Misty says: Hello! We are due for a new duty station and are looking at Davis-Monthan AZ; Hill UT; Mountain Home and Offutt NE.  I am looking for info about housing and schools for grades 4-6. Thanks in advance.  Also is there a website that will show reviews / statistics for all schools in a particular area.  I can't seem to find it.  

 

Carrie F says: Vail is a wonderful school district.  I'm happy to help with what I know about DM (we are here now)

Tiffany B says:  We are at Offutt right now.  The schools are great  in the Bellevue school district.  base housing is privatized with a mix of new houses and renovated ones.  There are some decent houses in the area that are relatively cheap if buying is an option.

 

Cristel R. says:  I'm at DM been here for 8 years.  The elementary school is Borman Elementary. My son has gone there K-4th grade.  Love the school and staff & the principle.  Borman has their own website & the school is part of the Tuscon unified school district.

Rochelle C. says:  Vail school district is amazing! Rita ranch which is in the Vail school district is a nice area about 20 minutes from DM.

 

Amy S. says:  www.greatschools.org

 

Callista K. says:  We are at offut- tons of great houses on or of base- renting or buying. Bellevue papillion and la vista are the closest cities and plattsmouth is close too- more country and really cheap housing! Lots of choices for schools around here! My daughter goes to fort crook and it is a good school- lemay elementary is really good too. There are plenty of private schools too. So many opportunities for family fun here too- nice gyms d family activities on base the zoo safari museums and Mahoney state park. We were glad we picked this base!

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Adrienne says:
June 20, 2011 at 11:23 am

So the previous 2 comments of covered quite a bit, but my biggest (non-military related) questions are, where can I get a hair cut that isn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t scary? Mani/pedis that won?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢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?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s, I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢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?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢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?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢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?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re wanting japanese food/tepinyaki/sushi Sakura?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢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?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢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?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢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?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢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?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re there the less country music the play for dancing. They also have a ladies night, although I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢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?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t want the most up to date movie theatre and INCREDIBLY cheap tickets/snacks go to Century Gateway 12. They don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t have new releases right away, but if you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢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?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t as bad as it sounds sometimes, you just have to root around sometimes for something to do.




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Beth M says:
June 19, 2011 at 12:11 pm

I am apart of the Davis Monthan Air Force Base Community. D-M is located in Tucson, Arizona and is surrounded by beautiful sky scraping mountains. D-M holds the largest avaiation ?¢‚Ǩ?ìboneyard.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù If Active, the boneyard alone would be considered the third largest Air Force in the world. Davis Monthan is a very spacious base and easy to get around and find. There are many groups that spouses and dependants can be apart of and the all around community is very friendly.

Aside from what you hear about Tucson itself, the base is a great community. So many spouses know each other and it is a very friendly place to live. During the winter months, we have all the retiree?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s here and they can kind of get in the way thinking just because they are retirees they can do whatever they want?¢‚Ǩ¬¶like crowd the commissary or the bx :-) But it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s all fun. They are (usually) nice people!


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Breonna says:
January 30, 2011 at 6:33 pm

We were stationed here from 2003-2007. The base was beautiful, but the housing was horrific. We lived in Kachina village I believe. Hopefully the homes have had some renovations done or been torn down completely. The medical center on base wasn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t bad, although I wasn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t very thrilled there was no emergency room. I was also pregnant when we arrived there with our second child and had to go off base for a gyno. The commissary was very nice and there was a lot to do around the town and Cali wasn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t that long of a drive, which was nice. It is very hot though!!! I mean really, really, HOT!!! It also has a monsoon season where it rains a lot during certain periods of time. There is some crime right off the base, but it seems every base I have been to since has the same thing. There?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s lots of places to shop and quite a few malls. My kids were real young when we were here so I don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t know anything about the school systems or the CDC on base. I was an at home mom. If your enlisted the Airman?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Attic is a blessing. I spent as much time there as was allowed. lol Make sure they spray for bugs we had a cockroach infestation in our tree outside our house. We were able to find housing on base within the week of our arrival. I don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t really know if that?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s a good or bad thing. If you are an outdoors person there is lots to do in AZ. There is Sagauro national park, Sonora Desert museum, Sabino canyon, and Mount Lemmon. These are just some of the things we did while there. There were to many to list. All in all I would give this base 7 out of 10 stars. I might of enjoyed it a lot more if our housing situation wasn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t so terrible.


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