Mormon Lake Lodge

Dear Arizona Travel: Just want to know how to go about getting a package or something for 8 familys [sic] that has at least 5 members in a family. We went camping in Payson last year in July. Please help me with some info.
Thanks,
Cheryle

Hi, Cheryle. Wow, that’s quite a group – what fun! Are you looking for a place with lots of cabins, one for each family, or something like that? Two places come to mind that might fit everyone: Mormon Lake Lodge, which is 30 minutes southeast of Flagstaff, has cabins and a lodge and all kinds of outdoor activities. Another option is
Greer Lodge Resort and Cabins, which is in eastern Arizona, at the eastern edge of the White Mountains about 192 miles from Flagstaff (243 miles from Phoenix.) One of our Arizona Travel fans on Facebook recently posted a travel deal at the Greer Lodge, so that may be a great option for you. Both are well geared toward family reunions and large groups like yours.

A third option might be a timeshare resort such as Sedona Pines in Sedona. A switch from your groups’s camping background, this is more condo/resort, but Sedona Pines has lots of family-sized accommodations and activities for all ages on property.

I also wrote a couple recent blog posts that touch on both these accommodations… with people in similar situations… they might help you as well.

Dear Arizona Travel: Family Reunion Spot?

Dear Arizona Travel: Timeshare Rentals in Sedona?

Take care, Cheryle! Good luck!

–ChristinaToo

Are you looking for something fun to do during spring break? Take them to the theater! That’s right: Flagstaff Youth Theater presents their latest production in their series, Stories 2 Stage: The Triple F (Fanciful, Falsified, Fairy Tales) for two performances one day only during spring break. Come and see what FYT’s newest workshop casts have been up to and get ready to laugh as they present:

“The Stinky Cheese Man & Other Fairly Stupid Tales”

and

“The Frog Prince Continued”

FHS Main Auditorium – 400 W Elm St
Saturday, March 20th
2pm & 4pm
All tickets for all ages are $6.00 each
(Bring in a can of food & receive $1.00 off your admission price)

Tickets can be purchased at the door for either performance time. This is family fun for everyone that you won’t want to miss.

For more info, visit FlagstaffYouthTheater.com

Dear Arizona Travel.
So I’m writing because I’m looking for a family reunion location and Arizona would be a nice central location. We were going to go to a lake in Idaho, but it is too hard to get to. We need a place that is similar to [name redacted] in that it is economical and plenty to do without leaving the resort, especially for kids. The clincher, however, is that it needs to be within an hour of a main airport. We have family coming from several states and we hate to have to spend a good chunk of the weekend commuting to the destination. Any ideas in Arizona?
–Angela, Utah

Great question, Angela! Right off the bat, I can think of two incredible spots that sound just perfect for your family reunion.

Mormon Lake Lodge is near Flagstaff.  It boasts cabins and other lodging, a steakhouse and saloon, game room, petting zoo, playground, volleyball, basketball court, horseshoes and more; great for families and kids.

Mormon Lake Lodge

Plus, there is commercial air service to Flagstaff via Horizon Air (from Los Angeles LAX only) and US Airways (from Phoenix PHX only).If you can only come into Phoenix Sky Harbor, then a 1 hour limit is a toughie because you’d still basically be in the city. Stretch that driving time to 1.5 or 2 hours and that’ll get you to Prescott or Flagstaff and not take anything away from your family togetherness time.

Prescott is also serviced daily by Horizon Air from LAX and is located about 1.5 hours from Phoenix. For your reunion, try Juniper Well Ranch. Four cabins sleep a total of 22 adults. There is a winery, horseback riding and general “exploration of the woods” for the kids.

Juniper Well Ranch

Other woodsy places in Arizona include Payson and the White Mountains area towns like Pinetop, Showlow and Strawberry. A quick Google search for “family reunion” and these city names should point you in the right direction.

Hope that helps!
–ChristinaToo

As a second installation to my Arizona Fall Follies story (see the first chapter on Prescott) I thought I’d turn to my own community of Scottsdale and the greater Phoenix area.

Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the nation, so no doubt there are tons of things to do in the Valley of the Sun over the next couple of months. Here, I highlight five don’t-miss fall activities that span the city from north to south:

Fall 2009 Events in Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona

MacDonald’s Ranch Pumpkin Patch – North Scottsdale: Daily, October 3 – 31

Mule-drawn hayride at MacDonald's Ranch

This North Scottsdale mainstay offers families classic pumpkin patch experiences like horse and mule-drawn hayrides, petting zoo, hay maze and sack races. But they also offer unique activities like a gem mine and a western golf game. And the fact that they allow you to pack a picnic lunch (save $$$) and they’re open 7 days a week sets them apart from the weekends-only pumpkin patches and festivals elsewhere in the state.
MacDonald’s Ranch is located at Jomax and Scottsdale Road, just 5 miles north of the Loop 101. Click to download their Pumpkin Patch flyer, or call 480.585.0239 for details.

Mariposa Monarca at Desert Botanical Garden – Phoenix/Scottsdale: Daily, September 26 – November 15

Mariposa Monarca exhibit. See www.dbg.org for more.

This annual event is one of the Desert Botanical Garden’s most popular exhibits and it’s no wonder why. Stroll through the Marshall Butterfly Pavillion now through November 15, 2009 and surround yourself with hundreds of live Monarch butterflies.

This engaging experience features interpretive displays about the lifecycle, migration patterns, environmental threats, and conservation efforts of the monarch butterfly.

Ongoing daily at Desert Botanical Garden 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Located at 1201 N. Galvin Parkway – (on the shared borders of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe)
Free for members and children under three. $3 for General Public with paid Garden admission.
Email monarchs@dbg.org or call 480-481-8128 for more information. www.dbg.org

Annual Fall Festival at Saints Simon & Jude Cathedral – Phoenix: October 25

The Annual Fall Festival at Saints Simon & Jude is a favorite community event that doesn’t get all the fanfare and spotlight of local news coverage, but certainly deserves it. This Catholic community and school’s fundraising event welcomes all who enjoy delicious foods, family-friendly games, raffles, activities and happy memories of your childhood church bazaar. Located in Central Phoenix at 6351 North 27th Avenue (27th Avenue between Maryland and Bethany Home Road), there’s ample free parking and inexpensive food and raffle tickets. Be sure to check out two special features of the festival: Sister Raphael’s Irish Tea Room and Father Clement’s Touch Down Lounge! Call the parish office at (602) 242-1300 or visit www.simonjude.org.

Arizona State Fair – State Fairgrounds: Daily/Nightly Except Mondays October 16 – November 8

Arizona State Fair - Oct 16 - Nov 8

A fall events post would be incomplete without the Arizona State Fair. This long-running event is an autumnal favorite and an impressive showcase of headline concerts and entertainment, delicious food, exciting rides, shows, demonstrations, exhibits and more. Be sure to try the Fair’s (in)famous adventures in fried foods, and see big, big performances by Bob Dylan, Stone Temple Pilots, The Black Crowes, and Raven-Symone.

Visit the Arizona State Fair website – www.azstatefair.com – for comprehensive information on daily discounts, parking, directions, map, hours, prices, tickets, rides, food and more.

Pumpkin and Chili Party at Schnepf Farms – Queen Creek: Every Thursday – Sunday in October

This is the big time when it comes to pumpkin festivals. Voted “”Arizona’s Best Family Fall Experience” by Phoenix Magazine, the Schnepf Farms Pumpkin and Chili Party offers hay rides, miniature golf, 4 acre Sonic Burger Maze, country road rally, honeybee adventure, carousel rides, petting barn, Hillbilly Bob’s Pig Races, carnival rides for children young and old, Pumpkin Launch, Witch Mountain giant slide, Arizona’s only gravity roller coaster (must be 32″ tall to ride), SRP Earthwise interactive experience, rock climbing wall, live entertainment, bonfires & marshmallow roasting (6:30pm), Lil’ Farmers play yard, Schnepf Family Museum, sweet shop, country store, gift shops, holiday gift tent and a spectacular fireworks show on Friday & Saturday nights to celebrate 68 years of farming!

