|
Kimberly Schmitz, Director of PR
Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitor's Bureau
kschmitz@visitTucson.org
520-770-2143
Family Fun In The Sun
Tucson & Southern Arizona
Roaming around Tucson on vacation can offer families the activities and pastimes that keep everybody entertained. Interesting museums, exciting theme parks, enriching cultural and heritage events, and a wealth of natural beauty make a Tucson vacation an enjoyable and memorable experience for all ages. And the kids don't have to be adventurous to enjoy Tucson. They just have to like fun.
At the top of the list for kids and adults alike is the world-renowned Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Exhibits re-create the natural landscape of the Sonoran Desert region so realistically that kids will find themselves eye-to-eye with hummingbirds, mountain lions, prairie dogs, Gila monsters, and more. For families who want to really get out in nature, the east and west locations of Saguaro National Park have loop roads for driving and bicycling, hiking trails, picnic areas, and big rocks for scrambling. The riparian world of Sabino Canyon Recreation Area offers an interesting contrast to the plants and animals found in the surrounding desert. Highlights include a tree-lined creek, trails for hiking and horseback riding, picnic areas, and a shuttle-service for sightseers. At 6,000 feet above Tucson, Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley offers cool places for hiking, bird watching, camping, and rock climbing, and it is home to a sky ride that operates year-round (weather permitting).
Rock-climbing instruction is available at Rocks and Ropes, an indoor climbing gym where kids can climb the walls while learning basic knot tying and climbing safety. Adventurers who are not claustrophobic will enjoy guided tours at two Tucson-area caves. Colossal Cave Mountain Park has crystal-filled caverns-which once sheltered stagecoach robbers-and a gemstone-sluicing area, a small museum, and nature trails. Families with children older than seven can reserve tickets for a tour of the massive, multi-colored cave formations at Kartchner Caverns State Park, a spectacular, underground wilderness area south of Tucson.
If the kids want to see living lions, tigers, and bears, the Reid Park Zoo has them, along with a walk-through aviary and giraffe feedings every morning. At the International Wildlife Museum, families can browse taxidermy displays and giant dioramas featuring more than 400 kinds of mammals, birds, and insects from around the world. Young explorers at the T-Rex Museum can learn about prehistoric reptiles and dig up real fossils and other treasures-and keep them. Older children are more likely to appreciate visiting a real historical site on a tour led by researchers at Old Pueblo Archaeology.
At the Tucson Children's Museum, kids can play for hours at a variety of hands-on, educational exhibits, such as the new Discovery Center, which teaches about marine life across the border at the Sea of Cortez. Childrens' gardens at both Tucson Botanical Gardens and Tohono Chul Park provide excellent introductions to Sonoran Desert plant life, using exhibits that encourage kids to touch, listen, and smell. Children can try out musical instruments at "instrument petting zoos" prior to the Tucson Symphony Orchestra's Just for Kids concerts held October through March. At the Gaslight Theatre, honky-tonk music sets the tone for family-friendly melodramas featuring slapstick humor, wacky special effects, and villains to boo.
Unique science exhibits and programs for all ages are offered at Flandrau Science Center and University of Arizona Mineral Museum, on the University of Arizona campus. Highlights include interactive displays, a multimedia planetarium, a 16-inch telescope for nighttime stargazing, and a gem-and-mineral museum with more than 15,000 specimens. For aviation fans, Pima Air and Space Museum is a must-see, with more than 200 vintage and modern aircraft, as well as a Space Gallery where kids can view a real moon rock and explore the geology of Mars. The world's largest collection of optical telescopes is located southwest of Tucson at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The observatory's website has information on age-appropriate tours, programs, and special events.
The Tucson area is the best place to glimpse the American Old West. The 1880s come alive just south of Tucson in the historical town of Tombstone, "the town too tough to die," which recreates the infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral® and provides tours by wagon and stagecoach of well-preserved buildings and monuments. Old Tucson Studios is a famous Old West movie set and theme park offering stunt shows, musical revues, horseback and stagecoach rides, steam-engine train rides, and kiddie rides. Another former movie set, Trail Dust Town recreates a smaller version of an Old West town.
For children curious about American Indian life, Arizona State Museum features an exhibit on the cultural traditions, origins, and contemporary lives of 10 Arizona-Sonora tribes, including the Tohono O'odham who live near and worship at the 300-year-old Mission San Xavier del Bac. History buffs of all ages will enjoy the Arizona Historical Society's exhibits, which include an underground copper mine, ranch and town life of the 1870s, and Victorian-era period rooms.
To keep cool outdoors in the summertime, kids of all ages like to splash in the wave pools at Breakers Water Park and Wyatt's Water World. Summer evenings are a good time to enjoy the miniature golf, bumper boats, go-karts, and batting cages at Funtastiks Family Fun Park and Golf ‘n Stuff Family Fun Center. Bowlers will find state-of-the art facilities at both Bedroxx and Golden Pin Lanes, while the racetrack at P1 Kart Circuit stays open late for recreational, motorized go-kart races for children over the age of nine. Movie fans can watch family-friendly films under the stars at the old-fashioned DeAnza Drive-In Theatre. A vintage movie palace downtown, the Fox Tucson Theatre, screens its Summer Classic Movie Series, June through August. Summer is harvest time at Apple Annie's Orchard, south of Tucson in rural Willcox, where children can experience the fun of picking their own produce.
Baseball is big in Tucson as the Cactus League holds spring training camps during March for three Major League Baseball teams: Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox, and Colorado Rockies. Watching Tucson's Minor League Baseball team, the Sidewinders, is a crowd-pleasing pastime for families who can catch the action from the grassy outfield at Tucson Electric Park.
Special Events:
The Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase features educational exhibits of gems, fossils, and other treasures the first week in February. Schools close during La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, or Festival of the Cowboys, a professional rodeo with a parade featuring western-themed floats, buggies, and horse-drawn carriages, in mid-February. The Blue Angels fly at Arizona and Aerospace Days every other March at Davis Monthan Air Force Base. In April, carnival-lovers can enjoy the rides, games, exhibits, entertainment, and food at both Spring Fling and the Pima County Fair. An indoor exhibit of colorful, tropical butterflies dazzles visitors to the Tucson Botanical Gardens, October-March.
# # #
|
