Our Arizona ballooning company is listed in the DestinationSeek.com Arizona Hot Air Balloon Ride directory.

Phoenix, Arizona Balloon Rides

If you are staying in Phoenix, Arizona when arranging for your Arizona Balloon ride, we have included some interesting background about the town below. When arranging your Phoenix Balloon Ride, be sure to check our directions page to see how convenient we are to the entire valley.

About Phoenix, Arizona

In 1867, Jack Swilling of Wickenburg stopped to rest his horse at the foot of the north slopes of the White Tank Mountains. He looked down across the expansive Salt River Valley and his eyes caught the rich gleam of the brown, dry soil turned up by the horse's hooves. He saw farmland, predominantly free of rocks, and beyond the reach of heavy frost or snow. All it needed was water. By 1868, he and others from Wickenburg had dug a short canal from the Salt River and founded a small farming colony approximately four miles (6 km) east of the present city (about 22 miles west of Mesa, which was already a city of 1,000 people; and a few miles northwest of a similar farming community at Hayden's Ferry, which would become Tempe).

The Greater Phoenix area has a population of 3.2 million and includes Mesa, Scottsdale, Glendale, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, Peoria and many smaller communities such as Goodyear, Fountain Hills, Litchfield Park, and Anthem. Major retirement communities include Sun Lakes, Sun City, and Sun City West. The community of Ahwatukee is a part of the City of Phoenix itself, but is almost entirely separated from it by South Mountain.

Sports Teams

Arizona Diamondbacks, Major League Baseball

Nine Major League Baseball teams conduct spring training in Greater Phoenix; these teams, plus three that train in Tucson, are collectively known as the Cactus League.. Arizona Cardinals, National Football League (team plays in Tempe, and is building a stadium in Glendale)

Other Professional Teams

• Phoenix Suns, National Basketball Association
• Phoenix Mercury, Women's National Basketball Association
• Phoenix Coyotes, National Hockey League (team plays in Glendale)
• Phoenix Roadrunners, ECHL
• Arizona Rattlers, Arena Football League
• Arizona Sting, National Lacrosse League (team plays in Glendale)

Phoenix has ten golf courses in a nine mile radius of downtown Phoenix Arizona. Including Kierland Golf course, Encanto Nine and eighteen hole golf course, The Palo Verde Golf course, Papago Manicipal Golf Course, Arizona Grand Gold Course, and the Maryvale Manicipal Golf Course.