Travel Tips

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Benson Rail Station

A - B

Aguila: Not much more than a gas station and a few trailers, it's a large snowbird area. Being on an isolated, under-used highway though, it sure is quiet here.

Ajo: "Garlic" in Spanish, it's, for whatever reason, a part of Pima County, which has its seat over 100 miles to the east, in Tucson. It's a bit of a joke in Pima County, but, although drug smugglers have moved into much of the town, it's still a cute and interesting place. Once a mining center, a variable, lowly economy has replaced it.

Alpine: As the name may suggest, this a mountain town, sitting in Arizona's White Mountains at the foot of the New Mexico state line, meaning that it's really more grasslands than the evergreens you may associate with the name. Alpine is a non-downhill skiing winter sports destination and a popular spot for people to get away from the weekend in the summer.

Apache Junction: (Un)Affectionately referred to as "AJ" in the Phoenix area, Apache Junction was once the only town in what was considered the Phoenix suburbs to be inside Pinal County. As a result of that county's lower restrictions on development, the town is now home to a string of strip malls, car dealerships and a slew of RV and trailer parks. It's not an attractive place but, as Phoenix has grown and housing prices pushed people farther away, AJ has become more of a regular suburb. It was mentioned, briefly, by name in the movie "Bad Santa."

Arivaca: Arivaca is another random part of Pima County that sits several miles from any state-maintained roads. Instead, it's on Arivaca Road, a long swath pavement across the Tumacacori Highlands north of Nogales, that's famous for its Border Patrol and smuggler traffic. The town itself is a small collection of businesses and modest homes. It may sound attractive to read about, but a visit will show how disconcerting of a vibe there is there. It's just a weird little town, and that's evident when you go there.

Arizona City: The area around Casa Grande and Eloy was once dominated by farming but, as the desire to retire in the sun-bleached, parched desert has gone up, the over 65 crowd now dominates. Arizona City was originally planned in the 1960's but has yet to be fully built-out. Many lots remain unsold and/or unbuilt, this creates a dusty and dreary landscape somewhat similar to the Salton Sea, but with fewer abandoned homes.

Ash Fork: A junction town, it's a collection of a few gas stations and cheap motels.

Avondale: Avondale was once a cotton farming town, but has merged into the megalopolis that is modern-day suburban Phoenix. The town has not followed suit in the land grabbing free-for-all of its neighbors and, thus, has remained a small town, although decidedly suburban.

Bagdad: Bagdad is accessible by only one road, so, in coming here, you're only here to be here and no where else. This is a mining town, through and through, dominated by the nearby pit mine, the company store (actually, it's a Basha's) and the company housing. It's a somewhat ugly part of Arizona that few people see, but there's really little reason to come here.

Benson: Benson had a song written about it, but that was back when this was a distant ranching exurb of Tucson, with a colorful cast of Cochise County characters. Now Benson has grown dramatically and is dominated by retirees. If you're ever hear, dip into the hole of the San Pedro Valley and head Downtown. Across from the old train station (still served by Amtrak), there's the Horse Shoe, which makes great sweet potato fries. While there, or at the old Dairy Queen across the street, ask for a Doc Holliday soda. It's brewed locally.

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Sunset outside of Casa Grande

B - C

Bisbee: If there was ever a town that showed you how colorful Arizona really is, it's Bisbee. Many may have only heard of it when the female lead in "LA Confidential" talked endearingly of it as her hometown. In her time, it was a mining town, dominated by what is now Phelps-Dodge operating the Copper Queen just outside of town. That mine closed in 1973 and after the town was practically abandoned, the "hippies" moved on, and they remain there still.

Black Canyon City: It's almost like an improvised town. There's just a string of businesses on the old highway, mostly related to the off-road industry.Bouse: The site of an old Army base, there's very little remaining of the town.

Buckeye: One of the many and furthest west of the old farming towns in Phoenix's West Valley, Buckeye has attempted to settle itself as a bedroom community with a slew of cookie-cutter developments situated close to I-10. A recent acquisition of the Sun Valley development north of I-10 was apparently in vein as the housing crisis has effectively killed off the plans to develop that region.

