Events
Arizona Learning Vacations
Make your Arizona vacation as educational as it is exciting with these tips for trips that focus on increasing your knowledge while you have fun.
By Julian Smith
More and more vacationers are looking to come back from their holidays not just tanned and relaxed, but also a little smarter. In Arizona, it’s easy to combine fun in the sun with education on a variety of learning vacations throughout the state. Many have a conservation bent that complements the state’s natural beauty.
Take a Fun and Educational Trip Down the Grand Canyon
The granddaddy of educational trips in Northern Arizona is the Grand Canyon Field Institute, which runs guided overnight trips into the canyon from March through November. Choose from artistic, women-only or hardcore backcountry ventures, among a long list of options. All are led by experts in their respective fields, and safety is always part of the plan. Family-oriented trips take place along the canyon’s rim.
Embark on a Northern Arizona Adventure
The Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff offers two different options for enjoyable instruction. Their Discovery program offers experiences for children from preschoolers to teens on topics including dinosaurs, volcanoes and Native American cultures. They range from half a day to a week long, and most take place on the museum grounds, but many include field trips into the Four Corners area.
The Ventures program turns all of the Colorado Plateau into a classroom. Participants travel with artists, scientists and other guides on outdoor adventures up to a week in length. Learn about photography or ecology, or just have a good time hiking, backpacking and river rafting through the high desert.
For a closer look at one of the Colorado Plateau’s newest residents, the Arizona Condor Experience is a four-day tour through Northern Arizona to view endangered California condors that were released into the wild near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The largest wingspan in the world is just one highlight (nine feet); others include interacting with staff of the Peregrine Fund and floating on the Colorado River.
See Southern Arizona’s Annual Hummingbird Migration
At the other end of the scale is the annual hummingbird migration in Southern Arizona, where warm temperatures and the intersection of desert and mountains lure a wealth of species. More than a dozen different kinds of hummers buzz through the state from spring through fall. Two great places to catch this influx are the Nature Conservancy’s Ramsey Canyon Preserve and the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, where you can often help researchers weigh, band and feed them.
The clear skies of the Sonoran Desert are the main reason Kitt Peak National Observatory was located in Southern Arizona. Now the world’s largest collection of optical telescopes is just a 90-minute drive from central Tucson. Every night from September through mid-July, the facility runs a public viewing program using three of its telescopes. Aspiring amateur astronomers love to stay all night through the advanced observing program, which gives you a CD of images to take home in the morning. (No previous experience is necessary.)
Get Your Hands Dirty Analyzing Ancient Artifacts
Take a look into the past at Elden Pueblo, north of Flagstaff, once home to the prehistoric Sinagua people and ancestors of the Hopi from about 1070-1275 A.D. Public field days once a month from April through August let you get your knees dirty like a real scientist as you excavate and analyze artifacts under the gaze of professional archaeologists. The Arizona Archaeological Society offers other hands-on events at Elden, as does the Museum of Northern Arizona (above).
If you’d prefer to have everything arranged for you, contact Archaeological Adventures, a private educational tour company that works with the Bureau of Land Management to get the public involved in Southwestern archaeology. They organize one-day experiences and special tailored programs.
Whichever branch of science you choose, you’ll soon find how much there is to discover from one end of Arizona to the other.
(Updated by the Arizona Office of Tourism - 2009)
Going?
Archaeological Adventures
www.archaeologicadventures.com
Arizona Condor Experience
Phone: (866) 438-6877
www.detoursaz.com/condor.html
Elden Pueblo
Phone: (928) 527-3600
www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/forest-resources/archaeology/elden-pueblo/index.shtml
Grand Canyon Field Institute
Phone: (866) 471 4435
www.grandcanyon.org/fieldinstitute
Kitt Peak National Observatory
Phone: (520) 318-8726
www.noao.edu/outreach/nop/
Museum of Northern Arizona Discovery program
Phone: (928) 774-5213
www.musnaz.org/education/discovery.html
Museum of Northern Arizona Ventures program
Phone: (928) 774-5213
www.mnaventures.org
Ramsey Canyon Preserve
Phone: (520) 378-2785
www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/arizona/preserves/art1973.html
San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area
Phone: (520) 439-6400
http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/blm_special_areas/ncarea/sprnca.html
