Is The Egyptian Motor Hotel the most luxurious hotel in town? Nope. Is it the most fun? It's a strong contender. Part of Best Western's BW Signature Collection, The Egyptian opened to much fanfare in January after many years of lying in disrepair and several more being renovated. The result is a boutique hotel that's as much fun to hang out at as it is to stay. The rooms are music-themed and come with cute and thoughtful touches like Bluetooth speakers, Brita water pitchers and smart TVs that allow you to log into your streaming services and watch your shows. Around the property, you can cool off in the shallow lounging pool, play some foosball and catch some of The Egyptian's live entertainment — which includes DJs, live bands, karaoke and more — while enjoying a drink at the outdoor bar. The popular Chilte restaurant is there for your dining needs, and if you want to leave for a bit and come back to your room later, you're quite close to the excitement of downtown Phoenix.

Although watching people drunkenly stumble down Roosevelt Row on a Saturday night is always an enjoyable people-watching experience, nothing beats Phoenix Fan Fusion. This annual celebration of inner geekdom is nothing short of a visual feast. Scantily clad anime characters come-to-life mix with oversized furries throughout the halls of the Phoenix Convention Center. Batman and the Joker call a temporary truce from their battle royale to ride the escalator together, while horror characters like Pyramid Head perform a hauntingly beautiful musical routine as part of Dragstravaganza. Outside the walls of the convention center, the vibrant cosplayers hop on the Valley Metro Rail, blithely unaware of stares from the normies. For three full days each summer, the city is overtaken by people proudly showing their authentic selves, and it's nothing short of glorious. Let that geek flag fly, Phoenix.

A garden in the middle of Phoenix? It's hard to believe a mini-waterfall, small ponds and dense greenery exist in the desert, but the Japanese Friendship Garden (also known as Ro Ho En) is a memorable oasis in the hottest city in the country. As you walk through the almost-4-acre grounds, it's hard to miss the intersection between tranquility, the Japanese landscape design and the bright orange koi fish swimming in the water. For those who want an immersive experience, regular tea ceremonies are held daily. This mini-oasis is simple, but offers a welcome refuge from the desert landscape and the noise of the city. You can sit in a quiet spot to meditate or snap some photos to prove to others that the desert can also be lush in certain places.

Phoenicians are lucky to experience a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the foothills of the McDowell Mountains. The legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright made Taliesin West his home until 1959. The buildings overlook a vast landscape, and visitors can view the interior, admiring the office space, a private home theater and Asian art. Docents offer a 90-minute walking tour across the property, allowing attendees learn about Wright, his architecture and his life. Tours are offered during the day and night. Taliesin West was built almost 80 years ago, and touring the property means taking a look at how architecture takes shape in the middle of the desert. Wright's ultimate goal was "to make life more beautiful, the world a better one for living in and to give reason, rhyme to the meaning of life." For those who want to do a deeper dive into Wright's philosophy, special workshops and exhibitions are offered throughout the year.

When it comes to gonzo events, absolutely nothing in the Valley is like the Phoenix Idiotarod. On one chaos-filled Saturday each February, gangs of self-proclaimed "idiots" dress in costumes and race custom-decorated shopping carts around downtown Phoenix in a massively madcap competition. Naturally, alcohol is involved. Equal parts urban prank, bar crawl, art spectacle and IRL episode of "Jackass," the Idiotarod is organized by the Arizona Cacophony Society and is the most drunken fun you can have in costume outside of a wild Halloween party. Here's the setup: Teams of five or more choose a theme inspired by pop culture or other subject matter and gear up both themselves and their cart. Hilarity ensues, as do inebriated antics. Over the next several hours, teams race to nearby bars and checkpoints, sabotage competing teams and engage in challenges like limbo dance-offs or dueling with inflatable penises. Is it scandalous and shocking? Frequently, but it's all in good fun. If you'd like to join these idiots in action, registrations open in January via the Society's website. Athleticism is optional, but enthusiasm, a warped sense of humor and a strong liver are all useful.

In our fast-paced world, parades seem awfully quaint. Which is why we love to slow down for a bit and take in the APS Electric Light Parade each year. At a time when the holidays make our crazy existence even crazier, we post up along Central Avenue and wait for the brightly lit vehicles to crawl by. We're not rushing to buy gifts or hurrying to a holiday party; the only thing we have to do in this moment is enjoy the company of whoever we're with, bask in the colors and the sounds and take in the crisp, late fall air. It's a welcome moment of relaxation and a wonderful way to usher in the holiday season.

It's hard to define what's helped forge Phoenix's identity. One of the most essential aspects of the Valley, though, has been its constant sense of evolution — the city's always growing and expanding in new and novel ways. There's no better way to experience that microcosm than with a ride west to east across Camelback Road from Central Avenue to 52nd Street (or thereabouts). Sure, there are lots of great bar and food options, not to mention shopping galore. But more than that, it's a powerful reminder of Phoenix's transformative streak as the city morphs rather quickly from midtown to the Biltmore and into Scottsdale in slightly longer than the blink of an eye. This drive is a perfect chance not only to spend a lazy evening cruising for fun and high jinks, but to see how the city's alive, the ways in which Phoenix continues to develop and what that ultimately means for its communities and its citizens. It's not a drive so much as it's a history lesson and a novel dissection of how Phoenix will come to be for its foreseeable future. So, take it real slow and be sure to absorb as much as you possibly can.

A tribute to the Internet's favorite gorilla in the middle of nowhere? It sounds totally bananas, but we ain't pulling any monkeyshines on you. Head north on Usery Pass Road just past 92nd Street and Mesa's city limits, and you'll encounter signs proclaiming that particular stretch of roadway has been adopted "In Memory of Harambe," the beloved western lowland silverback gorilla that became world famous and inspired countless memes after being shot and killed by a Cincinnati Zoo employee in 2016. There's no mention of who adopted the road or whether it was a heartfelt tribute to the noble beast or a jokey reference to Harambe's viral status (including the infamous "Dicks Out for Harambe" meme). We asked the Maricopa County Department of Transportation, which oversees the Adopt-a-Road program in unincorporated areas of the Valley, for more info, but they're mum on the subject. Regardless, whoever's adopted the road has held up their end of the bargain and kept it litter-free. Whether or not they had their junk out while doing so remains as much of a mystery as their identity.

Like a rock band that embarks on multiple farewell tours (we're looking at you, KISS), Metrocenter is now the recipient of two goodbye-themed Best of Phoenix awards. Back in 2020, we gave it Best Sendoff for the epic car cruise around its perimeter, a two-night event that drew thousands of nostalgic boomers and Gen-Xers who spent their adolescence bumming around the west Valley mall. After that, not much happened. But once news of its imminent demolition began to spread this past spring, one final (really final) event was planned to send Metrocenter into the Great Retail Beyond. In May, thousands attended "Metrocenter: A Fond Farewell," an event hosted by the city of Phoenix and the mall's owners. The free celebration included music, food and drink, kids' activities, a car show, photobooths, memory walls and a 1980s costume contest. It was a fitting tribute to a place that meant so much to generations of Phoenicians.

When the sun sets in Phoenix, the city is lit by the glow of neon. And our favorite glowing beacon is the so-called Diving Lady, who plunges nightly at the Starlite Motel in Mesa. Created in 1960, she was destroyed in an epic storm in 2010. The Mesa Preservation Foundation led the charge (and the fundraising effort) to restore the Diving Lady not just to its pre-storm state but to her original midcentury glory. After more than two years and $120,000, the restoration was complete, and the Diving Lady was back to beckoning motel customers. In a town awash with neon, she's certainly the queen bee.