| After serving as a colonial outpost under the Spanish and Mexicans, and then as territorial capital for both the US and Confederate governments, TUCSON (pronounced TOO-sonn) – a mere sixty miles north of Mexico on the cross-country I-10 – has grown into a modern mini-metropolis of nearly a million people without entirely sacrificing its historic quarters. Now equal parts college town and retirement community, it's one of the more attractive big cities of the Southwest – which admittedly isn't saying much. Although it suffers from the same Sunbelt sprawl as Albuquerque and Phoenix, it does have a wanderable center, some enjoyable restaurants and a pretty good nightlife, energized by the 35,000 students at the University of Arizona. It is also redeemed by having so much superb landscape within easy reach, from the forested flanks of Mount Lemmon to the rolling foothills of Saguaro National Park.
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