subject: Endless Options For Things To Do Throughout Arizonas Vast Real Estate [print this page] Think about it: the wine-hued canyons of Lake Powell...the Ponderosa pines of the Coconino National Forest...the red rocks of Sedona...the soaring Santa Catalina peaks...Arizona is definitely ready, willing and able to fit right into a variety of lifestyles. For example, the state enjoys a wealth of hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, touring, swimming, river rafting and both water- and snow-skiing. In addition, amazing examples of Mother Nature in Arizonas real estate are abundant, including one of the Seven Wonders of the World the Grand Canyon as well as forests of statuesque saguaro cacti, magnificent caverns and even the 550-foot-deep Meteor Crater.
Meanwhile, the Phoenix Zoo and Tucsons Reid Park Zoo are both excellent places for a family day-trip, as is the Out of Africa Wildlife Park, near Camp Verde. And for distinctly natural habitats, its hard to beat Tucsons huge Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, while mostly critter-free but filled with indigenous plant life are Phoenixs Desert Botanical Garden and Tucsons Sabino Canyon, which includes a tram ride to the top.
For a taste of the REALLY Old West, Deer Valley Rock Art Center is a great place to ponder the mysteries of ancient Native American artwork...and its located right off the Loop 101 in north Phoenix, just a hop, skip and jump from Scottsdale. Or you could visit the Pueblo Grande Museum, which is the site of 1,500 year-old Hohokam village ruins located inside the Phoenix city limits. Spread across 102 acres, the Museum allows you to explore an 800 year-old Hohokam platform mound or you can stroll the grounds and check out a Hohokam excavated ballcourt and full-scale reproductions of prehistoric Hohokam homes. The site also includes some of the last remaining intact Hohokam irrigation canals.
For a more contemporary -- lets say 1800s -- Old West experience, book a stay at one of the states dude ranches or visit historic Tombstone, where many buildings have bullet holes and there are daily shootouts at the O.K. Corral. If your munchkins are more rambunctious, kids can be as rowdy as they like at such Western town replicas as Rawhide near Phoenix and Old Tucson Studios, where many classic cowboy films were made.
With so many outdoor classrooms, the wide open real estate of Arizona offers numerous science and history lessons. At Petrified Forest National Park, you can see dinosaur bones and pieces of the trees that grew when dinosaurs roamed the area. The living cave system at Kartchner Caverns State Park was kept secret by its discoverers for years so it wouldnt be spoiled and Tucsons Colossal Cave is so big its never been fully explored. If you dont have claustrophobia, you can even go underground and tour the Queen Mine in Bisbee.
When it comes to night skies, among the places where you can peer through telescopes are the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Kitt Peak National Observatory west of Tucson and the Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium in Tucson. Some resorts in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tucson and Greater Phoenix also offer astronomy programs that are open to guests as well as the general public.
