To be honest, I would have never thought I would have moved to Flagstaff. It never crossed my mind until I was 20. I had live in the valley my whole life, born and raised. I really wanted a complete different change of scenery, and it seemed easiest to move to Flagstaff. I could go to school, and still be close to my family.
The setting and life style in Flagstaff is completely different than living in Mesa. Everything is pretty close together, you can get anywhere in town on a bicycle. Other than a nice warm ride in the winter, you probably don't really need a car to live in Flagstaff. In fact, traffic gets so congested in Flagstaff, that you can get around faster on a bike. This is something we can't really do in Phoenix, because everything is so spread out. We basically all have to commute to a job to some extent. Grocery stores, retail stores, and everything in between is all spread out.
The community in Flagstaff is very tight knit. The community is very active in all events, whether recreational or political. The town of Flagstaff feels passionate about how it is set up, and they strive to keep it a certain way. I learned that Flagstaff has a big box policy where they have limits on how big a commercial building can be. For example, a giant super center Wal-Mart can not be built. The Wal-Marts there are pretty small. I also found it funny that tourists think Flagstaff is a "real" city, because they have a Wal-Mart.
Another thing I really liked about Flagstaff is that it wasn't so small you knew everyone, but you are able know quite a bit of people from living there. For example, you could go to the down town area and most likely run in to someone, so you wouldn't necessarily always need to make plans with everyone. I guess this probably pertains mostly to going down to the bars on the weeks! :)
Flagstaff was a really cool experience, but I knew I needed to move back to the city to get established and have more room to grow. I am really glad I chose the degree I am in at ASU.
I actually lived an hour away from flagstaff and I enjoyed the mountains, hiking, and just local stores. our stories are the complete opposite because I do not like the city haha. I currently live in peoria and have been for 7 years now. I was actually wanting to move back to flagstaff for the same reasons, school, my family and just missing the open scenery. It is indeed a small town and I personally know way too many people there. I have become my own person growing out here in the city and for that reason I choose not to live in flagstaff but the living expenses are outrageous!
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