Once a year, my friends, Reuel and Dorothy invite me to come visit them in sunny Fountain Hills, Arizona! In fact, it was in this easygoing artistic community where, in January of 2011, I took my very first picture! A few things have changed since then, and not just my hat!
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Founded in 1970 and planned by Disneyland designer, Charles Wood, Jr., Fountain Hills takes its name from its 330-foot fountain (3 times as tall as Old Faithful), a commanding display of water in the hot desert! I have strolled around it many times and enjoyed the company of many a coot and heron on its shores, but I have never been swimming! That’s because the water here is recycled, which makes it slightly less wasteful, but still pretty darn gross for swimming (also why I’m not celebrating Firstbud here)!
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Even without a swimmable lake, Fountain Hills is a wonderfully pleasant place to spend a weekend, brimming with such artwork as Randy Hand’s Bob, the Frog and George, the Tortoise. The town is also home to three huge art festivals each year, several music festivals, and, at least once since I started coming down here, a balloon festival! The community is quiet, with a large retired population, which means slow days and no traffic. The town also has strict regulations on external illumination, valuing starlight over streetlight, which makes it perfect for reconstructing the rhythm between adventures!
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Speaking of adventures, these two presidential statues next to the fountain were all too relevant to my quest! After all, Abe Lincoln set aside Yosemite for future preservation, and Teddy Roosevelt championed the national parks movement. Arizona is a hotbed of national parks, and Fountain Hills is centrally located, which means that, by visiting my friends, I’ll be within three hours of 11 national parks and monuments! Wow! I guess I’ll have to ask them to accompany me on more adventures, but for now, it’s quite nice to kick up my feet and enjoy the desert bloom!
Drifting off into the sunset!
