Currently the fifth largest city in the country, Phoenix sprawls across more than five hundred square miles of what was once cacti and dessert bush. The Valley of the sun, normally just called "the Valley", is what is now known the greater Phoenix metropolitan area where you can find excellent museums, one resort hotel after another, fantastic restaurants, hundreds of golf courses, world-class shopping, four pro sports team and a nightlife scene like no other. Ceaseless sunny days has made Phoenix a popular winter destination since the perfect swimming weather cools down enough at nights enough to let you be able to get your most fashionable jacket. The lush green suburban lawns, swimming pools, palm trees and orange groves make you forget that in actuality, you are in the middle of the dessert. A glimpse of the mountains bordering the quiet neighborhoods, however, reminds you that you are in a dessert oasis made possible by water that has been channeled from distant reservoirs. Fantastic mountain air flows right into Phoenix for South Mountain, Camelback, Mountain, Piestewa Peak, Mummy Mountain, Pinnacle Peak and Papago Buttes. All preserved in their natural states, this is where the population retreats to when they have had enough of climate controlled interiors and asphalt roads. A mere twenty minutes away you can go from modern city to nature´s finest untouched reserves.