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TUCSON & SOUTHERN ARIZONA

This open-spaces, sun-blessed, saguaro-full, southern-most region of Arizona is filled with interesting, historic, unusual, tasty, funny, cultural, and beautiful places to see and things to do. For meeting planners, it’s a reliable site for idyllic weather; and it’s authentically Arizona and the great Southwest. Tucson, Arizona’s second-largest city has been a long time favorite. People – Native Americans, Spanish, Mexican, Anglo- American – have been living in this area for around 10,000 years, which means, it’s been growing and developing as a city longer than anywhere else in the country. Enjoy as many of Tucson’s 350 annual days of sunshine as you can.

TUCSON
Tucson’s geography is a postcard image of cactus forests, rolling hills and awe inspiring mountains. The city’s mild climate, spectacular scenery, challenging high-desert golf, scrumptious culinary scene, and exciting attractions are easily accessible with nine different airlines offering daily departures to 17 non-stop destinations. Tucson’s lodging properties offer exceptional value for groups wanting first rate accommodations at affordable rates. Resorts and hotels are located close to the region’s natural parks, as well as cosmopolitan amenities such as fine dining, arts, and shopping.
           

The Tucson Convention Center is located in historic downtown Tucson – your delegates can walk to any of several hotels, shops, and many restaurants located a few blocks from the Center. With 205,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, the Tucson Convention Center has the size and flexibility to accommodate most every type of meeting, convention, trade show, or banquet event you may be planning.
           

The natural beauty of the Sonoran Desert’s purifying warmth and clear skies makes Tucson an unparalleled home for rejuvenating, luxurious resorts and destination spas. In the lush foothills of Tucson’s Santa Catalina Mountains, lies Miraval Life In Balance– recently featured on Oprah and consistently ranked the No. 1 destination spa in the country by Condé Nast Traveler magazine. While Miraval is best known for its mindful approach of caring for both the body and the soul through therapeutic massage, healthy gourmet food, and thought-provoking meditation, it also offers a wide array of traditional spa treatments.
           

Nestled in the foothills of the Santa Catalinas, the Westin La Paloma Resortshowcases its spectacular Sonoran Desert setting; we’re talking classic cowboy- film scenery, with towering saguaro cacti dotting rugged mountains. The Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa at Westin La Paloma features a 9,300-sq.-ft., uniquely-Tucson spa retreat. Spa services range from state-ofthe- art rejuvenating seaweed body wraps to Desert Stone massages. Groups can also play 18 holes of stunningly landscaped Jack Nicklaus Signature golf.
           

The Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Golf & Tennis Resortis a Mobil Three Star and AAA Four Diamond, full destination golf resort nestled in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains on 500 acres of high Sonoran Desert. With 45 holes of spectacular golf, it is the largest golf resort in Southern Arizona. Two championship 18-hole layouts are situated at the Golf Club, while a superb 9-hole track plays around the resort further up the mountainside. Somewhere in between all the meetings (and spa treatments), if you’re a golfer you’re going to want to squeeze in at least a few games off-property. The area’s three dozen courses include classic and desert courses designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., Tom Fazio, Tom Weiskopf, and Jack Nicklaus as well as five of the country’s best municipal courses.
           

While luxury resorts make for incredible and memorable meetings, some of Tucson’s most unique and beautiful venues can be found at the city’s best-known attractions. From airplane hangars and working cattle ranches, to desert gardens and art museums, Tucson’s meetings scene reaches far beyond the ballroom.
           

An affiliate of the Smithsonian Museum, the Arizona State Museum is the largest and oldest anthropological museum in the Southwest. Its permanent collection includes several hundreds of thousands of artifacts – Navajo textiles, Mexican folk masks, basketry, Seri materials – some dating back 13,000 years. Its collection of whole-vessel Southwest Indian pottery – over 20,000 specimens – is the world’s largest (and much  more interesting than it sounds). In addition to its expansive permanent collection, the museum stages temporary exhibits. Through 2010, catch Set in Stone: 2,000 Years of Gem and Mineral Trade in the Southwest. It was designed to complement the annual, and wildly popular, Tucson Gem and Mineral Show (usually held every February; 2009 marks the 55th annual).
           

