2. CAMP COYOTE http://www.enchantmentresort.com/activities/kids-luxury-resort-activities Introducing Camp Coyote for kids @ the Enchantment resort! We offer trained counselors who guide fun educational activities. Kids will learn about Native American culture, environment talks, and go on nature walks. Kid-friendly indoor activities available in our 1500 square foot Camp Coyote center (w/crafts, beading, treasure hunts, sand painting)
4. SLIDE ROCK STATE PARK http://azstateparks.com/Parks/SLRO/index.html# Slide down a natural water chute! There is swimming, picnicing, fishing, nature watching, a volleyball court, and a nature trail.
5. DEER FARM http://www.deerfarm.com/ At the Deer Farm you don't just look at the deer, you walk among them, you touch them, you let them eat right from your hand.
Travelers are invited to tantalize their taste buds, tickle their funny bones and satisfy the need for a knee-slapping, wholesome, good time at the nearby Blazin’ M Ranch for their Chuckwagon-style Dinner and Show. Before dining, guests are encouraged to meander through an Old West courtyard laden with events that also entertained early settlers. Visitors may indulge themselves in a lively game of horseshoes, try their skill in the shooting gallery, learn to rope with a mechanical horse and steer, converse with living history characters, or grin at family or friends from behind the bars of the local jailhouse. A clatter of footsteps can be heard on the wooden boardwalk that connects the five Western shops that line the courtyard. Suited in a fancy saloon ensemble, deadeye gunslinger garb or lacey Victorian regalia, one may immortalize his or her frontier experience at the Olde Time photo studio. The only one-of-its-kind-in-the-world “Wood ’N’ West” Museum is a must during the Blazin‘ M Ranch visit. The miniature, movable Old West scenes, created by a master woodcarver, are sure to add another smile. When the dinner bell rings, guests need to be prepared to feast in rustic splendor using tin plates and cups; just as real cowboys did over a century ago while moving cattle across the great American prairies. After an all-you-can-eat supper (beware of flying biscuits), dinner guests sit back, relax and enjoy the harmony of the Blazin’ M Cowboys. These fellas continue to entertain audiences with their authentic cowboy music, tall-tales, tomfoolery and other side-splitting surprises!
A NATURAL WONDER Lava fields, Indian ruins and meteor craters. To our bunch, words like these are the siren song that lures us to parts unknown. We've driven miles out of our way to see natural oddities like Spouting Horn (an awesome plume of water) and Barking Sands (turned out to be a military base.)
Flagstaff, Arizona, we happily discovered, has a mother lode of natural wonders, tucked in and around a stunning landscape of mountain peaks and ponderosa pines. Look up, and you'll see the sugar-sprinkled tops of the San Francisco Peaks. These are Arizona's highest mountains, and are considered sacred by the Navajo and Hopi peoples. Look down, and you'll peer into Walnut Canyon, where about 800 years ago families lived in snug limestone dwellings. It seems only fitting that the kids made kaleidoscopes here, at the Museum of Northern Arizona; Flagstaff is interesting from every angle.
WHO KNEW? That a giant meteor, weighing several hundred thousand tons, rammed into earth about 50,000 years ago at 40,000 miles per hour and hit...Flagstaff! Visit the gaping Meteor Crater left behind, some 550 feet deep and 4,000 feet in diameter. Apollo astronauts practiced moon walking here. Admission is $12 for adults, $5 for kids ages 6 to 17; call 928-289-5898.
DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT... your walking shoes. This is an area you'll want to explore on foot, from the licorice-hued lava rock at Sunset Crater Volcano (928-526-0502) to the ancient Anasazi Indian ruins at Wupatki National Monument (928-679-2365), home of a mysterious blow hole. Admission is $3 for both attractions for adults, free for kids ages 17 and under. Visit Walnut Canyon National Monument to see how the native Sinagua people lived in an otherworldly environment. Admission is $3 for adults, free for kids ages 17 and under; call 928-526-3367.
DON'T LEAVE TOWN WITHOUT... taking in Flagstaff's loftiest views. Peer inside the telescope at the Lowell Observatory, where the planet Pluto was discovered in 1930. Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for kids ages 5 to 17; call 928-774-2096. At Arizona Snowbowl, ride the chairlift to the top of Agassiz Peak (11,500 feet) and see if you can spot the Grand Canyon, 80 miles away. Admission is $9 for adults, $5 for kids ages 6 to 12; call 928-779-1951.
CLEAN-PLATE CLUB Choo-choo-choo your food at the Crown Restaurant & Railroad Cafe East; this family restaurant houses northern Arizona's largest electric train display. Call 928-522-9237.
HOTTEST TICKET IN TOWN The hands-on children's programs at the Museum of Northern Arizona. This small but fascinating museum celebrates the native peoples and natural sciences of the region. Our faves: the dinosaur bones and kachina dolls. Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for kids ages 7 to 17; call 928-774-5213.
BEST LOCAL COLOR No contest: it's the Museum Club, a log roadhouse built in 1931 to house preserved animals and Native American artifacts. Now a country-western nightclub, the Zoo, as it's called, is pure honky-tonk, but, hey, there are trees growing out of the floor, mounted wildlife, even ghosts. Pop in for a quick look-see at this Route 66 landmark. Call 928-526-9434.
I care for Apple Jacks a great deal. Co-op member Co-op member :)
Posts: 70
Location: The little critters of nature... They don't know that they're ugly!
I think that Lowell observatory has a reciprocal membership with Explora, so if you have the explora card you can get in free.
I loved slide rock as a kid.
You've pretty much hit anything I would have thought of, except maybe looking for a Sedona vortex, if you're into that kind of thing. http://www.lovesedona.com/vortmap3.pdf
Mom to Hovey, Leedy, and Asher
Some people get an education without going to college; the rest get it after they get out. –Mark Twain
I want to say that the Painted Desert is off I-40 on the way to Flagstaff, and also in Winslow, Arizona there is a very awesome historic hotel - a Harvey House - right on the train line that has been renovated by an artist and her husband...and I can't speak enough about how much I adore that place. Its called La Posada, and it beats any hotel in Flagstaff - its about an hour east of Flagstaff right off I-40. I think we stayed there at the beginning of May and our room (the Clark Gable room, because he had stayed in it at one point) was about 70 dollars. They book up quickly though, so if you're heading that way call at a couple of weeks in advance!
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