
What kind of retirement?	78	(2)
Planned retirement communities	80	(2)
Retirement areas	82	(1)
Central Arizona	83	(2)
North central Arizona	85	(3)
Colorado River corridor	88	(1)
Southern Arizona	89	(2)
The Snowbirds
Feathering your winter nest	91	(2)
The best snowbird roosts	93	(4)
Joining the RV clan?	97	(1)
Types of recreational vehicles	98	(3)
Handle with care: RV driving safety tips	101	(5)
PART TWO: THE COMMUNITIES
The Western Edge
Colorado River corridor	106	(14)
Northwestern Arizona
High country: beneath the Mogollon Rim	120	(22)
The Metropolitan Middle
Phoenix and the Valley of the Sun	142	(36)
Tucson and Beyond
The southeast and far east	178	(28)
PART THREE: THE ATTRACTIONS
The Northwest Corner
Grand Canyon and vicinity	206	(3)
Flagstaff and surrounds	209	(2)
Sedona and the Verde Valley	211	(3)
Prescott and Wickenburg	214	(2)
The West and Southwest
The Colorado River corridor	216	(3)
Yuma to Organ Pipe and Kitt Peak	219	(2)
Phoenix and Surrounds
Valley of the Sun attractions	221	(6)
Phoenix-Tucson corridor	227	(3)
Tucson and Beyond
Tucson attractions	230	(4)
South to Nogales	234	(2)
Eastern Arizona
The cowboy corner	236	(4)
The eastern mountains	240	(4)
Four Corners Country
The Navajo-Hopi reservations	244	(7)
Arizona's other Indian nations	251	(1)
Exploring South of the Border
Down Mexico way: visitors' tips	252	(2)
The border towns	254	(2)
Afterthoughts
Arizona's ten best towns and cities	256	(1)
Arizona's ten best retirement towns and Snowbird roosts	257	(2)
The ten best places to find a job	259	(1)
The ten best tourist attractions	259	(1)
Other useful Arizona books	260	(4)
How to talk like an Arizonan	264