For a museum of an entirely different sort – the kind you’d get if you mixed natural history with a zoo and threw in a sprinkle of botanical garden – head for the Arizona- Sonora Desert Museum. It covers the entire Sonoran environment in one you-have-to- see-it-to-believe-it-space. Over 1,200 different desert plants thrive in six  different habitats, with a hummingbird aviary, mountain lions, ocelots, and Mexican wolves thrown in for good measure. Group events at the Desert Museum can take advantage of the 270-seat Warded Oasis Theater, equipped with state-of-the-art AV technology. The contemporary, versatile Baldwin Education Building accommodates up to 200 guests for receptions, meetings and formal dinners, and features a spectacular view of the surrounding desert mountains through a glass panel wall that opens up to an outdoor balcony. Group dining options include the fine dining restaurant Ocotillo Café, which seats 60 inside and 30 outside, and the Ironwood Terraces banquet facility, which can seat up to 500 guests in its indoor/outdoor plaza.
           

The Pima Air and Space Museum has more than 275 historic aircraft, including John F. Kennedy’s Air Force One, which you are allowed in, MiG fighters, World War II planes, helicopters, and cargo carriers that dwarf even our 50-foot tall saguaros. The Museum’s temperature controlled hangars can facilitate indoor groups from 20 to 700, while the expansive outdoor grounds have nearly unlimited space for special events.
           

At the University of Arizona Museum of Art, see paintings by 15th century Spanish master Fernando Gallego, Jackson Pollack, Georgia O’Keefe and Wassily Kandinsky. If your taste runs more to fine art photography than fine art, the collection at the Center for Creative Photography, also at U of A, includes the archives of over 50 photographers, including Ansel Adams, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Richard Avedon, Louise Dahl- Wolfe, W. Eugene Smith, and Edward Weston, among others. There’s also the Museum of Contemporary Art, which, since it is relatively new – it opened in 1998 – is still building its permanent collection, but mounts six to eight temporary exhibitions a year featuring the work of artists from around the world.
           

Not art-related at all, but yet another testament to how much the U of A contributes to the area, is Biosphere 2, a three+ acre, airtight mini-earth complete with rainforest, ocean, savannah, desert, wetland, and agricultural areas. The school took over the giant terrarium in 2007 after it had fulfilled its original research mission and was threatened with demolition. Biosphere’s experienced staff can help coordinate catering from off-site vendors, since the secluded campus does not house restaurant facilities. Audio/visual and technical support are available, and private or specialized Biosphere tours can be arranged.
           

All this history, education, and culture will undoubtedly need to be refueled with good food. Many of the 3,000-some restaurants in Tucson are local establishments where owners and chefs have created signature blends of Southwestern cuisine. The menus often trace back to the owner’s origins, perhaps to Latin America or Spain, or to Native American roots or the interior or the coastal regions of Mexico. (Tucson proper boasts more than 150 Mexican restaurants.) As a university city, there are restaurants representing nearly every corner of the globe which adds further interest to the dining scene.
           

From outdoor cowboy cookout venues to white tablecloth gourmet dining – Tucson’s choices for groups are unlimited. The hotels and resorts offer a full range of menu items from classic American fare to innovative Southwestern dishes. At Westin La Paloma, Janos’ exterior and interior décor is every bit as elegant as its food is inspired. Opened in 1983 by Janos Wilder and wife Rebecca, this restaurant has served cuisine highlighting local ingredients since well before the Oxford American Dictionary tagged “locavore” as the word of 2007. When opening Janos, Wilder hired gardeners before he ever advertised for staff.
           

Know that wherever it is you decide to eat, there’s no shortage of places to walk, ride, or golf it off. Saguaro National Park, home to approximately 1.3 million of the state’s signature plant, sandwiches the city. Saguaro East is the larger of the two slices, but Saguaro West is denser – there really are cactus forests there – and, the top of Signal Hill has petroglyphs of animals scratched into rock hundreds of years ago by the Hohokam people. Northeast of Tucson at the foot of the Santa Catalina Mountains, Sabino Canyon Recreation Area has miles of trails for hiking and biking. Sabino Lake Trail #30 leads to a popular wetland bird watching spot. Bear Canyon Overlook provides one of the best panoramic views of Tucson and the surrounding mountains. Hit it at sunset and make sure your camera’s memory card has lots of room.
           

