Catherine Hollis

Only a short trip from the Phoenix and Mesa suburbs, a herd of horses lives along the Lower Salt River. They graze near cottonwoods, wade into the water, and sometimes stop traffic on river roads. Locals have a deep attachment to them, and the horses come with their own set of rules, protections, and debates. […]

Most museums ask you to stay behind the rope. In one Mesa hangar, you can walk right up to a World War II bomber, climb a ladder to peek into a cockpit, and then head out to the flight line to tour the inside of a B-17 that still flies. Only three of the 12,731

Safford is a quiet town in the Gila Valley, yet some of the most powerful telescopes on Earth sit on a mountain looking down on it. Many Arizonans drive past without knowing that the trip up to those giant instruments starts at a small campus on the edge of town. That campus has its own

Thousands of Arizonans grew up somewhere colder, and plenty of them still talk about the sandwiches they left behind in Illinois. Moving to the desert means trading snow shovels for sunscreen, but it does not mean giving up the food that feels like home. One busy spot in Scottsdale has become a regular stop for

Some Arizona steak dinners start with a full tank of gas and a few hours of highway. From Route 66 towns in the north to ranch country near the Mexican border, the state is full of old-school steakhouses that have been feeding hungry drivers for decades. A couple of them opened before World War II

Plenty of Arizonans have driven past a certain ranch on I-10 a hundred times without pulling off. That is a shame, because behind the sign sits a flock of ostriches that will happily snatch food from your hand. A short drive south from Chandler, this family spot also lets you hand-feed stingrays, let colorful birds

A plane ticket to Bangkok can cost more than a month of groceries, and the flight takes most of a day. Here is the twist for East Valley shoppers: a huge chunk of the world’s snack shelves already sits in Chandler. One giant store pulls in foods from more than 30 countries, with aisles of

Arizona has a second season that the heat-weary crowd tends to forget about. Once October rolls in and the evenings finally cool off, warm mineral water stops sounding like a bad idea and starts sounding like the best plan of the week. Our state is full of hot springs, from a historic resort in the

Some Tucson mornings start with a lawn chair, a paperback, and a spot in line outside a small storefront before 9 AM. Nobody is waiting for concert tickets or a new phone. They are waiting for bread, and they are happy to do it. The bakery at the end of that line has a James

Disneyland is great, but it is a long drive, and nothing there hides in a cornfield waiting for you. Arizona has its own fall scare scene, and it stretches from the Valley to Tucson to the high country. These four farms and haunts turn rows of tall corn into twisting, spooky trails packed with costumed

Some Tucson shoppers walk in for one paperback and walk out three hours later holding a guitar, a puzzle, and a stack of records. That kind of detour is normal at one sprawling Old Pueblo store where the shelves seem to go on forever. Books are only the start here. There are cassettes, video games,

Some Arizona trails make you earn every view with steep switchbacks and sore knees. This one hands them over almost right away. In a short, mostly flat stretch near Sedona, you get famous red rock towers, wide open desert, and a chance to scramble as high as your nerve allows. Locals bring toddlers, dogs, and

Most restaurants send you home with a check and a mint. One Chandler favorite sends out something better after the plates are cleared, and it costs nothing. People drive in from Buckeye and the far East Valley just for that final moment, along with the green chile that brought them in the door. Former New

Arizona does not get enough credit for autumn. While the rest of the country brags about maple leaves, our high country and canyon creeks quietly put on a show of gold aspens, amber cottonwoods, and red-tinged oaks. You do not need a plane ticket to New England to see it, just a tank of gas

Some places in Arizona look smaller in person than on a postcard, but this one does the opposite. Out in the far northeastern corner of the state, a bumpy 17-mile dirt road winds right between towering red sandstone buttes that seem to grow taller with every turn. Most people only see them from a highway

Summer gets all the credit, but plenty of Arizona’s best creek days happen after the calendar flips to fall. The crowds thin out, the parking gets a little easier, and the water is still there waiting, cold and clear. From the red rock pools of Oak Creek Canyon to the desert beaches east of Phoenix,

Plenty of Arizonans save up for a plane ticket to Iceland just to walk through a lava tube. Here’s the funny part. One of those tunnels sits in the forest near Flagstaff, and it costs about the same as a gas station snack to get in. It runs almost a mile underground, it stays cold

Arizona has more mining history packed into its hills than most folks realize, and some of it is still standing. In a handful of old boomtowns, you can step through a saloon door, peek into a jail cell, and head underground where miners once worked. These seven stops stretch from the Superstition Mountains to the