The key to enjoying this huge pumpkin and food festival is to skip the tickets line and save $2 on admission by purchasing discount tickets in advance at any Fry’s Food Stores location. You’ll pay $14 per person over the age 2 versus the $16 regular price.

There’s tons of information about times, activities, food experiences, entertainment, showtimes and more on the Schnepf Farms website www.schnepffarms.com

Photo: Arizona Office of Tourism

On a recent Diane Rehm Show broadcast on National Public Radio, guest host Susan Page spoke with historian, Douglas Brinkley, and Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, about President Theodore Roosevelt’s vision for preserving America’s wilderness and the future of our national parks and monuments.

The national park system will celebrate its centennial in 2016 and national parks like the Grand Canyon continue to top the list of desired vacation destinations. When asked in a 2009 survey¹, over 66% of respondents expressed interest in vacationing to a National Park destination; the number one answer.

Table: Arizona Office of Tourism

How important are the national parks to the nation? According to Secretary Salazar,

[National Parks] play a very major role in terms of the economy and jobs for America. They also play a very major role in the health of our communities and, they are…what connects up the people of this country to our lands, our soils, our air, our wildlife. They’re very special places.

Special places, indeed. The National Park System received over 400 million visitors last year. That’s more visitors than people who attended Major League Baseball, NFL, NBA and NASCAR events combined².  But even so, that’s fewer visitors that in previous years.  So what has happened?  Again, Secretary Salazar:

I think the nation and the nation’s population is suffering from Nature Deficit Disorder. That is, that we have fewer and fewer people getting out into the outdoors… Today, on average, young people are spending 4 minutes a day in the outdoors, and, it is said, 6 hours a day in front of a television or a computer. So one of our challenges of these times is really to reverse that and to get young people – all people – out into the outdoors, as part of a healthy Americans agenda.

Writer Douglas Brinkley agreed.

Young people no longer know the difference between an oak or a maple. We’ve lost their sense of…the difference between birds. Or just getting that fresh air for your health and clearing your mind.

Source: Library of Congress

Here in Arizona, we’re lucky that the antidote to Nature Deficit Disorder is right in our very own backyard. Visit a national park. Check out a national monument, a state park, or a wildlife refuge. Make an annual trip to the Grand Canyon.  Why not hop in the car and take your family out for a day of kayaking on Watson Lake in Prescott? Or horseback riding in Mayer? Or whitewater rafting on the Upper Salt River? Teddy Roosevelt would certainly approve. Said Brinkley,

[Teddy Roosevelt]…loved the American West. And he liked…urban centers – where you’re within a day’s reach of…wilderness areas. Just a weekend in the woods or on a lake or canoeing or by a stream could replenish the spirit and get you back to your work grind… But to just tune out our natural surroundings, Roosevelt thought was not just a mistake, but…unpatriotic.

In preparation for the 2016 centennial of the national park system, make a resolution to make the outdoors a part of your life and your kids’ life every day. Turn off the TV, grab a camera, a magnifying glass for bug inspection and a field guide to local birds and wildlife and engage your family in curing their Nature Deficit Disorder.

¹Arizona Office of Tourism – Ypartnership/Yankelovich National Leisure Travel Monitor

²National Public Radio

My dad is just like my grandpa,
but my grandpa is better.

- Zach, 5th grader

Photo credit: ArizTravel.com - All Rights Reserved

“What makes your grandparents so special?”   This was the question Verde Canyon Railroad posed to thousands of grade school students across the state of Arizona, in the annual “Grandparents Day Essay Contest.”

