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Kids Korner |
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Did You Know?
- You can stand more than 4,000 feet above the Colorado River at the edge of the Grand Canyon on the Glass Bridge (www.nps.gov/grca)? It’s awesome! You can also take a float trip on the river or a vintage train from Williams to Grand Canyon National Park (www.thetrain.com).
- Twelve baseball teams play in seven cities throughout the state during spring training? They’re called the Cactus League (www.cactusleague.com). Don’t forget to bring a baseball and permanent marker for autographs!
- You’ll see altars and medicine wheels made of rocks in Sedona? You’ll also see weird shaped sandstone mesas and canyons. Check out the rocks – they really look red and seem to turn different colors when the light changes (www.visitsedona.com).
- You can slide downstream on natural water chute at Slide Rock State Park, half way between Sedona and Flagstaff (www.azparks.gov)? It’s a natural water park!
- Arizona has more kinds of hummingbirds than anywhere else in North America?
- Arizona has 21 Native American tribes? You can learn a lot about Native American art and culture at the Heard Museum in Phoenix and Scottsdale (www.heard.org)
- You can get eye-to-eye with mountain lions and Gila Monsters in Arizona—at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson? It’s a combination zoo, natural history museum, and botanical garden with more than 300 animal species and 1,200 kinds of plants (www.desertmuseum.org). How many will you recognize?
- You can watch an old-fashioned gunfight at Old Tucson Studios? It is Southern Arizona’s premier outdoor western entertainment center. Okay, the gunfights aren’t real – but they’re still fun! You’ll also enjoy saloon musicals, stunts, stagecoach adventures, and more. Old Tucson has served as a film destination for a host of western movies and TV shows (www.oldtucson.com).
- Two Tucson cavers discovered Kartchner Caverns State Park in the 1970s? One of the great natural wonders of the western United States, it is believed that no human before then had ever seen the massive cave. The cave is remarkable because it is a “wet” or “living” cave, meaning the calcite formations within are still growing. Reservations are strongly recommended (www.kartchnercaverns.com).
- Your family can rent a houseboat and cruise around Lake Powell? During the holidays, people put Christmas lights on their boats. Lake Powell is named for Major John Wesley Powell, who led the first river expedition through the Grand Canyon. Lake Powell is upriver from the Grand Canyon, behind the Glen Canyon Dam (www.lakepowell.com).
What Other Kids Say You Should Do While In Phoenix . . .
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Kids, Tell Your Parents . . .
You can take your pick of fancy resorts with huge water playgrounds or more modest accommodations. Travel during shoulder or off season to save big bucks on lodging. Visit www.arizonaguide.com.
For dinner with the kids, locals suggest:
- Pinnacle Peak Patio (www.pppatio.com). Families ready for a taste of the Old West with a hankering' for all things Western will find gunfighters and singing cowboys on hand to liven up the menu. Kids can be deputized, earn junior deputy badges, and then maybe turn dad in for wearing a tie. Scissor-wielding waitresses will then promptly cut off the tie and hang it high with about one million other condemned cravats.
- Sugar Bowl Ice Cream Parlor & Restaurant (www.sugarbowlscottsdale.com). Kids love the sundaes and long menu of other sweet concoctions. Since 1958, the Sugar Bowl has been dishing out scrumptious ice cream treats featuring their traditional ice cream recipes. The authentic 1950's soda fountain is a favorite among locals, too, helping the establishment earn its place on Scottsdale's Historic Preservation Register.
- Café Poca Cosa (www.cafepocacosainc.com). Chef and owner Suzana Davila creates unique, imaginative Mexican cuisine in her casual, upscale downtown bistro. The fare at Poca Cosa combines a wide array of ingredients and flavors from Mexico to craft original, memorable meals. The menu changes twice daily.
Don’t Miss:
- Mission San Xavier del Bac (www.sanxaviermission.org). “The White Dove of the Desert” is located nine miles south of Tucson in the Santa Cruz Valley on the Tohono O’odham Reservation. The Mission is acclaimed as the finest example of mission architecture in the United States.
- The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (www.smoca.org), where the Young at Art gallery provides an area for kids to see exhibitions by other young people. From January through April, families can attend a free Native American dance performance called Native Trails presented by the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and produced by the Scottsdale Center for the Arts in downtown Scottsdale.
- Fly over the Sonoran Desert landscape in a hot air balloon. Here, you will get the bird's-eye view of the desert wildlife from the gondola as the balloon drifts quietly across the blue Arizona sky. Fodor’s recommends Hot Air Expeditions (www.hotairexpeditions.com).
- Catch a home game for one of the University of Arizona Wildcats’ sports teams most any time of the year. Football, basketball, softball, baseball, soccer, and many other games are open for public enjoyment from autumn through spring. Visit www.arizonaathletics.com.
- The Desert Botanical Garden (www.dbg.org). The best place in the area to learn about the Sonoran Desert ecosystem. Kids especially love the Garden's free clue sheet, which turns learning into a game as various cacti and plants are matched with their proper names and places of origin.
- The Arizona Science Center in downtown Phoenix (www.azscience.org) has more than 300 hands-on science exhibits.
- Phoenix Zoo (www.phoenixzoo.com)
- Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s permanent winter home and now a National Historic Landmark in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains. www.franklloydwright.org
- Take the Art Walk on Thursday evenings on Main Street in Downtown Scottsdale and tour the galleries. www.scottsdalegalleries.com
- Play Golf Greens fees at Arizona golf courses can range from under $50 at public courses to ten times that. Call well ahead for tee times wherever you want to play. Contact the Arizona Golf Association at www.azgolf.com.
See Past Editions of Kids Korner.
By: Eileen Ogintz, Author of Taking the Kids™
