Arizona:

            Tempe and Phoenix are nice places to visit and live, if you like golf and the heat.  Scottsdale is a beautiful suburb of Phoenix and has a lot to offer with its spas, immaculate golf courses and gorgeous resorts.  If lounging is what you want then the Phoenian Spa and Resort is the place for you.  Make sure you save some energy for a hike up Squaw Peak for some great views of the surrounding area, be warned it is a tough climb.  Downtown Phoenix has definitely come a long way since I lived there, its new developments like the Arizona Center, Bank One Ballpark and the new face lift to Central Avenue and its stores as made it a super town to work and live in.  Tempe is my favorite town though and it has a lot to do with it being a college town with great bars and beautiful coeds;-)  The list of bars and restaurants is endless but here are some of my regular hangouts.  The Vine on Apache is great for cheap beer and awesome wings and right next door is the Timberlodge with its many beers on tap and TV trivia.  Down on Mill Avenue you can hit Long Wong's (GREAT wings) and PF Chang's along with a lot of other places.  Make sure you grab a beer at Casey Moore's, the Den and the Thirsty Beaver.  For an early morning wake up call a trip to the Yucca Tap Room is in the cards.  If you are feeling adventurous a houseboating trip to Lake Powell is well worth the six hour drive north.
 

        Colorado:

            Denver was a great place to live by and it just seems to get better.  Denver has one of the best and most beautiful venues to see a concert, Red Rocks Amphitheater-GO!  If that doesn't work out try and see Opie Gone Bad play at Herman's Hideaway (say hi to Dana).  The bars and restaurants in LoDo as well as the many sports and cultural attractions make this a great place to spend time in.  The Brown Palace is fabulous hotel to stay at when visiting.  If you have time the park and the zoo are super places to spend an afternoon.  If you have time (whether winter/summer) a trip to Loveland and Vail is a beautiful drive through the mountains.  Another must is a drive through Golden to see the Coors brewery and a stop off in Blackhawk to try your luck at the tables in this mining town turned mini Reno.  Boulder one of my favorite cities in the US and was a great place to live.  The mountains, trails and CU campus give you a ton of things both outdoors and indoors to do.  Mountain biking and hiking/climbing were two of my favorites.  Make sure you walk around on the 6th street mall area to people watch.  The Walrus, Walnut Brewery and the Catacombs are great places to grab a beer.  If wine is your thing then a trip to Trio's is the restaurant to hit.  A trip up Hwy36 to see Estes Park is worth the trip, great drive.  It is an awesome view when you come over the mountain and see the lake in the valley!
 

        Las Vegas, NV:

            Las Vegas baby, enough said!  You can't go wrong with hotels here, spend what you want.  My favorites are Caesar's (a classic), MGM, Luxor and the Hard Rock with its fabulous pool and scenery.  Whether you like old Vegas or the strip you can count on having all distractions you can handle.  If you do want to venture off the tables, Vegas has some nice golf courses and a trip to Hoover Dam is actually pretty cool.  If you get a chance play the Desert Inn course and try the roller coaster at New York New York.  Red 25!