I grew up there, and my parents still live there. The desert is 10 times as busy as it was when I was a kid. If you want a hunting, target shooting or off-road experience that doesn't involve seeing 100+ other people, you're going to need to travel a long ways, though I suspect this is the case for every possible Phoenix suburb. AJ seems a bit nicer these days than it was 20 years ago, but it is still not a great place to hang out. Gold Canyon has expanded a good bit. My parents have known the guy who founded Chen's Chinese restaurant for 40 years, and to this day it is the standard I judge other Chinese restaurants by. If you like Golf, you will be in heaven. It's not that close, but I enjoy going to Florence. My parents used to work there, and I've been going to L&B (the main Mexican restaurant) since I was 1. If you are willing to drive an hour and a half, you can shoot four matches of any type you can imagine once a month, since there are four major shooting ranges around Phoenix (closest being Rio Salado in Mesa) and their match schedules are staggered. My mom is a big fan of the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, which is most of the way to Superior. If you like lake recreation, Apache Lake is close by. It really is a wonderful area if you want to be close to outdoorsy stuff.
When the Renaissance festival is going on, it can take 20 minutes to make it from Goldfield to Kings Ranch Road. When the Methodist church service ends, getting from Kings Ranch Road to US 60 is likewise a time consuming experience.
Also, this is one of the first meme's I ever made.
Attached File