Sights in Arizona
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Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
The state's best introduction to the wonder of the desert is here, at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. A cross between a zoo and an interpretive park, Tucson's must-see attraction deserves a full day of exploration and has a nice café. Javelinas (wild boars), coyotes, bobcats, snakes and just about every other local desert animal are displayed in a natural-looking outdoor setting. During summer there's a Saturday-night program where you can see the creepy crawlies who live on the night shift.
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Arcosanti
The brainchild of groundbreaking architect and urban planner Paolo Soleri, Arcosanti is a desert outpost based on 'acrology': architecture meets ecology. This cross between a kibbutz and design school 65 miles north of Phoenix looks like a village on Luke Skywalker's home planet. Radical when conceived in the 1960s, Soleri's ideas now seem cutting-edge in this age of urban sprawl and global warming. Arcosanti is good for a day trip or a long stay - there are week- and month-long seminars, a café, one-hour tours, concerts and other events. Basic accommodation is available, and the Sky Suite is designed for great views of a dark desert night.
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Meteor Crater
Nearly a mile across and 600ft deep, the second most impressive hole in Arizona was formed by a fiery meteor that screamed into the atmosphere about 50,000 years ago, when giant sloths lived in these parts. Meteor Crater, 40 miles east of Flagstaff, is an out-of-this-world site for those with a thimbleful of imagination. There are lookout points around the crater's edge but no hiking to the bottom. Check out the fun, informative visitor center.
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Lowell Observatory
The Lowell Observatory witnessed the first sighting of Pluto in 1920; before this many scientists thought the existence of 'Planet X' was a crackpot theory. Weather permitting, there's nightly stargazing, helped by the fact that Flagstaff is the first International Dark Sky city in the world. During the day 30-minute tours are offered hourly between 1:15pm and 4:15pm.
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A
Riordan Mansion State Historic Park
The Riordan Mansion is a great example of what happens when two Chicago boys head West and strike it rich as lumber barons. In 1904, brothers Tim and Mike Riordan commissioned Charles Whittlesey of Grand Canyon’s El Tovar Hotel fame to build a Craftsman-inspired duplex to house their families.
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Antelope Canyon
To visit photogenic Antelope Canyon, a stunning sandstone slot canyon with two main parts, you must join a tour. Upper Antelope Canyon is easier to navigate and more touristed. Antelope Canyon Slot Tours is recommended, and runs star-gazing outings as well.
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B
Reid Park Zoo
A global menagerie including giant anteaters and pygmy hippos delights young and old at the small and compact Reid Park Zoo. Cap a visit with a picnic in the surrounding park, which also has playgrounds and a pond with paddleboat rentals.
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Saguaro National Park
Saguaro National Park is cut in half by 30 miles of freeway and farms. It's at the edges of Tucson but still officially in the city - though you'll never believe it once you're in the middle of this prickly ocean of green cacti.
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C
Tucson Museum of Art & Historic Block
Don’t let all that messy construction stop you from exploring historic downtown. A good place to start is the Tucson Museum of Art & Historic Block, which complements its respectable collection of pre-Columbian, Western and contemporary art with often excellent traveling exhibits and a superb gift shop. Works are displayed in the modern main building and five historic ones, including the 1854 Casa Cordova, one of Tucson’s oldest buildings. The museum complex is part of the Presidio Historic District, which embraces the site of the original Spanish fort and a ritzy residential area once nicknamed ‘Snob Hollow.’ It teems with restored 19th-century mansions, but the ori…
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Arizona Vineyards
Nogales is the gateway to Hwy 82, aka the Patagonia Hwy, which rumbles through rolling hills, open range, wine country and bird refuges to link up 70 miles later with Hwy 80 near Tombstone. Tall grass sways in the breeze and lazy cattle graze in fields dotted with the occasional windmill. If the land looks familiar it’s because you’ve probably seen it on film. More than 50 movies were filmed in this area, including Red River and Oklahoma. It’s truly a road less traveled and a great way to get away from it all and perhaps taste a bit of Arizona wine. Didn’t know they grew grapes down here? OK, so it’s not the Napa Valley and there are only seven wineries thus far, but than…
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Deer Creek
If you're lucky enough to have joined a Grand Canyon rafting tour, Deer Creek Falls tumbles into the Colorado River downstream of Granite Narrows below Mile 136. From this welcoming trailhead you head 150m (500ft) up a steep, bushy slope to a stunning overlook. From here the trail leads into Deer Creek Narrows, an impressive slot canyon whose walls bear remarkable pictographs.
