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Phoenix
Phoenix - the name just makes you think of big ol' flames
and big ol' birds getting burnt up in them and the dastardly
summer heat of this capital city does nothing to diminish
that image. The climate is pleasantly warm in the winter -
prime time to check out the range of leisure activities on
offer. The city's location in a valley ringed by mountains
enables recreation in a spectacular setting. There are hiking
and mountain biking trails to be tackled and scenic drives
and lookouts to be explored, plus this valley's reputation
as a golfer's paradise is well known. To get in touch with
the true South Westerner in you, there are plenty of yee-hah-ride-'em-cowboy
horseriding opportunities.
For the hotter months, or for the less sporty visitor, the
city itself is host to some world-class museums. The Heard
Museum, which houses an impressive display of Native American
history and culture, comes to life with a festival each March,
while The Pueblo Grande Museum is a Hohokam Indian
village which has been partially excavated and then re-buried
for preservation, leaving sections open to the visitor. Nearby
Mesa is home to a large Mormon temple - it is closed
to the public but Mormon guides are on hand to take visitors
around the grounds and explain the basic tenets of the faith.
Botany buffs can visit the Desert Botanical Gardens,
while fireman fanatics will enjoy the fire fighting memorabilia
displayed at the Hall of Flame. The city centre itself
has no obvious links with its past, except for a group of
8 or so early 20th century houses in the optimistically-named
Heritage Square. The surrounding cityscape, however,
is aggressively modern and host to a range of dining possibilities,
from traditional American steakhouses and diners, through
to the ubiquitous Southwestern or Tex Mex offerings, to more
diverse Asian and European establishments.
Tombstone
The Wild West of countless classic movies can be experienced
first hand in evocatively-named Tombstone. Founded in the
late 19th century by a lucky prospector, the town provides
a glimpse into a reckless past of cowboys and Indians, bandits
and outlaws, desperadoes and flash gunslingers. The famous
OK Corral shootout took place here and the Corral is now the
scene of historic animations and exhibits. Dramatic re-enactments
of shoot-outs take place against a backdrop of original Western
buildings - gimmicky, but fun - and the Boothill Graveyard
houses the graves of many of these early chancers; the gruff
epitaphs on some of the headstones displaying the rough sensibilities
of the real, pre-tourist Wild West. Nearby Bisbee is
less sensationalist, providing tours of the mines that were
the lifeblood of the days of gunfights, saloons and ladies
of dubious virtue. Various events and festivals in both towns
celebrate this colourful history.
Petrified Forest National Park
The name conjures up images of a perfectly preserved, Sleeping
Beauty of a forest, woods in a time-warp, but the Petrified
Forest National Park is no less enchanting for being an area
littered with fossilised tree trunks, many fragmented. The
area offers a glimpse into an inconceivably distant past -
the trees date from 225 million years ago and were standing
before the time of the dinosaurs. Buried, fossilised and then
exposed by erosion, some of the logs boast impressive dimensions.
The main viewpoints in the park - Blue Mesa, Jasper Forest,
Crystal Forest and Rainbow Forest are, as their
names suggest, beautiful and colourful, but have sadly all
been plundered to lesser or greater degrees by early souvenir
hunters. Removal of any materials from the park is now strictly
forbidden. Other features of the area include a 16th century
Indian hut built entirely of petrified wood, petroglyph sites
and nearby are many-hued landscape of the Painted Desert.
Here, the sun reacts with minerals in the earth to create
changing colours in the surrounds. Unsurprisingly, the area
is especially striking at sunset.
Wupatki National Monument
Wupatki National Monument covers 54 square miles of over
2700 well-preserved archaeological sites, offering evidence
of the rich and complex past of the area's prehistoric Anasazi
and Sinagua inhabitants. The area features rock art, pottery,
baskets and tools, and the pueblos and dwellings here are
distinctive from many found in the Southwest due to the fact
that they are free standing - some several stories high -
rather than cut into cliffs. Only a few of these masonry pueblos
are easily accessed; one other - Crack-in-the-Rock Pueblo
can be visited only an organised 16 mile weekend-long hiking
trip, available only two months per year and limited to 25
hikers. Places are given out on a lottery basis and interpretative
exhibits at the visitor centre offer a fuller understanding
of the historical and cultural significance of the area.
Arizona-Sonora Desert
Huge, imposing desert cacti, eerily resembling people with
their arms raised skywards, are as much a part of people's
image of the Southwest as the Grand Canyon. The Organ Pipe
Cactus National Monument in the Arizona-Sonora Desert,
is host to thousands of these columnar cacti - the common
saguaro, plus the organ pipe cacti from which the monument
takes its name and the rarer Old Man's Beard (so named
because of its distinctive white tufts) which grows nowhere
else in the USA. Springtime often sees a profusion of both
wild- and cactus-flowers and the abundance of resident fauna
is best seen in the early mornings and evenings, when it is
not taking shelter underground from the searing heat of the
day. There are a variety of hiking trails available, ranging
from stroll to strenuous, as well as a 52-mile scenic loop
drive to the west and a 21-mile loop to the east. Plenty of
camping places are available, but backcountry camping is permitted
with a permit.
Guide by Sarah Rodrigues
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