Fountain Hills, Arizona

Fountain Hills is so named because of the lake with the world's tallest fountain. (It's not the tallest anymore, but it was for a long time.) My grandparents have lived here for longer than I have been alive and I've visited the area almost every year of life. It's one of my absolute favorite places in the world. Over spring break during our junior year of college, I brought Justin out to Fountain Hills for the first time. Lucky for me, he fell in love with Arizona too. Together we've been to Fountain Hills three times.

On our first visit, we went to the Renaissance Festival. We both really enjoy that period of history and the culture surrounding it. The festival itself is great: music, live performances, food, food and more food.

As with any place, the zoo is a must-see for my family. I love the Phoenix Zoo and have as many memories of it as I do of the Toledo Zoo. The great apes are my favorite exhibits, always have been. My stuffed animal collection consists of a few random things, but it's mostly monkeys and apes. I love the orangutans. I could sit and watch them all day.


New to the zoo this year is an exhibit called "Land of the Dragons." Komodo Dragons are really interesting creatures. They bite their prey, poisoning them, then stalk them for weeks until they finally succumb to disease. Here's Justin being eaten by a giant reptile.

If you readers haven't noticed already, most of the pictures are taken by me, and therefore Justin is the one in the pictures. I don't particularly like being in pictures and Justin doesn't mind so it works out. Here's Justin at the zoo with my brother Stephen in the background taking pictures of the mountains.

Spring is really the best time to visit Fountain Hills. The temperature is a nice 75 to 80 degrees and the desert plants are in bloom.

Here we are at the top of a mountain trail we hiked up. People put rocks in a pile at the top so we each added a stone to the heap.

Very rarely over the years have I seen animals in the desert. Usually we just see small lizards that scamper behind rocks when you get close. A long time ago, I saw a scorpion in the wild and a tarantula in my grandparents backyard. However, this past trip, we saw a desert tortoise and a snake.

Everyone was scared of the snake. But it wasn't a rattler and when I looked it up, it turned out to be a harmless little guy. I probably could have picked it up and been fine. Snakes are awesome.

The cholla cactus are abundant in this part of Arizona. On our first visit here, I warned Justin about the "jumping cholla." I told him not to get too close or the cactus will end up attached to you. So what does he do? He goes to look at one and turns around and the next thing you know, there's a chunk of cactus the size of a softball in his leg. Luckily he was wearing jeans so it couldn't dig too far into his skin, but he still had blood and a giant bruise from it. It's sort of a rite of passage to get stuck by a cholla. Everyone gets stuck at one time or another. And believe me, once it happens to you, it won't happen again. I got three tiny cholla needles in my shin when I was about 10 years old and it was super painful for me when my grandpa pulled them out with pliers. Justin learned his lesson and steered clear of the chollas after that.

Here we are on another hike.

Here's a view of the lake and the fountain from my parent's hotel room.

After having been to most areas of the country, this is still my favorite.


Next installment of "Places Justin and I have been".... Tampa, Florida.