I was all giddy when I received Adriennes “report” on Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona. I wish I had something like that for most, no ALL installations. It would be remiss of me, if I did not post this great information on my blog as well as on the militarydutystations.com website.

General Information:

So the previous 2 comments have covered quite a bit, but my biggest (non-military related) questions are, where can I get a hair cut that isn’t scary? Mani/pedis that won’t give me an infection? Restaurants that have good food AND are kid friendly? Little hole in the wall restuarants that are well kept secrets? Places for me and the hubby to get away for an evening? Things like that!

So my FAVORITE place for a hair cut is Gadabout Salon, it is a full service salon. I go to Debbie at the Kolb location. They are pretty well priced, for a haircut and style I pay about $35, the cost goes up as you get highlights, color etc. . . they also have amazing massage therapist’s, I’ve had my massages done by Emily at the River location (this location was 2 minutes from where I worked, and I fell in love with her so I drive to see her whenever I’m getting a massage) she is a great masseuse, and is also trained specifically in prenatal massages as well. I pay between $65 and $90 for a massage, definitely a special treat but worth it.

My favorite nail place is Final Touch Nail Salon, it is 5 minutes off base (golflinks and kolb). They are great, they do great work and do walk ins. The average spa pedi runs abour $25-$30. They also do waxing here too.

Buffalo Wild Wings is a fun place to eat, pretty good food, military discount, and kid friendly (broadway/harrison). Oregano’s is a fantastic italian restuarant, on weekends there is a wait to be seated, but it is worth it. Pretty kid friendly and pretty averagely priced. The red cream soda is awesme! The Good Egg is a good breakfast place with a couple of different locations off base, it has a great variety of breakfast and lunch foods. If you’re wanting japanese food/tepinyaki/sushi Sakura’s is a great place, although not AS kid friendly as some other places, especially in the evenings. They do have ladies night, where ladies get discounted drinks, they have a prize drawing etc, it used to be on Thurs nights, but not sure if it’s still on Thursdays. Baggins has some of the best sandwiches in town (as well as multiple locations). The Donut Wheel on Kolb/Golflinks has amazing donuts and pastries. Nadines bakery on Broadway Ave has amazing deserts, and packages them to go for you. Risky Business (craycroft/broadway) has some of the best burgers and has a fun atmosphere. Daisy Mae’s Steakhouse is pretty kid friendly, it is a ways off base, about 20-30 minutes. They have a kids menu for kids. Its a great little hole in the wall steak house. Guadalajara Grill is the best mexican in the city. Sweet Tomatoes is a salad bar resturaunt, they also have a soup bar, pastries, a baked potato bar and 2 or 3 pastas. Its really well priced, kid friendly and the food has always been good.

Westward Look Resort is great when you want a night away. They offer in room spa services, room service, have an on site restuarant, and they offer many different activities for guests (horse back riding, night nature walks etc). If you’re looking for just a few hours away at a nice club, the Cactus Moon is a country music club, they have reasonably priced drinks, and a dance floor, the later you’re there the less country music the play for dancing. They also have a ladies night, although I’m unsure of when it is.

There are a lot of farmers markets year round, and different festivals throughout the year, especially in the fall when things start cooling down, the Chili Fest in September is a lot of fun, its held at different locations throughout the city. The farmers market on Old Spanish trail (open most weekends) also has crafts, and other foods for sale as well as amazing produce.
Colossal Caves is a lot of fun to do, the caves are underground and is always around 70* so during the hot summer afternoons, its something fun to do.

If you don’t want the most up to date movie theatre and INCREDIBLY cheap tickets/snacks go to Century Gateway 12. They don’t have new releases right away, but if you’re willing to wait a few weeks for cheaper tickets (around $3-5 instead of the $9.50-12 other newer theatres charge).

All in all Tucson isn’t as bad as it sounds sometimes, you just have to root around sometimes for something to do.

