Best Scenic Drive 2022 | Road to Dobbins Lookout | Megalopolitan Life | Phoenix
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Best Scenic Drive

Road to Dobbins Lookout

Jennifer Goldberg

It's ironic that the southern end of Central Avenue, the urban heart of Phoenix, is the beginning of one of the most gorgeous scenic drives in the city. Located in the South Mountain Park and Preserve, the road to the Dobbins Lookout starts off gently as you travel through visitor checkpoints and parking lots. Then, you begin to climb. Gentle twists, turns, and switchbacks are the name of the game as you ascend the mountain on a well-maintained paved road. It's hard to decide what's better: gazing at the majestic South Mountain close up or watching the city fall away behind you. After about five miles, you'll make it to Dobbins Lookout at 2,330 feet. The altitude makes for spectacular views of the entire Valley; you can try your hand at identifying landmarks with the compass on the observation tower, or you can get out of the sun in the stone ramada. On your way back down, before you leave the park, make sure to stop at what remains of Scorpion Gulch, a neat little house and store that was built in the 1930s.

Best Holiday Tradition

Las Noches de las Luminarias

All holidays are commercialized these days, it seems. Valentine's Day candy shows up by New Year's. Days of remembrance like Memorial Day and Veterans Day are excuses for stores to hold sales. And don't even get us started on Christmas. But amid the winter holiday consumption extravaganza, there's one local Christmas tradition that's light on the commercialism and heavy on the, well, lights. Las Noches de las Luminarias at the Desert Botanical Garden has been going on for more than 40 years. Picture it: the lovely, serene paths of the DBG lit with hundreds of luminarias. Wander around the garden, and you may find a string quartet playing Christmas music, or a small stand selling hot beverages of the alcoholic and nonalcoholic kind. The crowd isn't loud, the lights are gentle and unobtrusive, and the only things for sale besides food and drink are the usual stellar offerings of the garden's gift shop. Las Noches de las Luminarias, which runs through most of the month of December, is an oasis of peace and holiday magic in the midst of Christmas madness.

Best Place to Take an Out-of-Towner

Musical Instrument Museum

There's no shortage of places to take out-of-towners whether they're into nature, sports, or cultural activities. But sometimes you just want to show off the fact that Phoenix has a particularly rare type of museum, where visitors can see musical instruments and artifacts that deepen their knowledge and appreciation of global culture. We love watching out-of-towners find instruments, artifacts, and videos that reflect their own cultural heritage — and seeing their eyes light up when they discover a piano or guitar played by a modern music legend. It's a plus that you can treat them to a meal at the museum cafe, shop for souvenirs in the museum store, or even get tickets for a concert inside the museum's own theater. Exploring the museum will take you at least half a day, and you'll never be bored going back with visitors because every time you're there, you'll discover something intriguing that you hadn't noticed before.

Best People-Watching

Phoenix Fan Fusion

Some folks attend Phoenix Fan Fusion to geek out. Others go for the chance to meet pop-culture icons and collect autographs. We're there for the unrivaled people-watching opportunities. Roam the Phoenix Convention Center during the three-day event, and you'll encounter a nonstop parade of interesting characters, fictional and otherwise. Nerds wearing T-shirts with snarky sayings such as "The book was better." Dudes in Pokémon onesies. A gal in a dress made from Beanie Boos. Punks with full sleeves of Harry Potter tattoos. You can also spot the various celebrities who appear each year at Fan Fusion, and not necessarily at their panels or booths (Mythbusters star Adam Savage dressed as Captain America and discreetly walked around the exhibitor hall in 2019). As you'd expect, cosplayers are also legion — and their costumes are always on point. At this year's edition (the first since the pandemic) we spotted such standouts as a life-sized version of Totoro, characters from Dogma, a female version of King-Sized Homer, and an intricately crafted Eliksni Mother from Destiny 2. (Plus more Deadpools, Moon Knights, and Harley Quinns than we could've possibly counted.) It's more than enough to justify the $90 price tag for a full event pass.

