It’s no surprise Scottsdale’s surreal landscape, with its rugged saddle of painted crags peppered with saguaro and the occasional Palo Verde, inspired Taliesin West — Frank Lloyd Wright’s fortress of desert solitude that’s now a popular attraction for taste-loving tourists. More than a suburb of Phoenix, Scottsdale is “The West’s Most Western Town,” a name-brand mountain resort community that’s home to some of the best golf courses in the world. Founded and settled by Winfield Scott (not to be confused with the Mexican-American war hero) in the 1890s, the city wasn’t incorporated until 1951, and the population has since boomed from a meager 2,000 to more than a quarter-million today. The downtown district runs dense with fine dining, galleries, and entertainment, with tony residential enclaves running from its periphery to the mountains. A diverse array of neighborhoods with an endless litany of amenities afford an exceptional quality of life for all who call Scottsdale home.