Jan.1, 2011
So let us describe Fountain Hills, Arizona. It’s about 20 km east of Scottsdale/Phoenix
and linked to that major city with a four lane road which takes you past the Mayo Clinic, a highly regarded medical center in the US. A relatively new town, Fountain Hills is spread out over many hills and valleys covering a large area. The permanent population is some 25,000 but feels much smaller because of the way much of it is hidden with the hills. The main streets are all four lane with extremely wide cycling paths on both sides. The name of the town comes from the fountain in the center of a man-made lake which once an hour shoots up to be, so claimed, the fourth highest fountain in the world. The “hills” part of Fountain Hills comes from, well…all the hills in the area. The weather is normally very warm, about 18C in December, but not so this year. The mountains around us got a dusting of snow last night and a bitter wind is as biting as any in Canada. The town is at some 500 meters elevation.
And what’s the deal with this horse called “Maytag Mathilda”???
Fountain Hills has a wide street called “Avenue of the Fountains” which looks straight at the man-made lake and the big fountain. Every year the street is lighted up with Christmas decorations and what seems like the whole town shows up while the local stores offer free food and wine. We didn’t eat much. Man-made snow was brought in for
the kids. Dawn found herself a new beau though his tights could be changed! Check out the picture.
While there we ran into our neighbours in the next condo, people from Wisconsin. He offered me a candy bar. I took it. I brought it home. I ate it. I placed the empty wrapper on his door handle. The next morning there was another candy bar. “Hmmm…this could be productive.” I thought. At which point an empty bottle of wine was placed by his door. And voila…like magic, a full bottle of wine appeared by our door! Maybe next time we’ll put our empty check book by their door. Or maybe even our car! To say the
least we’ve had lots of laughs with Roger and Rose, two really nice, down-to-earth good people and more than a few bottles of wine have been consumed. Bummer!! So far it has escalated into a card from them with our rebuttal. Oh, where will this all lead!?
Part of the reason for this town being so quiet is that there are few stores though there are three large grocery chains here. Other major purchasing runs can be made in the Phoenix area with everything there if you want to wear out your credit card. We try on stay in the Scottsdale area simply because it is closer, is easy to get around and it’s a very nice area.
The city has been hit hard by the recession. Housing is incredibly low in price with a huge number of places on the market. We’re also seeing lots of vehicles with hardware store “For Sale” signs in the window. That may not be that uncommon though when you see higher end cars such as Mercedes and Jaguars being put up for sale in that manner, you just know things are not great. Want a motorhome? Take your pick…at rock-bottom prices.
The area has no forests but zillions of cacti of all shapes and sizes remind you of where you are. Many of the tall cacti, the saguaros, have arms growing upwards which makes them look to be waving as you go by. Out of friendliness, we wave back. They look friendly enough to hug but we’ve been advised against it. Not far from where we are the land goes up to 2200 meters and, with the storm that just went through, saw lots of snow, closed roads and loads of accidents on the ones that were open. It is warm enough year round that there is a large commercial orange grove only 8 km outside of town. In town itself, some have producing olive trees on their property.
Thanks to Dawn’s hard work, we are in a comfortable two bedroom condo in a quiet area, although nowhere in Fountain Hills is it noisy partly because the traffic is so light.
This is a town and area for road cyclists. Not much is flat. Dawn is getting some riding in while I’m roaring around with my road bike over all these hills. One hill on the edge of town is 18% and is guaranteed to give you a stroke, make you cry or cause you to fall over cause you just ain’t pedaling fast enough!! And coming back down? Well…just don’t fall. But cycling is one of the main reasons we came here so that is certainly working out well. And did we mention the cheap wine??
We’ve also met another couple, Bill and Anna, in their 70’s who roar around town in a 1970 built, 1937 replica BMW motorcycle complete with sidecar for her. He heard about this rig, sent his money and waited. His friends told him he would never see the motorcycle or his cash again. Why? Because he bought it sight unseen from an individual in China…over the internet! Can you say “scam”? But lo and behold…the thing appeared…spotless. Being a retired fireman from New York City, you would think he would have been a touch more sceptical. He’s glad he wasn’t.
So far we’ve been on the road since mid-June and this is the first, but not last, New Year crossed. To all out friends and family, we wish everyone a
Very Happy New Year!
And to do that…just keep smiling.
