much anytime you stop in, you’ll find a de- cent crowd of people whose clothes and tattoos and haircuts and mannerisms you can study in the hopes of becoming cooler. EEEEE PHX Sky Train Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport skyharbor.com/phxskytrain We like the light rail; we’re glad it’s there, it’s good for the city, etc. But we don’t often think to take it to the airport, even though it stops there. We tend to be too hurried to get to our flight on time to add another transportation variable into the mix. But with Uber prices surging one afternoon this year ($35 from the Garfield neighbor- hood to Sky Harbor, are you kidding?), we trudged with our suitcase to the closest stop and boarded the train. After a long walk from the 44th Street stop, you must board the PHX Sky Train, which ferries you to your terminal. We’d never had the pleasure. We were sweaty and tense about flying during a pandemic, but for about five minutes on the Sky Train, standing up and clutching a pole, a calm fell over us. This dinky little vessel travels along an elevated track, dipping and twisting gently, like a slow-motion roller coaster. It even offers modest views — the mountains to the south, the city to the north. By the time we arrived at Terminal 4, our forehead sweat had dried and our spirits had lifted. We tried it again a few months later. Same out- come: inner peace via the Sky Train. The Uber savings aren’t bad either. EEEEE Mel and Patti Tasker’s House 8211 South 63rd Avenue 66 When it comes to Christmas spirit, the Whos of Whoville ain’t got nothing on Mel and Patti Tasker. During the holidays, the couple dresses up their sprawling Laveen Village home with more than 300,000 lights and several hundred hand-painted wooden cutouts of cartoon, comic book, and video game characters. There’s also an animated undersea display and a flock of zoo animals made from lights. Best part: Everything’s arranged along the Taskers’ circular driveway, so you can roll through without leaving your car. (It’s also the only free drive-thru holiday attraction in the Valley.) The display is visible from miles away, owing to their house being on a small hill surrounded by farmland. That could change soon, as a grip of recent residential and commercial projects are encroaching on their property and could wind up being the Grinches of this story. A newly opened housing community next door might limit the hours the Taskers’ display is active, so get out to see it while you can. This year’s version opens in early November. EEEEE Musical Instrument Museum 4725 East Mayo Boulevard 480-478-6000 mim.org Truth be told, there’s not much that truly makes Phoenix unique. Other cities have art museums and great restaurants, beauti- ful golf courses, and high-end shopping. So if you’ve got visitors in from out of town, and you want to give them an experience they really can’t get anywhere else, we rec- ommend you head to the Musical Instru- ment Museum in north Phoenix. To be fair, there is a similar institution in Brussels, but its collection isn’t as large or geographi- cally comprehensive as ours; the Phoenix MIM has more than 13,000 instruments from more than 200 countries and territo- ries. It’s also got a room full of instruments to play, a concert space that draws acts from around the world, and special pro- gramming devoted to the musical tradi- tions of areas around the globe. There’s a BEST OF PHOENIX 2021 | WWW.BESTOFPHOENIX2021.C0M | SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 me g al o p olit an lif e B E S T FR EE RID E L A B N O E S U A T PT-OF-T C E TO O T AK WNER E B E S T H OLID A Y LIGHT DI SP L A Y