Bullhead City: Bullhead City is on my "Worst Cities" list. This is one of the hottest spots in the state, often reaching over 120 Fahrenheit in the summers. This is an awful place, full of homelessness, poverty and a transient population that is either too poor or too wealthy for their own good. Its Colorado River frontage is the state's own Redneck Riviera.

Camp Verde: An old frontier fort, the town is now a collection of farms, retirees and random individuals who chose to settle in the Verde Valley. There's also the casino, Cliff Castle, run by the Yavapai-Apache Nation, who also run the casino in Prescott.

Carefree: An upscale resort suburb of Phoenix, set in a higher desert area away from the city. It's somewhat complex to reach and, when you do reach it, you don't really notice because it's very similar to the rest of the surrounding suburban region.

Casa Grande: Formerly the center of the Pinal County cotton growing region, the city has boomed as a spot for retirees, mostly Midwesterners, to settle in to a sweltering remainder of their lives. Dust storms, the smells and pollution of agriculture, and an under-developed infrastructure have not deterred them, but the housing slump probably has. A new big box mall by I-10 is also in imminent danger.

Cave Creek: Nearly the same thing as its neighbor, Carefree, but is a little more identifiable and easier to reach.

Chandler: Chandler is the place you move to if you can't afford to live in Tempe but don't want to live in the oppressive, Mormon-dominated Mesa. It's grown dramatically in the past ten years, and has evolved into the strip mall car culture of suburban Phoenix nicely. It's Downtown area, near Arizona Avenue (Highway 87) and Chandler Boulevard is one of my favorite in the region though.

Chinle: Chinle revolves mostly around the nearby Canyon de Chelly National Monument. As a result, there are a higher-than-normal number of hotels here and it is, really, the best place to stay a night on the Navajo Nation. Like all towns on the 'res though, it has no real center and no real character.

Chino Valley: A sprawling collection of mobile homes and gas stations grouped around Highway 89 on the barren grasslands outside of Prescott.

Chloride: A former mining town (hence the name), its isolated but convenient (an hour or so from Vegas) location has made it a haven for snowbirds, retirees and general oddballs.

Clarkdale: Although virtually indistinguishable from its Verde Valley neighbor Cottonwood, Clarkdale does have a very defined Downtown, dotted with a few cute shops. It's industrial and mining population having left, retirees have mostly moved in.

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Downtown Clifton

C - G

Clifton: This is another Arizona entry on my worst towns list. There are two world in Clifton: the southern part, the Greenlee County Courthouse and various, well-kept homes hugging the slopes of the cliff, and the northern part, where nearly everything is abandoned. The northern part is behind the floodgate meaning that, if the dam at the mine ever breaks, it's gone. But, of course, that's never happened and probably never will. This is a truly depressing place, but is a goldmine if you revel in that sort of thing.

Congress: Listed as a ghost town, the town has attempted to cash in a bit with a few shops and an old cemetery marked off. But nothing remains of the original townsite, and the new town, closer to the highway junctions, is mostly retirees.

Coolidge: One of the last remaining true farming communities between Tucson and Phoenix, Coolidge started seeing a bit of suburban development come in from the nearby Anthem branch before the housing crash. The best part of the town is the big Safeway at the edge of town and the restaurants in town, including a Nico's Taco Shop.

Cordes: Not really a town, but more a collection of homes near the I-17/SH 69 interchange, Cordes includes the semi-famous Arcosanti development.

Cottonwood: A long strip of cheap retail and cheap motels with lots of traffic.

Dewey-Humboldt: Consolidated only a few years ago as a result of the Arizona municipal land grab, the two towns are still separate, strung out along Highway 69 on the way to Prescott.

Douglas: A really disconcerting border town, Douglas is one of those places that you only go to when you want to go to it, as the highway in, Highway 80, dips far to the south to reach it and, when it does, bypasses it slightly to the north. Douglas is famed for its Hotel Gadsden, a historic and somewhat run-down 19th century place near the border. The other Agua Prieta, is actually much more affluent because of the drug trade.

Dudleyville: A somewhat depressing mining town along Highway 77.

