Frommer’s EasyGuide to Lake Mead and Arizona’s West Coast

By Gregory McNamee and Bill Wyman

Frommer’s EasyGuide to Lake Mead and Arizona’s West Coast

For more than 60 years, Frommer’s’ guides have cut through the noise and hyperbole to deliver what no other books can: Honest talk, frank advice, and affectionate insider’s secrets to appreciating and affording vacations around the world. We do so by hiring experts like Bill Wyman and Greg McNamee, award-winning journalists who live in Arizona and love sharing their home state with awed visitors. Don’t travel like a mere tourist―get off the beaten path and discover the full experiences of Arizona and the wonders of the American Southwest, from Native culture to national parks, ranging from resorts to camping. Whether your budget is large or tight, Frommer’s shows you Arizona like a local.
Inside this guide:
• Insider advice on how to best experience the natural wonders, historic sites and outdoor activities of this less-discovered corner of Arizona
• Where to find the best hiking trails, fishing, golf and scenic vistas
• Opinionated reviews. No bland descriptions and lukewarm recommendations. Our expert writers are passionate about Arizona, so they tell it like it is in an engaging and helpful way
• Exact prices listed for every establishment and activity
• User-friendly features including star ratings to point readers to great finds, excellent values, insider tips, best bets for kids, special moments, and overrated experiences

• Language: English
• Publisher: FrommerMedia
• Release date: Jun 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781628875430

Gregory McNamee

Gregory McNamee is the author or editor of more than forty books, among them Gila: The Life and Death of an American River, Updated and Expanded Edition (UNM Press). He lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Book preview

1

Western Arizona

It’s even on the license plate, so there’s no getting away from the Grand Canyon when you’re in the Grand Canyon State. But anyone’s who has seen magnificent Monument Valley, or the exquisite Canyon de Chelly, or the unique cactus forests in Saguaro National Park, knows that the state’s wonders merely begin there. The sunburst colors of Antelope Canyon, the desolate landscape around Four Corners, the towering red-rock buttes of Sedona, and on a smaller scale, wonders like the Meteor Crater or southern Arizona’s Kartchner Caverns—there’s so much here to intrigue and delight visitors and residents alike. It’s not just natural wonders, either: Both Phoenix and Tucson are distinctive cities with top-tier restaurants and resorts, lively nightlife scenes, and museums, galleries, and parks bursting with art.

The best Places to Discover the Old West

Rodeos: Any rodeo, and this state has plenty, will give you a glimpse of the Old West, but the rodeos in Prescott (p. 170) and Payson (p. 335) both claim to be the oldest in the country. Whichever rodeo you attend, you’ll see plenty of bronco busting, bull riding, and beer drinking.

Guest Ranches: On guest ranches all over the state, the Old West lives on, and wranglers lead city slickers on horseback rides through desert scrub and mountain meadows. Campfires, cookouts, and cattle are all part of the experience. See Where to Stay choices throughout this book.

Monument Valley: If you’ve ever seen a shot of John Wayne riding a horse against a sweeping backdrop of massive buttes, you’ve seen Monument Valley. The starkly beautiful and fantastically shaped buttes and mesas of this valley are the quintessential western landscape. See p. 318.

Old Tucson Studios: Originally constructed as a movie set, this back lot and amusement park provides visitors with a glimpse of the most familiar Old West—the Hollywood West. Sure, the shootouts and cancan revues are silly, but it’s all in good fun. See p. 365.

Monument Valley, the quintessential Western movie backdrop.

Cowboy Poetry Festivals: From heroes on horseback to poets on the prairie, it’s been a long, lonesome ride for the American cowboy. At several events around the state, you can hear how some cowboys deal with the hardships and happiness of the cowboy life. See Arizona Calendar of Events on p. 30.

Tombstone: Unlike Old Tucson—the reel Old West—Tombstone is a genuine historic town, the real Old West. However, the town too tough to die was reincarnated long ago as a tourist attraction, with gunslingers in the streets, stagecoach rides, and shootouts at the O.K. Corral. See p. 454.

The best Native American Ruins & Rock Art

Tonto National Monument: Reached via the Apache Trail scenic road, this archaeological site east of Phoenix has one of Arizona’s few easily accessible cliff dwellings, where visitors can walk around inside the ruins, under the watchful eye of a ranger. See p. 161.

Besh-Ba-Gowah Archaeological Park: Reconstructed to look the way they might have appeared 700 years ago, these Phoenix-area ruins provide a bit more cultural context you’ll get at others in the state, making them especially good for kids. See p. 161.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument: While most of Arizona’s ruins are built of stone, this massive structure south of Phoenix is built of packed desert soil. Inscrutable and perplexing, Casa Grande seems to rise from nowhere. See p. 162.

Montezuma Castle National Monument: Located just off I-17 south of Sedona, this is one of Arizona’s best preserved cliff dwellings, its adobe surface still intact. Nearby Montezuma Well also has some small ruins. See p. 185.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument: Small cliff dwellings up and down the stunning length of Canyon de Chelly can be viewed from overlooks; even better, take a tour into the canyon itself to see some ruins up close. See p. 310.

Wupatki National Monument: North of Flagstaff, visitors can walk around several Sinagua village ruins, including a three-story, 100-room pueblo with a ball court. See p. 263.

V Bar V Heritage Site: The extensive petroglyphs at this national forest site near Sedona have an intriguing astronomical connection: At different times of the year, shadows fall on different images on the rock wall. See p. 195.

Rock Art Ranch: Set in a remote canyon southeast of Winslow, this private historic site preserves one of the most extensive collections of petroglyphs in the state. You can visit only by reservation; if you’re lucky, you’ll have the place all to yourself. See p. 290.

The most offbeat Travel Experiences

Taking a Vortex Tour in Sedona: Crystals and pyramids are nothing compared to the power of the Sedona vortexes, which just happen to be in the middle of some gorgeous scenery. Organized tours shuttle believers from one vortex to the next. If you offer it, they will come. See p. 193.

Gazing at the Stars: Stargazers will find plenty to keep them sleepless in the desert as they peer at the stars through telescopes at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff (p. 261) or Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson (p. 360). North of Flagstaff, you can even stay at a B&B that doubles as an astronomical observatory.

Marveling at a Meteorite Crater: West of the town of Winslow, you can visit the world’s best-preserved meteorite impact crater, 2½ miles in circumference and 550 feet deep. In the 1960s, NASA even used the crater to train moon-bound astronauts. See p. 290.

Sleeping in a Wigwam: Back in the heyday of Route 66, the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook lured passing motorists with its unusual architecture: concrete, wigwam-shaped cabins. Today, this little motel is still a must for anyone on a Route 66 pilgrimage. See p. 305.

Exploring the Titan Missile Museum: Want to find out what it feels like to have your finger on the button? At this former ICBM missile silo, now decommissioned and open to the public, you can find out—in a