The narrows end in an inviting cascade. Above, lush vegetation lines the trail as it meanders along the cottonwood-shaded creek. The trail crosses the creek and ascends open, rocky slopes to Deer Creek Spring, the trail's second waterfall. From here retrace your steps back to the river. Despite havi…
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South Rim
About 90% of Grand Canyon national-park visitors head for the South Rim. Just north of Tusayan, Arizona is the park’s south entrance station. A short drive further ahead next to ever-crowded Mather Point is Canyon View Information Plaza to help you get oriented. After stretching your legs, continue north to Grand Canyon Village. Duck inside the 100-year-old Hopi House, one of the park’s many Native American–inspired designs by famed Western architect Mary Colter, and the equally historic El Tovar Hotel and cliffside Kolb Studio. At the northeastern end of the village, panoramic views of the canyon unfold at Yavapai Observation Station, which has an intriguing geolog…
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Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
Built around AD 1350, Casa Grande (Big House) is one of the country’s largest Hohokam structures with 11 rooms spread across four floors and mud walls several feet thick. Preserved as a national monument, it’s in reasonably good shape, partly because of the strange metal awning that’s been canopying it since 1932. The visitor center has exhibits about the Hohokam society and Casa Grande itself, including a model of what the place may have originally looked like. Ranger-led 30-minute tours are available between November and April. The ruins are about 70 miles northwest of Tucson. Leave the I-10 at exit 211 and head north on Hwy 87 towards Coolidge and follow the signs…
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Grand Canyon Caverns & Inn
Nine miles past Peach Springs, a plaster dinosaur welcomes you to the Grand Canyon Caverns & Inn, a cool subterranean retreat from the summer heat. An elevator drops 210ft underground to artificially lit limestone caverns and the skeletal remains of a prehistoric ground sloth. If you’ve seen other caverns, these might be underwhelming, but kids still seem to get a kick out of a visit. The complex also includes a campground (tent/RV sites $15/30) amid junipers and a basic motel (r $85). The restaurant (mains $5 to $15; open 7am to 7pm) is a nice little roadside spot with a small playground and serves burgers and fried food. Note that, despite the name, Grand Canyon Caver…
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Kitt Peak National Optical Observatory
From Tucson, Hwy 86 heads west into some of the driest and emptiest parts of the Sonoran Desert. West of Sells, the Kitt Peak National Optical Observatory features the largest collection of optical telescopes in the world. Guided tours (adult/child $4/2.50; at 10am, 11:30am and 1:30pm) last about an hour. Book two to four weeks in advance for the worthwhile nightly observing program (adult/child $46/41; no programs from July 1 to September 15 because of monsoon season) - clear, dry skies equal an awe-inspiring glimpse of the cosmos. Dress warmly, gas up the car in Tucson (the nearest gas station is 30 miles from the observatory) and note that children under eight are not …
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Biosphere 2
About 35 miles away from downtown via backcountry roads, Biosphere 2 is a 3-acre glassed dome housing seven separate microhabitats - a jungle, a desert, a swamp - designed to be self-sustaining. In 1991 eight bionauts entered Biosphere 2 for a two-year tour of duty, during which they were physically cut off from the outside world. They emerged thinner, but in fair shape. Although this experiment could be used as a prototype for future space stations, it was privately funded and controversial. The massive glass structure is now a University of Arizona-run earth science research institute. Visits are by guided tour only, but they start often, and if you're lucky your guide …
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Fort Verde State Historic Park
Camp Verde was founded in 1865 as a farming settlement only to be co-opted soon after by the US Army who built a fort here to prevent Indian raids on Anglo settlers. Tonto Apache chief Chalipun surrendered here in April 1873. Today, the town’s Fort Verde State Historic Park offers an authentic snapshot of frontier life in the late 19th century. Exploring the well-preserved fort, you’ll see the officer’s and doctor’s quarters, sprint down the parade grounds and study displays about military life and the Indian Wars. Staff occasionally dress up in period costume and conduct living history tours. To get here, take exit 287 off I-17, go south on Hwy 260, turn left at Finnie…
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Marble View
Our favorite of the many Kaibab Forest overlooks, this viewpoint makes a spectacular picnic or camping spot. From the meadow, covered with Indian paintbrush and hiding Coconino sandstone fossils, views extend over the eastern edge of the canyon to the paper-flat expanse beyond.