Duncan: An old Mormon farming town along the Gila River, Duncan is best known as being the childhood ranching home of former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Conner.

Eagar: Interchangeable with Springerville, Eagar is somewhat of a tourist town, basically where people who actually live in Greer and other White Mountains destinations come to shop.

Ehrenberg: The last stop on I-10 before you reach California, Ehrenberg is more one large gas station than anything.

El Mirage: A small, indistinguishable suburb in Phoenix's West Valley that's been effectively swallowed up by its neighbors.

Eloy: Pronounced with a long "E," it's a strange little town serving I-10 traffic with cheap motels, truck stops and fast food, as well as the cotton industry with gins and agricultural supply stores. When Starbucks recently closed stores after over-expanding, Eloy's location was the only one in the state slated for closing.

Flagstaff: Flagstaff is a combination tourist town, ski town, interstate town, transient center, Navajo point to purchase alcohol and other goods, college town and the liberal center of Arizona. It's a really interesting place.

Florence: Pinal County's mostly abandoned county seat, the town is most famous for its four prisons. The rest of the town is just kind of scary.

Fountain Hills: This was formerly an isolated, separated retirement community outside of Phoenix. As Phoenix grew, and the northeast side of the suburban area has become more desirable, Fountain Hills has seen more families move in. Designed as a planned community by Robert McCullough, of London Bridge fame, the town is noted for having the world's fourth-tallest fountain and the fact that it is still very much in the desert.

Gila Bend: You can't say much good about Gila Bend. I've tried to find good things, but have thus failed. There is an annual shrimp festival in September, when it's still too hot there to do much of anything but, yes, there are shrimp farms near there. You could also stay at the Space Aged Lodge.

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Saguaro Ranch in Glendale

G - H

Gilbert: The largest place in the country to still be officially designated a "town," it's here that you move to if you think Mesa is too liberal and progressive. Its "Town Center" held promise, but never really materialized, and the "Old Town" is too small to be any kind of factor.

Glendale: An old suburb of Phoenix, its Downtown area is famous for its antique stores. One of my favorite Phoenix destinations, Saguaro Ranch, is here, as is the new-ish Cardinals football stadium. But Glendale remains a bit of a frontier for housing development as the West Valley stigma remains an obstacle in encircling Phoenix with sprawl.

Globe: A mining town, Globe has a large but mostly abandoned Downtown area just off US 60. The rest of the town consists of modest homes and relies on its county seat status for employment. At the crux of two major highways, it's also a travel center, with multiple chain hotels and gas stations.

Goodyear: The epitome of municipal land grabbing, this is the former home of Goodyear Rubber, the current home of two MLB spring training teams (the Reds and Indians) and the site of the eyesore Phoenix Trotting Park. There's very little of a town center here and it's almost solely sprawl along I-10.

Green Valley: A bit of a joke in Tucson, unincorporated, this is one of the largest age-restricted communities in the country: at least one member of the household must be 55 or older. The Green Valley "Mall" is also a bit of a joke and there's very little else for retail here, aside what's grown around Sahuarita. Despite being removed from Tucson by many miles, there are still bars on the windows of many homes, which confounds me.

Greer: A tourist mountain enclave in Arizona's White Mountains. Accessible by one state highway and several, unpaved forest roads from the backcountry.

Guadalupe: A Yaqui tribe settlement, it is a strange, cultural time-warp. Just off of I-10, this would have been prime real estate but, the otherwise massive Guadalupe Road goes to two lanes, there's a stop sign at the center of town in front of the church, and that sprawl and wealth that you see all around you evaporates into so much more of a community. It's actually kind of refreshing.

Hayden: Hayden just recently skirted being declared a super-fund site because of its old mine. It's like a smaller version of Superior.

Heber: A string of cabins in the pine country of Arizona's White Mountains, Heber is often merged with Overgaard to create a sizable, although spread-out, community. Very much Mormon dominated until recently, the town relies heavily on tourism.

Holbrook: An Old Route 66 destination, its neon-lighted cheap motels (including one of the famed wigwam/tepee motels) and roadside cafes are now considered endearing by pop culture. It remains a pretty terrible place though.

