The Salt River and Verde River reservoir system east and northeast of Phoenix provides scenic mountain lakes very popular for power boating, water skiing and fishing. Several Reservation casinos, greyhound tracks and horse tracks are available both in town and on the outskirts of town. 

Forget the stately cacti and cowboys riding off into the sunset; think Los Angeles without the Pacific. While the nation has carefully nurtured its image of Phoenix as a desert cow town, this city in the Sonoran Desert has rocketed into the 21st century and become the sixth-largest city in the country. Sprawling across 400 square miles of what once was cactus and creosote bushes, the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, also known as the Valley of the Sun (or, more commonly, just the Valley), is now a major metropolitan area replete with dozens of resort hotels, fabulous restaurants, excellent museums, hundreds of golf courses, world-class shopping, four pro sports teams, and a red-hot nightlife scene.

Sure, it also has traffic jams and smog, but at the end of the day, it can usually also claim to have had beautiful sunny weather. Sunshine and blue skies, day after day after day have made this one of the most popular winter destinations in the country. When Chicago weather forecasts call for snow and subzero temperatures you can have a hard time getting a tee time on a Phoenix area golf course. Phoenicians may get the summertime blues when temperatures hit the triple digits, but from September to May, the climate here can verge on perfect -- warm enough in the daytime for lounging by the pool, cool enough at night to require a jacket.

City of Phoenix

Phoenix Schools