This is not a quintessential Grand Canyon overlook that you see in postcards and books. Instead, you're looking down where the Colorado River first cuts into the rocks from Lees Ferry, at the point where it only hints at the rapids and canyon beyond.
Marble View is off Hwy 67, 13km (8mi) south of Kaibab Lodge. From Hwy 67, the road seems to end at an overlook; be sure to take the narrow road through…
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Picacho Peak State Park
Distinctive Picacho Peak (3374ft) sticks out from the flatlands like a desert Matterhorn, about 40 miles northwest of Tucson. The westernmost battle of the American Civil War was fought in this area, with Arizonan Confederate troops killing two or three Union soldiers before retreating to Tucson and dispersing, knowing full well that they would soon be greatly outnumbered. The battle is reenacted every March with much pomp, circumstance and period costumes. The state park provides year-round camping (tent/RV sites Jun-Aug$10-15, Sep-May $12-22), picnicking and hiking trails, including two to the summit. Fixed ropes and ladders aid hikers, but no technical climbing is i…
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Havasu Canyon
One of the Grand Canyon's true treasures, this is a hidden valley with four stunning, spring-fed waterfalls and inviting azure swimming holes in the heart of the Havasupai Reservation. Because the falls lie 16km (10mi) below the rim, most trips are combined with a stay at either Havasu Lodge in Supai (the only village within the Grand Canyon) or at the nearby campground. For a spot at Havasu Campground you need to book six months to a year ahead.
Parts of the canyon floor, as well as the rock underneath the waterfalls and pools, are made up of limestone deposited by flowing water. These limestone deposits are known as travertine, which gives the famous blue-green water it…
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Oak Creek Canyon
For something truly magical take Hwy 89A northeast into Oak Creek Canyon. It's a drive that won't be forgotten. The canyon is at its narrowest here, and the red, orange and white cliffs at their most dramatic. Giant cottonwoods crowd the creek sides, providing a scenic shady backdrop for trout fishing and swimming.
Stop at the Grasshopper Point swimming hole about two miles into the drive, to cool off. Continue on until you reach Slide Rock State Park - a great spot for a picnic lunch.
Head back into town around sunset and turn off at Airport Road. The setting sun makes for a trippy picture - the rocks blaze psychedelic red and orange against a bright pink and purple sky.
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El Tovar
With its unusual spires and dark-wood beams rising behind the Rim Trail, elegant El Tovar remains a grande dame of national park lodges. Spacious rooms (many with sleigh beds and rim overlooks), a dining room with panoramic views, and wide, inviting porches with rocking chairs offer visitors a comfortable and elegant place to relax after a long journey to the park. You don't have to be a guest here to enjoy its old-world ambience.
El Tovar was built in 1905 for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway and designed by architect Charles Whittlesey as a blend between a Swiss chalet and the more rustic style that would come to define national park lodges in the 1920s.
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North Rim
On the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, more than 8000ft above sea level, solitude reigns supreme. Rugged and remote, it boasts meadows thick with wildflowers and dense clusters of willowy aspen and spruce trees. The air is often crisp, the skies vast and blue. If crowds make you cringe, this is where to head for wild isolation. There is only one road in, after all. It’s colder and wetter here, too, and the North Rim is only open for business from mid-May to mid-October. However, the views are spectacular and the lack of huge crowds makes visiting the North Rim a more peaceful, if more spartan, experience of the canyon’s majesty.
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Widforss Trail
Named after Gunnar Widforss, an early-20th-century artist who lived, worked, died and was buried at the Grand Canyon, the Widforss Trail meanders through stands of spruce, white fir, ponderosa pine and aspen to Widforss Point. Tall trees offer shade, fallen limbs provide pleasant spots to relax, and you likely won't see more than a few people along the trail.
Though the total elevation change is only 134m (440ft), rolling terrain makes the first couple of miles a moderate challenge. This is a particularly pretty hike in late September or early October when the leaves are golden, and the point makes an excellent backcountry campsite.
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Arboretum
At 7150ft, the Arboretum stands higher than any other botanical garden in the country. We don’t know what kind of ‘miracle grow’ they put in their soil, but the 200 acres are home to an incredible diversity of 2500 plant species, and this despite a growing season of just 75 days. Two short wood-chip trails meander beneath ponderosa pines, passing a herb garden, native plants, vegetables and wildflowers, opening up fabulous views along the way. Bring a picnic, catch a guided tour (11am and 1pm) or observe the antics of hawks, owls, falcons and other rambunctious raptors in daily shows at noon and 2pm.
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