Wickenburg

Wickenburg is an hour northwest of Phoenix and a century away from it. Henry Wickenburg found gold in the Vulture Mountains in the 1860s and the Vulture Mine built the town; by the 1920s and 30s, working cattle ranches were opening their bunkhouses to visitors and Wickenburg became the Dude Ranch Capital. The Desert Caballeros Western Museum, the Jail Tree, Gold Rush Days, and a Hassayampa River Preserve holding some 280 bird species along 770 acres of riparian cottonwood and willow — this town has more genuine Western history per block than anywhere else in the region.

It also sits well outside where most Valley contractors will drive, which means homes, ranches and guest properties up here get quoted a premium or turned down flat. Fix it Frankie makes the drive at the same rate as anywhere else. When three casitas go down at once before a Friday arrival, that's one cause, not three, and nobody gets billed three times for it.