Amazing Arizona
By Sumner Andrews, Thu Dec 8th

A neighbor of ours said that after 20+ years in Arizona, theyhave finally finished visiting all the key state attractions. Wedidn't believe them. My wife and I have moved around quite a bitand each time we quickly exhausted our host states touristresources. Not so with Arizona. Let me give you a couple ofexamples.

As new residents, we had to make the Sedona pilgrimage. Sedonais considered by many to be the center of the New Age movement.Allegedly, it contains several natural energy vortexes. So wehad to visit just for the novelty of it. The first visit wespent the entire time visiting the main town shops. Even by theend of the day we hadn't exhausted the possibilities. On oursecond visit to Sedona, we went directly to Tlaquepaque ,awonderful Spanish hacienda containing some of the best art inthe region. Despite half a dozen visits to Sedona since then, westill haven't sampled the New Age offerings. Each visit we haveseen something new.

Not too long ago, my wife and I did a quick tour of the centralpart of Route 17, the main artery linking Tucson, Phoenix, andFlagstaff. We stopped off at Arcosanti, the inspiration of theworld renowned architect Paolo Soleri, to pick up one of hisfamous

bells. We swung around to view the Montezuma Castle, acliff dwelling where a tribe of Sinagua Indians lived. We thenvisited a western town reproduction in Cottonwood where you canget a complete dinner and cowboy show in one sitting.

We have seen more in a years time than we saw in ten elsewhere.We have visited an ostrich farm outside of Tucson, walked safelyat night through downtown Phoenix for a Sun's basketball game,cross country skied in Flagstaff, and horseback rode through aSaquaro cactus forest. By now you would think we are close toexhausting Arizona's resources. Hardly. It is just like ourneighbors said. We haven't begun. Let's see, I am planning tovisit Nogales on the border of Mexico to pick up some greatbargains. Then I want to visit Lake Havasu on my way to LasVegas. Well, you get the idea.

About the author:is the author of ?Getting Away With The Family? athttp://www.srapplications.com/relax/family-vacation.htm andother articles on careers, vacationing, relaxing, and stressmanagement. He also is the webmaster forhttp://www.srapplications.com.