United StatesPhoenix
Phoenix: Every Instrument on Earth, Hohokam Solar Windows and the Anti-Phoenix in the Desert
Engage honestly with Native history and 40000 artifacts at the Heard Museum, listen to musicians from every country on earth via wireless headsets at the Musical Instrument Museum, hike to the Hohokam solar calendar at Hole-in-the-Rock in Papago Park, join First Fridays in the Roosevelt Row arts district, learn about Pima and Maricopa canal-building history at the Salt River reservation, and drive 65 miles north to Arcosanti, Soleri compact city-as-ecological-critique of sprawling Phoenix.
Phoenix: Intel Silicon Desert, 16000 Acre City Park and the Deadliest Urban Hike in America
Catch a spring training game in a stadium where you can almost touch the players during Cactus League season, trace the Intel and TSMC semiconductor billions in Chandler Silicon Desert, hike 50 miles of trails past Hohokam petroglyphs in South Mountain Park the largest city park in the US, understand the Lake Pleasant water paradox in the drought-stressed Colorado River basin, browse 100 Western art galleries on Scottsdale ArtWalk Thursday evenings, and test your limits on Camelback Mountain technical summit scramble.
Phoenix: Suns Triple Finals Heartbreak, Red Rock Vortexes and Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs
Hike to the granite spire of Pinnacle Peak above north Scottsdale billion-dollar estates, ride Tonto National Forest trails to a Wind Cave above cholla cactus, revisit the Suns triple Finals heartbreak at Footprint Center, browse 40 galleries at Tlaquepaque arts village in Sedona against red rock backdrops, explore the Southwest largest arts complex at Mesa Arts Center, and track down the Sonoran hot dog wrapped in bacon with pinto beans.
Phoenix: Largest University in America, Dude Ranch Capital and the Two-Hour Drive to Snow
Walk Arizona State University campus where 180000 students attend the most innovative university in America, visit Desert Botanical Garden at dawn for cactus wren birding or by night for luminaria glow, explore Wickenburg dude ranch legacy where East Coast elites learned to rope cattle in the 1930s, watch spring training at Goodyear Ballpark for a fraction of regular-season ticket prices, drive two hours north to Flagstaff at 7000 feet where Pluto was discovered and ski runs open by November, and plan arrival between October and April to avoid 110-degree summer days.