Huachuca City: A string of low-end shops, mobile homes and strip bars, it's tempting to greatly exceed the speed limit through here just to get out more quickly.

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London Bridge in Lake Havasu City

I - M

Jerome: Jerome is a place that tourists often get directed to as a side trip from Sedona, and it shows. Parking is often very difficult during the summer, and the town's narrow street are a swarm of tourists, walking in the middle of the road in khaki shorts, "Grand Canyon" t-shirts and "Arizona" baseball caps. I've never found much reason to stop here because it's like an offensive version of Bisbee, but some seem to really like it.

Joseph City: An old Navajo trading post, it's become more of a roadside attraction as the only point where I-40 skirts onto the Navajo Nation.

Kearny: A small mining town. A little neater and cleaner, it has the same sort of air to it as Bagdad.

Kingman: Travelers often find themselves attracted to this old Route 66 destination roughly halfway between Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon's South Rim, but I've never seen why. There's a horrible meth problem in the community, which itself is mostly transient retirees, and there's significant traffic because of the interstate, and it's still over 2 hours from the nearest city.

Lake Havasu City: Robert McCullough famously brought the London Bridge, brick by brick, to this artificial lake on the perpetually cold Colorado River in order to bring people out because, frankly, there's little other reason to come. Lake Havasu's other population, besides the retirees, used to be Spring Breakers, but they're mostly gone, due to heavier restrictions placed on hotel reservations and underage drinking. The unenforced state line on the river is now very much enforced by, mostly, California authorities. The small bit of tourist traffic comes to be disappointed by the town's "English Village" which consists of a restaurant, several gift shops and a boat tour. You can walk across the London Bridge, but it's really not that exciting.

Litchfield Park: A tiny suburb in Phoenix's West Valley, it was established to be a bedroom community for the adjacent Luke Air Force Base. It has grown slightly to be more suburban than anything, but still retains a military domination.

Lukeville: Also known as "Gringo Pass," this is where you cross the border when going to Rocky Point in Mexico. The US side is a small motel and RV park and a couple of shops, all owned by one person. It is also the closest town to Organ Pipe National Monument, just to the north.

Mammoth: Attempts at becoming yet another retiree community have not been overly successful here. Originally dominated by the nearby mine, its closing has left the town with an economic black hole that has yet to be filled.

Marana: Formerly a small farming community north of Tucson, Marana's population and commercial base effectively moved south when the town annexed a large swath of northwestern Pima County. Today, it is a large suburb, consisting of a variety of scattered developments butting up against the Tucson Mountains and Twin Peaks. There are still farms, but they are rapidly disappearing.

Maricopa: When it became the newest city in Arizona in 2003, it had almost 5,000 people. How many of these people are now in foreclosure is a staggering number. Maricopa is too close to Phoenix to be ignored, but too far for it to be able to have houses selling at the same price as the ones much closer into the city. "Nightline" called the town the "poster child for the housing crisis."

Mayer: You'd only notice Mayer for its abandoned smelter on a hill while on your way to Prescott on Highway 69. Its mining past now long gone, the town has become another string of Arizona towns hanging on with cheap housing.

Mesa: Famous for its Mormon temple and Mormon past, Mesa is now the third largest city in the state and was set to surpass Tucson and become second-largest before the housing bust. Mesa has a significant Downtown, which includes a contemporary art museum and the Arizona Natural History Museum, which was formerly known as the Mesa Southwest Museum until funding was cut. Mostly though, it's a bedroom community for Phoenix.

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Downtown Oatman, wild burro visible

M - P

Miami: A mining town, there is a funky shop on US 60 near the center of town that does make fun of the name. But, honestly, Miami makes nearby Globe look good, and that's kind of hard.

Morenci: A mining town through and through. It was actually built to accommodate the mine workers who were moved when the previous town was overtaken by the growing pit mine, which is now one of the largest in the world. There are several shops, a company store (run by Basha's, of course) and a motel. It's a bad town, but it looks great coming up from Clifton.

