Welcome to the West’s Most Western Town. Scottsdale, Arizona is a city of at least two minds. Geographically, it is a very long city stretched North and South. The center of government is located in Old Town Scottsdale yet the geographical center is closer to the Scottsdale road and Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. area. If you were to drive from South to North on Scottsdale road, you would experience a few changes. Regarding real estate, you would notice the change in open space surrounding homes. North of the highway 101 many developments have deed restrictions known as Natural Area Open Space or NAOS recorded on the lot. This means there can be no building or changing of the natural open desert. It is to be left along by man. This is with one acception… A homeowner can remove trash that might have blown in the area. Lot sizes also begin to be larger in many cases.

The idea was to maintain a more open natural desert feel as the city expanded. To that end, the city council worked hard over the years to secure an area encompassing the McDowell mountains as a preserve. The preserve has several well maintained hiking/biking entrances with a well publicized trailhead just off Thompson Peak Parkway known as the Gateway trail head. Work to add to this preserve continues.

Scottsdale also has many find dining, shopping, and art centers to compliment the great outdoor open feel it has worked so hard to preserve. Hiking among the desert saguaro cactus and animal favorites is just one activity to be enjoyed (today in the news it was reported that three mountain lions were spotted resting on the 4th hole of the Desert Mountain golf course). We have to remember that they were here first. Aaaa, but on to the other attractions. There are many local small authentic restaurants along with the more familiar larger chains to be enjoyed. My favorite from the orient is the fusion cuisine of Flo’s Chinese restaurants. I give it a rating of Mmm.

By the way, the city of Scottsdale, Arizona is one of the very few to maintain a AAA bond rating. This is very important, especially as the council moves forward to secure more land for the preserve.

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