Another place absolutely made for photos – but definitely not made by Mother Nature – is San Xavier del Bac Mission. Built of brick and adobe plastered together with sand, lime, and, yes, prickly pear cactus juice in the late 18th century, San Xavier has been called the Sistine Chapel of North America for the colorful paintings and icons on interior walls and ceilings. It’s also been called – more originally, not to mention poetically, the “White Dove of the Desert.” You’ll understand why as soon as you catch a glimpse of it from the highway. It is several miles south of the city.

SOUTHERN ARIZONA
It doesn’t take much to get away from Tucson – 15 minutes in the right direction and you’ve got no idea one of the country’s fastest-growing cities is behind you. But what if you want to really get away? The Kitt Peak National Observatory at 6,882 feet on the Tohono O’odham Reservation has 26 telescopes, 24 of them optical and two radio, pointed towards the heavens.
           

Eight astronomical research institutions do work here. Kitt Peak is the largest collection of optical telescopes in the world. Each night, three scopes are dedicated to the public’s use. A lucky few members of the public (who are willing to pay around $350) can participate in an all-night “advanced” stargazing program. Most wanna-be astronomers are content with several hours of guided gazing however: expect to see nebulae, star clusters, galaxies, and planets before heading back down the mountain around 9 p.m.
           

After experiencing outer space, head for inner space at Kartchner Caverns State Park, nine miles south of Benson. A limestone cave over 50,000 years in the making – and still being made – Kartchner is home to the world’s longest soda straw stalactites (over 21 feet), the world’s most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk, the first reported occurrence of “turnip” shields, and the state’s tallest and most massive column, the 58- foot tall Kubla Khan. Even if you can’t tell a turnip shield from a totem though, Kartchner will entrance you. It is doubtful the moon looks this alien. Because the cave’s ecosystem is so fragile – it’s the only living cave in the world open to visitors – the only way to see it is with a guide. And even then, you can only visit two areas of the two-and-a-half-mile long cave.
           

Nearby Tombstone is famous for its gun slinging history – you’ve heard of the shootout at the OK Corral? Doc Holliday? Wyatt Earp? The shootout at the OK Corral happened in 1881 and is frequently reenacted in Tombstone today. Delve further into the town’s rough-and-tumble past with a visit to the Boot Hill Graveyard. Don’t waste time looking for the graves of any of the Earp brothers though; none are buried here.
           

Confirmed by the Guinness Book as the world’s largest, Tombstone is home to a rose bush that covers a dumbfoundingly immense area: 8,000 sq. ft., or about four times as large as the average U.S. home. “Bush” just doesn’t seem like the right word to describe this feat of nature. Even so, it blooms every April, cheered on by the annual Rose Parade and Festival since 1996.
           

Catch another superlative – “Hummingbird Capital of the U.S.” at nearby Sierra Vista. If you’re looking for a greater variety of avian species, the Madera Canyon Recreational Area to the west has some of the most diverse bird-watching in the country: trogons, elf owls, sulfur-bellied flycatchers, and painted redstarts are but a few of the 300+ resident and migratory birds you could spot here. Arivaca Cienega, managed by the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, is another hotspot for ornithologists. A rare desert wetland, it’s a must-stop for migratory birds.
           

South of Madera Canyon, Tubac – “where art and history meet” is the town’s slogan – certainly deserves its reputation as a hip, happening, historic smaller town. Tubac Presidio State Park and the mission at Tumacacori are nearby; the Tubac Golf Resort recently underwent a $40 million expansion; and half of the businesses in town are art galleries of some sort. Just to the west in Arivaca, there is an even a higher-than-average number of artists per capita. Get a cup of coffee and a pastry at Gadsden Coffee Company – the coffee is roasted right here – and wander into the Artists Co-op of Arivaca: leather clothing, photography, hand-painted tiles, decorative gourds, and mesquite furniture and sculpture are conveniently collected under one roof.
           

Just 12.5 miles south of Tubac, the AAA Four Diamond Esplendor Resort at Rio Ricooverlooks the Santa Cruz River Valley with panoramic views. Other features include a Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed golf course, stables, Olympic size pool and award-winning cuisine. From here, it’s an easy drive to the twin border cities of Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, where hundreds of curio shops offer plenty of opportunities for bargain hunting, especially for leather, jewelry, and terra cotta pottery. Always carry proof of citizenship and, if taking a car across the border, check out insurance requirements. When you meet in Tucson and Southern Ariz., make sure you don’t try to squeeze everything into a way too short visit.