Information gathering: Tucson

[itself]

Sorry to hear that you haven't been satisfied with the offerings of Cave Creek. I grew up near Chicago, and naturally there just isn't as much going on in much-much-smaller Tucson... but I'm never lacking things to do or fantastic places to eat, and I think the people down here are great (almost as friendly as Midwesterners... I spent some time living in Wisconsin too ). Sounds like maybe you should have settled 150 miles to the south.

We looked at Tucson and loved it! But with our jobs, and needing to be close to a major airport, we had to choose closer to Phoenix.

Tempe is a really cool area, as it has the University, and this creates some culture. El Charro on Court St is to die for as far as food!

[azfiddle]

I don't really know Cave Creek at all, though I suspect it's got a lot of new developments, and not so much character... but for what it's worth, we found a good pizza place by accident in Anthem when we went to the Pearl Izumi outlet store. The outlet stores are west of the freeway. The restaurant is called Rosati's, and it's on the east side of I-17, north side of the street, less than a mile from the freeway- maybe much closer.

[Owlie]

...

I reapplied this year. They want to interview me again. The interview is on Friday.

Cue freak-out time.

[tulip]

...

I reapplied this year. They want to interview me again. The interview is on Friday.

Cue freak-out time.

Good luck! It took me two tries to get into the grad school of my choice, so it definitely is doable.

[Dogmama]

Dress warmly. Big storm coming through. Maybe even (gasp) a couple of inches of snow today!

Good luck to you!

[Crankin]

Good luck, Owlie!
I just read through this thread again, and got my momentary feelings of nostalgia, which I keep firmly under control.
I *did* love Cave Creek, where we stayed a couple of years ago. It's not over developed, no huge amounts of strip malls, lots of desert, and few traffic lights. Just like the way Scottsdale and Tempe were when my parents moved there in 1971. We have seriously considered buying a small condo in Cave Creek or Carefree in the future. While I would be far from my friends in Tempe, the riding looks great and the county park was awesome for hiking and trail running. Tempe was a great place to raise young kids and even back in the 80s there were tons of cultural and recreational activities. But, it's just like that Eagles song about the destruction of LA (I can't remember the name, "lost" something), which has a line that says something like "and they built those boxy houses and Jesus, people bought them..."
There is more to life than warm weather, which I know, is hard for some to believe. But, U of A is a great school.

[azfiddle]

Just saw this Owlie. Please keep me posted. Good luck!

Sharon