Best Inside Look

Mesa Arizona Temple Tour

Jennifer Goldberg

Mormon churches dot the landscape of metro Phoenix, and you can walk in and attend services whenever the doors are open. Temples are a bit different: There are only three in the Valley (Mesa, Gilbert, and Phoenix), and you can only enter if you're a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with a temple recommend. The exception occurs when a temple has yet to be dedicated, or in the case of the Mesa Arizona Temple, rededicated, which is why thousands of non-Mormons were afforded the rare opportunity to tour the building late last year. The temple, which was finished in 1927, had been closed for renovations since 2018, and before it was rededicated in December 2021, we got to take a look inside the house of worship. Modest dress was encouraged for the free tour, and all attendees were required to put disposable booties on their shoes so as not to sully the pristine carpets. We were walked past the baptismal font, through dressing areas, and into rooms devoted to worship and wedding ceremonies. The smiling volunteers greeted us, but didn't try to convert us, and after the tour, we took a few minutes to wander the temple's beautiful public gardens. Seeing as how the last time the temple was open to the public was 1975, we feel fortunate we were around last year to sneak a peek inside one of metro Phoenix's longtime landmarks.

Best Hidden Oasis

Alwun House Garden

When it comes to art with an erotic or esoteric spin, Alwun House is renowned for putting it all out there. At any given time, they might be presenting an art exhibit, a cabaret, or a poetry reading. The multistory house is hard to miss, with its bright orange exterior and seasonal decor such as giant spiders or hearts. But it's really the garden that shines most, in part because not everyone knows it's there. Behind the house, you'll find lush plants, ponds, water features, fairy lights, and art installations. And this garden has features you won't find in most other green spaces, including a fabulous stage and bar area — because sometimes you want to wax poetic amid an idyllic array of blooms, but other times you want to circle a runway filled with exotic fashions knowing that Mother Earth is close by, winking and wearing a sheepish grin.

Best Makeout Spot

The Secret Garden at ASU Tempe

Believe it or not, even at Arizona State University's massive Tempe campus lined with palm trees and teeming with backpack-toting undergraduates on skateboards, there is a secluded place where one could have a romantic rendezvous. At the southwest corner of Dixie Gammage Hall (on Forest Mall, across from Coor Hall), meander down a ramp and through a short tunnel to find yourself, and hopefully your companion, at the Secret Garden. A lush green lawn is surrounded by leafy trees and scattered with a few benches, though a picnic blanket is another great seating option here. Stare at your lover in awe or simply head back to escape the hubbub of downtown Tempe. We won't tell if you don't.

  • 1001 S. Forest Mall, Tempe, 85281 Map

Best Place to Find Your Zen

Japanese Friendship Garden

Lush greenery, koi fish, and a mini waterfall in the corner of an almost a four-acre garden are unexpected in the desert. But the Japanese Friendship Garden has made its home in the Valley since 1996 when Matsuji Totani, the mayor of Himeji, Japan, proposed a sister-city friendship between Himeji and Phoenix. Several places in the garden offer opportunities for reflection and moments to focus on you. You can stroll the garden and admire the stones or 50 plant varieties on the property. Those who want to sink into an authentic Japanese tea experience will enjoy sipping tea and living an ichigo-ichie moment, which means that the moment you're currently experiencing can never be repeated again. The tea ceremony is meant to be savored because each seating is treated like an experience that is singular and unique. A quiet awareness is palpable when you visit the Japanese Garden and chances are that floating feeling may just mean you found your zen — at least for a few moments.

Best Bygone Amusement Park

Legend City

If you're an OG resident of metro Phoenix — we're talking several decades or more — you remember Legend City, the bygone amusement park that operated from 1963 to 1983. As for anyone who moved to the Valley since then? They've only heard about the place. Conceived as an Arizona-themed version of Disneyland, the 87-acre destination on the border of Tempe and Phoenix was filled with attractions riffing on our state's history, particularly the Wild West era. There were such themed areas as Indian Country and Boom Town, experiences that allowed you to stroll through the Lost Dutchman Mine or down the "River of Legends," and rides including a circa-1880s locomotive. Since the park's closure, it's become a cultural touchstone for old-school Phoenicians and a part of local lore. Nostalgia for the park rages to this day (a mere mention of the park causes hundreds of responses in the popular Vintage Phoenix group on Facebook), as those who witnessed Legend City firsthand still have halcyon memories of its glory days.

Best Free Ride

PHX Sky Train

It's like something out of Tomorrowland at Disney Word. Sure, the technology isn't all that futuristic. But how many rides give you a bird's-eye view of the top of a jumbo jet? Or the sweeping vistas of the mountains and sunsets that remind us why we live here in the first place? The driverless PHX Sky Train takes you from the 44th Street Light Rail Station, over the taxiway, and right into Terminals 3 and 4. In the summer, the extension to the car rental facility opened. It's free and runs every three to five minutes. It's a great way to avoid the traffic or expensive parking at Sky Harbor, and here's a tip: You can avoid the lines to check your bags at the terminal by doing it at the 44th Street station. You'd pay for this at Tomorrowland. But here's the best bit, besides the views: It's free.

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