A passport, a long flight, and a pile of yen are not required for a proper Japanese stroll garden. Arizona already has one, tucked into downtown Phoenix between busy streets and tall buildings. It holds a waterfall, stone bridges, traditional lanterns, and a pond filled with hundreds of koi. Locals who drive past it every

Downtown Phoenix has a reputation for big arenas, busy game nights, and crowds hurrying to catch a show. Tucked into all that bustle is a small Italian kitchen that takes a slower, older approach to the one thing that matters most at an Italian table: the pasta. Here, the noodles are made in house, the

Tucson has a way of hiding its best surprises behind plain gates on ordinary streets. On the south side of town, a nonprofit yard turns an everyday weekday stop into a lesson in giving things, and trees, a second life. The headline promises beads, leather scraps and vintage magazines at a pay-what-you-want price, and that

Somewhere in a Scottsdale strip mall, across the street from a fast-food sign, there is a door that leads to an old-school Italian market that has been serving the Valley for more than four decades. Many longtime residents have driven past it for years without knowing it was there. Inside, shelves of imported Italian goods

Arizona has warm water bubbling out of the ground in places most people drive right past. Some of these pools sit beside cold rivers, and others hide at the bottom of slot canyons or desert washes. A few take a rough road and a real hike to reach, while one comes with a full resort

Some Arizona towns make you pay a premium just to sit outside. Prescott Valley takes a different approach, and its heart is a civic campus where city hall, a library, ballfields, a duck pond, and a dog park all share the same address. Retirees, young families, and dog owners keep landing here for the same

Most gemstones end up behind glass, with a price tag and a clerk watching your hands. Out in far eastern Arizona, near the small town of Duncan, there is a stretch of public land where the rules flip. Here, you are the one doing the finding, and the prize is fire agate, a stone that

Utah gets a lot of credit for red rock, but some of the wildest sandstone in the Southwest sits right here in northern Arizona. Cliffs climb as much as 3,000 feet above their bases, slot canyons twist through the rock, and swirling formations look like frozen waves. Many travelers drive past without knowing how much

Southern Arizona hides a mountaintop where the Milky Way stretches overhead in plain view, no fancy gear required. Scientists have been learning about the universe from this peak for decades, and regular folks can join them after sunset. The drive from Tucson climbs past desert views and ends among domes packed with research telescopes. Stick

Easter Island is a long, pricey trip from Arizona, and most of us will never make it there. The good news is that our own desert has its own collection of giant stone faces, some built by hand and many carved by wind and time. You can find a Route 66 tiki head in Kingman,

Some bookstores are quick stops, and some swallow your whole afternoon before you notice the parking meter. Arizona has a surprising number of that second kind, from Tucson to Flagstaff, and a few of them stock far more than paperbacks. Think vinyl, retro video games, instruments, puzzles, comics, fancy pens, and shelves stacked with thousands

Walk into the right European deli in Arizona and your quick errand turns into a full basket before you reach the second aisle. From Sierra Vista to Lake Havasu City, our state has family-run shops stocking German cold cuts, Ukrainian pickles, Italian cheeses, cannoli shells, and fresh pasta you simply will not see at the

On the west side of Phoenix, there is a fabric store where smart shoppers plan their route before they ever grab a bolt. The aisles keep going, the choices keep coming, and first-timers often need a minute just to figure out where to start. For Arizona quilters, crafters, and anyone rescuing a tired old couch,

A bison parks itself in the middle of the road, and nobody honks. Wolves circle the cars, black bears nap in the pines, and somewhere up ahead a grizzly is waiting for its lunch. None of it is happening in Montana or Alaska. It is happening a short drive off Route 66 in Williams, right

Somewhere past the Mogollon Rim, a turn in a quiet high desert road reveals rows of purple set against red dirt. It does not look like the Arizona most of us see from the freeway. Out here in Apache County, a small farm grows lavender at altitude, lets guests cut their own bundles, and pours

Somewhere in north Phoenix, a small storefront holds more childhood memories than most attics in Arizona combined. Shelves climb from the floor to the ceiling, stacked with action figures, vintage toys, and collectibles from nearly every era a grown-up might miss. Parents walk in to shop for their kids and end up pointing at the

About an hour west of Phoenix, past the freeway exits most people never take, sits a desert hideaway where the loudest thing around might be a peacock. Mineral water flows nonstop into old tubs and stock tanks, strangers soak side by side without saying a word, and a parrot named Buddy greets people near the

Plenty of Arizonans save for years to sip their way through the hills of Italy. Few realize that some of the most talked-about pours in the state come from grapes grown right here, in the high desert of southeastern Arizona. Better still, you do not even need to leave the Valley to taste them. Tucked