Moving Tips:

Try to avoid using the U-haul place on Golflinks/Wilmot, I’ve never had or heard of a good experience with them, the customer service at this location really sucks-for lack o a better word. Drive a few miles for a different U-haul, or use a different company if possible. A lot of times the storage unit places have trucks they rent out for a lower price than the companies. Although check with the TMO office (if doing a dity/ppm) they may only allow you to use a specific company/location, we’ve just moved from apartments to a house so we haven’t had to go through TMO for a truck down here yet.

Housing:

We haven’t lived on base in the 5 years we’ve been here, so I can’t comment too much bout on-base housing other than what our friends have said, we have friends in the old housing (built in the 60′s/70′s and they are completely remodeled, new floors, lights, carpet, fixtures etc) and they love it. We also have friends in the brand new housing and they said the way their floor plan was, they rarely heard their neighbors. Occasionally a door slam, but nothing more than that. The new houses are beautiful inside and out!
I would be careful looking at apartments though, ask a lot of questions before signing the lease (have there been many incident reports for crime, would they live there etc) if you can talk to other residents (sometimes you see them walking around while you’re there) do that as well. The Ridgepoint apartments on Pima we had a really hard time with my husband’s car getting broken into (the neighborhood directly next to the apartment complex was “less than desireable” to say the least. And they did nothing about it other than make snide comments “well it sure looks like you guys are being targeted. Bad luck huh?” I wouldn’t recommend these apartments at all! Talk to the housing office too, they may have a list of apartments complexes that they’ve had reports/complaints etc. . . against.
We absolutely loved the apartments on Tanque Verde, its a better part of town (the 2nd lowest crime rating in the entire city) They were called the Coronado Villas (great military discount, and an awesome community) and is about 20 minutes North from base. We also had friends staying in Finisterra Luxury Apartments, also in the same area and about 15 minutes from base. We had NO problems at either location, military friendly, pet friendly and at Coronado Villas we were able to pay the deposit in 2 months, instead of it all being upfront.
Our family expanded so we moved to Rita Ranch (10-15 minutes south east of the base), which was rated as the 1st lowest crime rating in the city), and have loved it. The area is full of parks and kids, the schools are great, many of them in this area being in the Vail school district, which is much better than the Tucson school district. Many of the landlords are willing to work with military, especially when it comes to spreading your deposits over a couple of payments (we’ve always paid our deposits/first months rent in 2-3 payments). Our rents have always been below our BAH (my husband is an E-5) so the difference has helped offset the cost of utilities. In our 1100 sq ft house in the winter we actually make money living off base, in the summer we pay a little out of pocket for a few months because the AC is on a lot then. Our average utilities run between $120-$220, depending on the time of year).
You can look at the Tucson Police Dept.’s website for a current map of high crime areas, and areas that are not.

Medical:

I’ve never had a problem getting my child onto base to see his pediatrician. Then again I’m a stay at home mom so my schedule is flexible. Dr. Tara Connor has been his pediatrician since he was born and we LOVE her. Most of my friends take their children on base for everything except for emergency care. So maybe Beth had a bad experience?
My OBGYN is through Desert Bloom OBGYN (a group of 3 dr’s, they are all amazing!, one of them is abe to be a PCM as well). Everybody is friendly and professional, and always willing to help. I’ve never felt pressured to have anything done that was unnecessary, even when I was being seen for chest pain at the ER/a local cardio dr.
Dentists in the area can be tricky,especially with insurance, some won’t bill your insurance, but will give you the forms to do it, while collecting everything from you up front, so be sure to ask.
I’ve worked in 2 offices in the Tucson area, one is a few minutes off base, Dr. Larry Wheeler (www.smilesaz.com) is great, but is not a preferred provider for UCC (your co-pays will be higher), and about 25 minutes from base is Riverside Dental, I worked there for 2 years and they are a preferred provider for UCC, everybody is highly knowledgeable, and definitely goes the extra mile for the patients. It is worth the drive. I moved 45 minutes away from them and still make the drive out, I can’t imagine going anywhere else, the care is amazing. (riversidedental.com)