Like the phoenix of ancient mythology, Arizona's capital city has risen from its own ashes -- in this case, the ruins of an ancient Indian village -- to become one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country.

Although the city has had its economic ups and downs, the Phoenix metropolitan area, often referred to as the Valley of the Sun (or just "The Valley"), is currently booming. The Camelback Corridor, which leads through north central Phoenix, has become the corporate heartland of the city, and shiny glass office towers keep pushing up toward the desert sky. This burgeoning stretch of road has also become a corridor of upscale restaurants and shopping plazas, anchored by the Biltmore Fashion Park shopping center, the city's temple of high-end consumerism. Today, Phoenicians flock to this area for both work and play.

Even downtown Phoenix, long abandoned as simply a place to work, has taken on an entirely new look in recent years and has positioned itself as the metro area's main sports and entertainment district. Here you'll find the America West Arena and the Arizona Diamondbacks' Bank One Ballpark (BOB), which is one of the nation's only baseball stadiums with a retractable roof. On days when there are games or concerts scheduled at either of these venues, you can bet that downtown Phoenix will be a lively place. Additionally, the area is home to several performing-arts venues and quite a few attractions, including historic Heritage Square (downtown's only remaining historic block) and, just a little bit north of downtown, the Heard Museum and the Phoenix Museum of Art.

In Scottsdale, luxury resorts sprawl across the landscape, convertibles and SUVs clog the streets, and new golf courses and upscale shopping centers keep springing up like wildflowers after a rainstorm. Until recently, this city billed itself as the West's most Western town, but Scottsdale today is more of a Beverly Hills of the desert than a cow town. The city now sprawls all the way north to Carefree, and it is in north Scottsdale that the valley's newest golf courses and resorts are to be found.

Throughout the metropolitan area, the population is growing at such a rapid pace that an alarm has been raised: Slow down before we become another Los Angeles! Why the phenomenal growth? In large part, it's due to the climate. The 300-plus days of sunshine a year are a powerful attraction, and although summers are blisteringly hot, the mountains -- and cooler temperatures -- are only 2 hours away. Winter, however, is when the Valley of the Sun truly shines. While most of the country is frozen solid, the valley is usually sunny and warm, making this area the resort capital of the continental United States. However, with stiff competition from resorts in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Hawaii, Valley of the Sun resorts have had to do a lot of keeping up with the Joneses in recent years. Bigger and splashier pools have been added, and nearly every resort now offers a full-service health spa.

Golf, tennis, and lounging by the pool are only the tip of the iceberg (so to speak) when it comes to winter activities. With the cooler weather comes the cultural season, and between Phoenix and the neighboring cities of Scottsdale, Tempe, and Mesa, there's an impressive array of music, dance, and theater. Scottsdale is also well known as a center of the visual arts, ranking behind only New York and Santa Fe in its concentration of art galleries.

Over the years, Phoenix has both enjoyed the benefits and suffered the problems of rapid urban growth. It has gone from tiny agricultural village to sprawling metropolis in little more than a century. Along the way it has lost its past amid urban sprawl and unchecked development; at the same time, it has forged a city that is quintessentially 21st-century American. Shopping malls, the gathering places of America, are raised to an art form in Phoenix. Luxurious resorts create fantasy worlds of waterfalls and swimming pools. Perhaps it's this willingness to create a new world on top of an old one that attracts people to Phoenix. Then again, maybe it's just all that sunshine.