Sights in Arizona
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Fox Theatre
This renovated art-deco theater on Congress St downtown is a 1930s beauty with fluted golden columns, water fountains and a giant sunburst mural radiating from the ceiling.
reviewed
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A
El Tiradito
reviewed
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Barrio Histórico District/Barrio Viejo
This compact neighborhood was an important business district in the late 19th century. Today it's home to funky shops and galleries in brightly painted adobe houses. The Barrio centers on 100 S Stone Ave and is bordered by I-10, Stone Ave and Cushing and 17th St.
reviewed
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4th Avenue
Linking historic downtown and the university, lively 4th Ave is a rare breed: a hip yet alt-flavored strip with a neighborhood feel and not a single chain store or restaurant, oops, except for Dairy Queen. The stretch between 9th St and University Blvd is lined with buzzy restaurants, coffee houses, bars, galleries, tattoo parlors, indie boutiques and vintage stores of all stripes.
Under the overpass that crosses 4th Ave and Broadway is the Tucson Portrait Project, one of our favorite public art projects anywhere. This wall-to-wall mosaic of about 7000 Tucsonian faces is a simple yet powerful testament to the diversity of the city's population.
The best time to visit 4th…
reviewed
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B
University of Arizona Museum of Art
Across the road from the CCP, peruse 500 years of European and American paintings and sculpture. The permanent collection features such heavy hitters as Rodin, Matisse, Picasso and Pollock.
reviewed
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Sabino Canyon
Sabino Canyon, a lush, pretty and shaded mini-gorge, is a favorite year-round destination for both locals and visitors. Narrated hop-on, hop-off tram tours along the Sabino Canyon Trail (adult/child $7.50/3) depart every half hour for a 45-minute, nine-stop loop with access to trailheads and riverside picnic areas. It’s nicest in the afternoon when the sun plays hide and seek against the canyon walls. A non-narrated shuttle ($3/1) provides access to Bear Canyon and the trailhead to Seven Falls, which has picnic sites and swimming but no facilities. From the falls, the trail continues up as high as you want to go.
reviewed
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Goldfield Ghost Town
It's billed as the only authentic ghost town in the valley, suggesting there are some inauthentic ones waiting to be discovered. Goldfield Ghost Town dates back to a brief 1890s gold boom, when in typical style its construction was almost as rapid as its abandonment.
Situated at the foothills of the Superstition Mountains, it's now become another of Scottsdale's family-oriented attractions, replete with tall tales and mysteries, including the mystery of the Lost Dutchman Mine. Cowboy wannabes will look forward to the gunfights, there's a narrow-gauge railroad for the trainspotters, and engineers will make a beeline for the museum collections of mining equipment. Everyone…
reviewed
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El Pedregal Festival Marketplace
It's the shopping that the El Pedregal faithful congregate for, and it's the kind of shopping diversity that has made Scottsdale's reputation: highbrow fashion mixing with suburban label faves, as well as all kinds of restaurants and galleries.
This is the kind of shopping precinct where, if anything, it's shameful not to talk about money. Built in the style of an ancient Moroccan marketplace (minus the associated cacophony), it's an upscale enclave set amongst the famed Boulders that loom 250 feet above, surrounded by resorts that dare not speak their name - they're commonly referred to as 'golf communities'. The adjoining suburb is called Carefree - it's that kinda…
reviewed
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Arizona Museum for Youth
The primary mission of the Arizona Museum for Youth is to get little ones excited about fine art through hands-on activities. There’s even a special room for toddlers where they can play with giant crayons or build their own colorful garden.
reviewed
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Tuzigoot National Monument
Squatting atop a ridge about 2 miles north of Clarkdale, Tuzigoot National Monument, a Sinaguan pueblo like nearby Montezuma, is believed to have been inhabited from AD 1000 to 1400. At its peak as many as 225 people lived in its 110 rooms, including a couple of dozen on the upper level. Stop by the visitor center to examine tools, pottery and other artifacts dug up from the ruin, then trudge up a short, steep trail (not suitable for wheelchairs) for memorable views of the Verde River Valley.
reviewed
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Red Rock State Park
Not to be confused with Slide Rock State Park, this low-key park includes an environmental education center, a visitor center, picnic areas and 5 miles of well-marked trails in a riparian habitat amid gorgeous scenery. Ranger-led activities include nature walks, bird walks and full-moon hikes during the warmer months.
reviewed
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Tusayan Route
reviewed
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C
Heard Museum
This extraordinary museum is a magical mystery tour through the history, life, arts and culture of Native American tribes in the Southwest. It emphasizes quality over quantity and is one of the best museums of its kind in America.
There are rooms of ethnographic displays, art galleries, a get-creative kids exhibit and an unrivaled Hopi kachina gallery (many of the pieces were a gift from Barry Goldwater). Most disturbing is the Boarding School Experience gallery about the controversial federal policy of removing Native American children from their families and sending them to remote boarding schools in order to 'Americanize' them. Overall, allow two to three hours to…
reviewed
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Rawhide Western Town & Steakhouse
Every 'howdy' sounds sincere at this re-created 1880s frontier town located about 20 miles south of Mesa on the Gila River Indian Reservation. Test your mettle on a mechanical bull or a stubborn burro, ride a cutesy train, pan for gold, and join in all sorts of other hokey-but-fun shenanigans. The steakhouse has rattlesnake and Rocky Mountain oysters (bull testicles) for adventurous eaters and mesquite-grilled slabs of beef for everyone else.
reviewed
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Hopi Museum
On Second Mesa, some 10 miles west of First Mesa is the small Hopi Museum, whose historical photographs, baskets, pottery and other craft items may hold your interest for about a half-hour.
reviewed