Nogales: Nogales has gotten consistently worse on all levels as the border situation has deteriorated. Like Douglas, its namesake Sonoran cousin across the wire is much larger, more affluent, but also much more dangerous.

Oatman: Oatman is an old mining town now reliant on passing tourists who come mainly for its wild burros, which roam the streets waiting for hand-outs from those tourists.

Oracle: Formerly a community dominated by the mine to the east, Oracle is now a bit of a bedroom community for Tucson. Edward Abbey made his home here in the '70's, and it still attracts eccentric characters. Off the highway a bit, you would think there was not much here if you didn't know it was there. But there is a market, several gas stations, shops and even some restaurants. Not to mention Biosphere 2, now a tourist spectacle after Columbia abandoned the project in the early 2000's.

Oro Valley: Named for the adjacent "Canada del Oro" or "Gold Canyon," the town was originally set up as a rural escape from Tucson set against the Santa Catalina Mountains and, specifically, Pusch Ridge. It is now a full-fledged suburb as the suburban range of Tucson has expanded past the town, and it sits more as a retail, office and community center for the region, which is collectively known as Oro Valley despite much of it lying outside of the town limits.

Page: Built to service the dam and the resulting lake, Page is a strange planned community of looping streets, various scattered retail, multiple cheap motels and modest homes and trailers. Much of the town sits on a hill in view of Lake Powell, quite a striking vista. But it's a pretty sorry town and is only used as a base for nearby attractions, like Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, Marble Canyon and the Grand Canyon's North Rim. It also has the largest and nicest Motel 6 that I've ever seen.

Paradise Valley: Colloquially known as simply "PV," the name gets rather confusing, as there are actually two flavors: the neighborhood in the City of Phoenix and the Town of Paradise Valley. The latter is an extremely exclusive collection of large homes on large lots abutting the McDowell Mountains. Its street system is a bit of a mess, but it's not intended to allow easy thru access: if you don't live here and aren't visiting, you have little reason to be here: there's almost no retail to speak of, no real lodging and no hospitals, and that allows the community to maintain its exclusivity.

Parker: January 1, 1983, a political group used a relatively unknown Arizona law to break from Mohave and Yuma Counties to form the new La Paz County. Almost immediately, the new county went bankrupt and the state had to save it. Just after it did, it reversed the law, and county separation is now much more difficult. But the county stuck, and Parker is its seat. It's more a place to gas up your boat and get supplies than anything, but there is an interesting crossing over the Colorado River here, as well as several restaurants and shops.

Patagonia: Patagonia has, for several years, mooched off of Sonoita's success at luring in retirees. Thus far it's worked, but, as I've been told, the drug smuggling world has begun moving in, and that has resulted in a very different community life there. It's a cute town though, and they have some arts fairs occasionally along with a few galleries.

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Store/Cafe/Motel in Portal

P - S

Payson: Payson seems to be the town where Phoenicians seeking to escape the summer heat, but refuse to drive any further, go. In my visits, it's just never struck me as a very nice town, especially in comparison to its White Mountains neighbors above the Mogollon Rim to the north. Several independent motels, a few gas station, fast food places and restaurants all seem to lead up to the Wal-Mart.

Peoria: Character-less suburb in Phoenix's West Valley along US 60. The town grew immensely in the early 2000's as farms and desert gave way to cheap sprawl.

Phoenix: The state's capital and largest city. There are many, many things bad to say about Phoenix, but also many good things.

Pima: When people in Safford make fun of your town, then there's something with it, and there is indeed something wrong with Pima.

Pine: Pine and its neighbor Strawberry are a pair of cute, wonderful mountain villages just above the Mogollon Rim from Payson. A popular weekend getaway spot for Phoenicians in the summer, it remains a quaint community.

Pinetop-Lakeside: Usually just referred to as, simply, "Pinetop," it is loose collection of cabins and retail, most of which sits along Highway 73.

Portal: Sitting at the eastern base of the Chiricahua Mountains by the New Mexico state line, Portal is a tiny community of cabins and motel/store/restaurant. It's gorgeous locale and only accessible by one paved road.