An abundance of entries poured into the Railroad’s Clarkdale depot, full of all the qualities that children find most appealing and important in a grandparent. Winners were chosen from each region, and each successful author will be awarded complimentary first-class train rides for them and their grandparents aboard the famed wilderness excursion train on Sunday, September 13th, 2009 celebrating Grandparents Day.

“We really enjoy reading the essays– they’re always so bright, funny and charming that it makes it very difficult to choose winners,” said Teresa Propeck, Verde Canyon Railroad’s Marketing Director.

“My dad is just like my grandpa, but my grandpa is better,” said Zach Abrigo in his prize winning essay. Abrigo is a 5th grade student at Cottonwood Middle School in the Verde Valley. Adriana Revilla, a 4th grader from Desert Heights School in Peoria, let us know about her “lovable” grandparents, “They are so understanding because when I accidentally gave my grandpa a black eye they did not get mad.”  “What makes my grandparents special is that they love me no matter what,” said McKenna Olsen, a 5th grader from Challenge Charter School in Glendale. “Sure, they’re sometimes embarrassing and weird, but that’s only because they’re just trying to play around with me.”

Students from Del Rio Middle School in Chino Valley submitted an entire binder full of entries about their retiring lunchroom/playground volunteer, Celia Chapman, known as “Grandma” to the entire student body. The students love their “Del Rio Grandma” for helping them open their snacks and lunches, keeping them safe from harm on the playground, and for her famed Hubba Hubba dance every Friday. “She also knows most of our names at school, which is about 700 children,” said 3rd grader, Coltin Farnsworth. Naturally, with credentials like this, the Verde Canyon Railroad will award a train ride to “Grandma” Celia Chapman.

Students love their ‘Del Rio Grandma’ for her famed Hubba Hubba dance [she performs] every Friday.

Other winners include Makaela Hayman,  4th grader at Clarkdale-Jerome School; Keigan Willingham, 3rd grader at Del Rio Middle School in Chino Valley; Miranda Masters,  2nd grader at Canon Elementary in Black Canyon City; Adrian Lara  and Charity DeTemple, both 4th graders at Prescott Valley’s Acorn Montessori; Nialetti Daley, 5th grader at Phoenix’s Joseph Zito Elementary; Collin Wood and Rook Wood, 2nd graders at Bustoz Elementary in Tempe; and Justin Paprocki and Jacob Garza,  5th graders from Challenge Charter School in Glendale.

Grandparents Day is Sunday, September 13th. On this date, the Verde Canyon Railroad departs at 1:00 pm and returns at 5:00 pm, a perfect, leisurely excursion through the wilderness for grandparents, parents, and children of all ages.

The Verde Canyon Railroad depot is located at 300 N. Broadway in Clarkdale, 25 minutes from Sedona, 2 hours north of Phoenix and 90 minutes south of Flagstaff. Go to verdecanyonrailroad.com for more information.

With the popularity of our recent post, Nine Best Resort Swimming Pools in Arizona, I thought I’d offer our readers a list of all the Phoenix area hotels and Scottsdale resorts offering Dive-In Movies this summer. If you’re not familiar with this relatively new summer activity, let me explain. All over Arizona, hotels and resorts set up big theater screens at one end of their pool deck and show family-friendly flicks after sunset. Guests and movie-goers can watch the night’s presentation from lounge chairs or float and play in the pool. Many of the hotels and resorts offer movie treats like popcorn and popsicles.

Want to know where you can find a hotel offering this delightful warm weather activity? Here’s our comprehensive list of Phoenix area resorts showing dive-in movies this summer:

Greater Phoenix and Scottsdale Area:

Arizona Biltmore Resort – click for details and hotel reservations
Open to Families. Floating tubes provided.
Saturday nights at 8 p.m. (weather permitting)

JW Marriott at Desert Ridge – click for details and hotel reservations
Complimentary for Resort Guests Only.
Saturday nights. Sunset (weather permitting)

Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort – click for details and hotel reservations
The Hole-in-the-Wall River Ranch
Friday nights. Kids Pre-Show Activities at 7:45 p.m., Movie at 8 p.m. (weather permitting)

Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resortclick for details and hotel reservations
The Grotto Pool
Saturday nights. Kids Pre-Show Activities at 7:15 p.m., Movie at dusk. (weather permitting)

Arizona Grand Resort – click for details and hotel reservations
Oasis Water Park
Friday and Saturday nights. Resort Guests Only. Sunset. (weather permitting)

Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort – click for details and hotel reservations
Sonoran Splash Pool
Friday and Saturday nights. Resort Guests Only. Sunset. (weather permitting)

Source: www.travelvideo.tv
Nov 03, 06 | 1:40 pm

Tickets for Grand Canyon Railway’s 2006 presentation of The Polar Express are still available. As of Nov. 1, 85 percent of the available tickets for The Polar Express have been sold. Approximately 10,000 tickets are still available and evenings with the most availability, include Nov. 13 – 16, 27 and 29, Jan. 5 – 7 and Jan. 12 – 13.

This is the sixth year that Grand Canyon Railway will bring the magic of the classic children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg to life. What began as a weekend adventure with 5,600 people has grown into one of Arizona’s most treasured holiday traditions with an anticipated 75,000 people traveling aboard The Polar Express in 2006.

“We’ve ended up expanding our dates into January to accommodate demand,” said Robert LaCivita, Polar Express committee chair and executive vice president of Grand Canyon Railway.”We weren’t sure how popular they’d be initially, but found last year that parents got really creative with the gift giving – often wrapping the tickets for The Polar Express and then putting them under the tree as a special invitation from Santa to visit his home at the North Pole.”

The Railway’s journey is a nighttime trip from Williams through the starlit wilderness to the “North Pole.” Along the way, passengers are treated to a special reading of The Polar Express while enjoying hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies.

Once at the “North Pole” – a Christmas light village featuring an Aurora Borealis – Santa Claus and his reindeer welcome passengers before boarding the Polar Express for the return trip to Williams. After boarding the train, Santa makes his way through the historic Pullman passenger cars, greeting every child and presenting each one with a special gift – a jingle bell signifying their belief in Santa Claus.

Grand Canyon Railway’s The Polar Express kicks off Nov. 9, 2006 and continues select evenings through Jan. 13, 2007. The round trip journey is approximately an hour in length. Most evenings, Grand Canyon Railway offers two trains, with one departing Williams Depot at 6:30 p.m. and a second train departing at 8 p.m.

Approximately 10,000 tickets are still available for the 2006 season. Tickets are $24 for adults and $12 for children. Packages start as low as $269 for two adults and two children, and include the trip The Polar Express, one-night stay at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel, breakfast and dinner at Max and Thelma’s Restaurant and a $10 retail gift certificate per adult. Reservations can be made by calling 1-800-THE-TRAIN.

Families can also add a wintertime Grand Canyon experience aboard Grand Canyon Railway, which returns well in advance of the 6:30 p.m. The Polar Expres train. Recreating the historic trip by rail to the South Rim, Grand Canyon Railway covers 65 miles of classic Old West territory, including high desert plains with endless vistas, small arroyos and portions of the world’s largest ponderosa pine forest.

Grand Canyon Railway operates daily train service between Williams, Ariz. and the Grand Canyon. The Railway offers five distinct classes of service, as well as money-saving packages featuring the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams. Overnight stays at the Grand Canyon also can be included in the packages. Grand Canyon Railway is an authorized concessioner of the National Park Service and the Kaibab National Forest. For more information, visit www.thetrain.com or call 1-800-THE-TRAIN (1-800-843-8724).

How to Make Family Road Trips Good, Healthy Fun

Here, a suggestion for Arizona family-oriented road-trip vacations:

Grand Canyon: Many tour companies offer Grand Canyon packages that include lodging, several meals, and guided hiking, rafting or air tours. The terrain can be challenging; this kind of package is best suited for children at least 10 years old.

from May 2006 issue of budgettravelonline.com