Bring Your Own Date...
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4/26/2008
... and your own job, house, books, non-conformist viewpoints, public radio stations, and community of intelligent creatives. If you can't bring the right balance of these, better bring a good shrink.
Seriously, Prescott is truly beautiful and a great place to be with nature. Some local events are excellent: The Hassayampa Institute for Creative Writing, Tsunami on the Square, Bluegrass events and Cowboy Poets Gathering. You can drive from any part to another in 20 minutes or less. The Prescott Brewing Company microbrewery remains cool, though increasing cost is jeopardizing its coolness. Same goes for The Raven Cafe. In general, dining here is consistently unadventurous, and service would offend even the most laid-back diner. There are some good mexican joints. Also, all the national forests are wonderful, in spite of serious decimation by bark beetles and drought. There are genuine gems of people here, you just need a pick-axe, solid local directions, and a strong inner compass to find them.
I agree with several of the comments here about how the cost of living increase in the past five years or so has eroded quality of life here. The prices of everything now are plain disgusting. It seems the local merchants have found they can do just fine by serving only the top .05% of the local population, mostly exurbanites building 6,000-square-foot, fifth vacation homes.
If you have your own date, a goose that lays golden eggs, and you're into the Old West and/or rodeo, you'll find Prescott a virtual paradise. It's a great place to retire if you have the means, and is a great place to raise a squeaky-clean WASP family. Singles under 50 be warned: this is no place for you if you don't want to be single. I was warned and didn't listen. Big mistake. I'm dating online and looking for a real job in Tempe.
Abhd | Prescott, AZ