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WEST COAST ARIZONA
Whether looking at the man-made or the Mother Nature-made, Arizona’s West Coast is a region of both striking superlatives – the largest man-made lake in the country (Lake Mead), the world’s tallest suspension bridge (SkyWalk on the Hualapai reservation), the remotest sections of the Grand Canyon – and extraordinary eccentricities – the country’s only free-roaming bunch of wild burros, and a landlocked yacht club in a town that goes from tiny to nearly one million people attending what is essentially a gigantic swap meet with lots of gems and minerals thrown in. Here’s the best of both.

GRAND CANYON WEST
The Grand Canyon Caverns here are cool and all, but since March 2007 the Hualapai who live in this area as well as the hundreds of thousands of visitors who pass through are all atwitter about the Star Trek-y Grand Canyon SkyWalk, a glass-floored suspension bridge impossibly (yet very safely) dangling 70 feet out over the rim of Grand Canyon West, a lesser known, but no-less beautiful area of the Grand Canyon that is part of the Hualapai Reservation.
           

It’s easy to spend hours on the bridge, locked in place by the vertiginous view and/or splaying your arms and playing Superman, but the Hualapai hope that while you’re on their reservation, you’ll take some time to learn about their culture as well as the cultures of the other three tribes that have called the Canyon home for centuries, the Hopi, Paiute, and Havasupai.

CENTRAL WEST COAST
Yes, the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, the country’s largest man-made lake, are feats of engineering about on par with the Grand Canyon SkyWalk, but a favorite thing to see in this region is much more sophomoric: “wild” burros roam the streets of Oatman, spryly trotting along behind you like an unshakable shadow if you have even a crumb of food in a pocket. Descended from the trained burros used by miners working here in the late 1800s, today’s population remains quite tame. Try to imagine Clark Gable and Carol Lombard honeymooning among these asses. They did, staying at the Oatman Hotel for a night in March 1939.
           

And now back to that feat of engineering that is the Hoover Dam, the second highest dam in the U.S. and possibly the only large-scale federal project ever finished two full years ahead of schedule. Built between 1931 and 1936 in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, the Hoover Dam today gives tours to nearly one million people every year. The dam, which was the largest electric-power generating station and the world’s largest concrete structure when it was built, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985. Launch at the Hoover Dam and take your group on a float down the Colorado River with Black Canyon/Willow Beach Adventuresfor a memorable day with knowledgeable tour guides and breathtaking scenery.
           

Lake Mead, the 110-mile long lake-in-the-middle-of-the-Mojave created by the Hoover Dam, was so unique as to require the federal government to come up with an entirely new designation: Lake Mead was named the country’s first National Recreation Area in 1964. The Lake Mead NRA also includes 67-mile-long Lake Mojave, created when David Dam went up. A very different experience than Lake Mead, Lake Mojave is often no wider than the Colorado River was before this section was dammed. Its widest point is four miles.

SOUTHWEST COAST
In this southwestern corner of the state you can party like it’s 1999 and play prisoner like it’s 1879. And then tee off at the state’s best municipal golf course as rated by Golf Digest (Desert Hills Municipal), and get your ornithology on trying to spot some 380 species of birds.
          

Defining the Arizona and California border, the Colorado River has produced a thriving West Coast economic engine. The resulting rapid growth has transformed the once quiet river towns into progressive communities filled with all the desired components for staging meetings and events.
           

Out of all the lakes along the River, Lake Havasu is the one that calls most every collegian within a thousand miles come spring break. And, while Lake Havasu is home to the world’s largest antique, the London Bridge, which was moved here brick by brick from its original home spanning the Thames River, students aren’t coming here for a history lesson. Lake Havasu has 400-some miles of coastline and marinas renting everything from jet skis to houseboats. The city offers several venues with meeting space to accommodate groups up to 1,000 people. Some 25 hotels and resort properties provide a full range of resort accommodations, with over 2,500 rooms, offering everything from economy to full service amenities. The London Bridge Resort & Convention Centeroffers over 10,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and a unique lakefront option for meeting planners.
           

Just south of Lake Havasu City is the town of Parker, whose crown jewel is the BlueWater Resort and Casino. With 200 rooms, four pools, a marina, casino and extensive conference space, the resort is an ideal meeting setting.
           

Further south, the Yuma Civic and Convention Center offers more than 25,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting and exhibit space, complete professional services and event support equipment. The Center is the area’s major regional site for conventions, trade shows, entertainment and public events and hosts over 1,400 meetings and events annually.
           

At Yuma Territorial Prison, prisoners cut their own cells into cliffs. Used from 1876 until 1909, at which point it was briefly repurposed as a high school – the Yuma Union High School mascot, a criminal, of course – the Yuma prison is now a state historic park. It might look familiar to you from the movies. The original (1957) 3:10 to Yuma was filmed here as was its 2007 remake of the same name.