My wife and I started looking for the ideal retirement location about six years before total retirement.  We were always narrowing our choices down every few months.  We would find a city, then look for many hours on the internet, visit and drive around, looking for the “just right” home. Not much luck.

I suspect many of our neighbors at our 55+ community called Pine Shadows and On the Greens in Cottonwood Arizona did the same over the past years.  Some of you discovered this beautiful place more than 20-years ago, and some of you, just months ago.

We made many trips through the Southwest.  While in Flagstaff, we were heading to Southern Arizona to look around, but decided to detour to Cottonwood.  Wow, this was the diamond we had been looking for.

Our checklist included: a small town feeling with no more city traffic; nice climate with seasons; quiet neighborhoods; and low crime rate.  For retirement, this may be the same list that others want at this point in their lives. After hectic careers we wanted a little “slower paced,” but active lifestyle.

We told our realtor we were not just buying a home, but buying Arizona-style living, buying the Arizona sunshine. She found the perfect home for us.

Now the bonus! We did not know we would be buying into such a wonderful, friendly, community.  Instant friends, instant feel of belonging.  With lots of neighbors walking their dogs, we sometimes knew their dog’s name before we knew theirs!  We had nice neighbors before, but not the community feeling that is found in our 55+ manufactured home park.  I concluded that in cities, neighbors sometimes move in for a nice atmosphere, but many times they move for jobs, schools, relatives.  But in Pine Shadows and On the Greens, the people we have met are here because they want to be here.  Think about that. It makes for a real community feeling that is very special.