Prescott: A gem in the state, the old town of Prescott is often called Arizona's "Midwestern" city because of its wood-frame architectural style common among many houses near the Courthouse Square. Historic hotels, shops and restaurant ring "Whiskey Row" making it a great place to visit. Word of the charm has spread though, and parts of the town are now overdeveloped and have devolved into a horrible ring of sprawl, particularly in nearby Prescott Valley.

Prescott Valley: The town was laid out in anticipation of sprawling strip malls and big box stores. It's sad because it could have been a really beautiful place.

Quartzsite: Known more for being the home of thousands of RV-driving snowbirds in the winter, two large, gravel lots are marked off by the BLM for them, which sit empty for the remainder of the year. This is a good place to get gas on the way to California.

Queen Creek: Formerly an isolated farming town, the completion of the 202 freeway to the north has opened the floodgates for suburban development, stagnating the underdeveloped infrastructure. The town itself remains relatively small, but has become the center of a sickening mass of sprawl.

Rio Rico: The only livable part of Nogales because it's not actually in Nogales. There's a golf course and resort, and the town is set against the scenic Santa Rita Mountains.

Safford: An old Mormon farming town that has grown into a regional center. There's a small tourist industry, partially related to hunting and/or Mount Graham, but many people rely on the Morenci Mine north of Clifton for work, as Safford is far from it, but the only decent town close by.

Sahuarita: Although the pecan groves that gave the town life are still there, Sahuarita has become more a suburb than anything. Explosive growth from the Rancho Sahuarita development and the surrounding retail along Duval Mine Road have made the formerly small, obscure town into a regional player.

Salome: Sort of like one of those desert towns that you see in movies.

San Carlos: Center for the San Carlos Apache Nation, one of the poorest reservations in the country, San Carlos consists of strings of scattered, government homes, a few trailers and some fast food places and small shops. Like many Native American towns, it's a sad and depressing place.

San Luis: Border town for Yuma. This is one of those towns that's almost Mexican save for the signs in English.

San Manuel: Colloquially known as "San Man," the town was once dominated by the nearby mine. Although closed for many years, that past was easily recalled by a large smelter tower in the middle of town, which was finally destroyed in 2007. Some retail, a cafe and various trailer homes, the town has had issues surviving being removed from the state highway.

Sasabe: Sasabe is essentially a colorful market and gas station, a few modest, heavily-fenced homes, and a distant, lightly used border crossing.

Scottsdale: Sometimes called "Snotsdale" for its upper-class reputation, the town is actually a large cross-section of the Phoenix community. The south side is more middle-class, with many modest homes, townhouses and apartments. Some refer to the area, jokingly, as the "Scottsdale Ghetto." At Old Town Scottsdale near Camelback, the town separates to "North Scottsdale," which is much more wealthy and exclusive. Old Town itself is a collection of upscale shops, restaurants, nightclubs, art galleries and a tourist area.

Sedona: Not only a mecca for the Stevie Nicks/crystal vortex crowd, but also a major tourist destination. The famous red rocks attract visitors from around the world and the foliage in Oak Creek Canyon in the autumn brings in even more.

Show Low: The unofficial center of the White Mountains, Show Low is a collection of retail, motels and homes.

Sierra Vista: The economy is based on the Border Patrol and, mainly, Fort Huachuca, which dominates life in the town. A small shopping mall, tons of chain restaurants and a string of tattoo places along Fry Boulevard make "SV" a bit of an eyesore. But with the looming Huachucas and the distant Chiricahuas, it's in a pretty surrounding.

Snowflake: A Mormon town through and through, it's much, much larger than it appears to be from the highway.

Somerton: A small farming town between Yuma and the border. An ugly place, but blink and you may miss it.

Sonoita: Set against the beautiful grasslands that descend south into Mexico, Sonoita has become synonymous with the attractiveness of this corner of the state. This is also the center for Arizona's wine country.

South Tucson: Surrounded by its namesake, South Tucson is a collection of fleabag motels, poor apartments, modest homes and cheap retail. Until only recently, when the street signs changed, there was no way to know when you were outside of Tucson and into South Tucson.

Springerville:

St Johns: