Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
385
Tucson Children's Museum
Kids
This museum, in the historic Carnegie Library in
downtown Tucson, is filled with fun and educational hands-on activities. Exhibits
include a farmers' market, an enchanted rainforest, an ocean discovery center, and an
electricity gallery. Expect to find such perennial kid favorites as a firetruck, a toy train,
and dinosaur sculptures. Activities are featured daily.
200 S. Sixth Ave.
&
520/792-9985.
www.tucsonchildrensmuseum.org. Admission $7 adults, $5 seniors
and children 2-18; free 1 day each month (call for date). Tues-Sat 10am-5pm; Sun noon-5pm. Closed
Thanksgiving and Christmas. All downtown-bound buses.
6
ORGANIZED TOURS
Learning Expeditions,
a program run by the
Arizona State Museum,
occasionally
offers scholar-led archaeological tours. For information, contact the marketing depart-
ment at the museum (
&
520/626-8381;
www.statemuseum.arizona.edu).
For a look at a completely different sort of excavation, head 15 miles south of Tucson
to the
ASARCO Mineral Discovery Center,
1421 W. Pima Mine Rd., Sahuarita (
&
520/
625-7513;
www.mineraldiscovery.com), where you can tour a huge open-pit copper
mine and learn about copper mining past and present. The center is open Tuesday
through Saturday from 9am to 5pm; admission is free. The 1-hour mine tours are offered
five times a day (call for summer days and hours). These tours cost $8 for adults, $6 for
seniors, and $5 for children 5 to 12. To get here, drive south from Tucson on I-19 and
take exit 80. You might want to combine this tour with a visit to the nearby Titan Missile
Museum.
The ballooning season in Tucson runs September to June.
Balloon America
(
&
520/
299-7744;
www.balloonridesusa.com) offers flights over the foothills of the Santa Cat-
alina Mountains ($249).
Fleur de Tucson Balloon Tours
(
&
520/529-1025;
www.
fleurdetucson.net) offers rides over the Tucson Mountains and Saguaro National Park.
Rates are $250 per person, including brunch and a champagne toast.
12
7
GETTING OUTSIDE
BICYCLING
Tucson is one of the best bicycling cities in the country, and the dirt roads
and trails of the surrounding national forest and desert are perfect for mountain biking.
At
Fair Wheel Bikes,
1110 E. Sixth St. (
&
520/884-9018;
www.fairwheelbikes.com),
bikes rent for $45 to $65 per day.
If you'd rather confine your pedaling to paved surfaces, there are some great options
around town. The number-one choice in town for cyclists in halfway decent shape is the
road up
Sabino Canyon
(p. 356). Keep in mind, however, that bicycles are allowed on
this road only 5 days a week and then only before 9am and after 5pm (the road is closed
to bikes all day Wed and Sat). For a much easier ride, try the
Rillito River Park path,
which is paved for 12 miles between Craycroft Road and I-10. The trail parallels River
Road and the usually dry bed of the Rillito River. Another option close to downtown is
the 7-mile
Santa Cruz River Park path,
which runs along both sides of the usually dry
Santa Cruz River and extends from West Grant Road to 29th Street and from Ajo Way
to Irvington Road.
