BeachLady Loc: Surfside Beach, SC

I'm going to Arizona next week...have 12 days and plan on LOTS of shooting - some of it even with a camera! ;) So...please post items for my "Don't Miss" list. Will be in Phoenix 2 days, Tucson 3 (oh, yeah, the Hummingbird House at the Desert Museum is already on the list), and a week near/in Sedona...with a side trip to Canyon. If there is a specific tour, ranch, park, ride, or boat trip that is NOT TO BE MISSED, please give complete details (web site or phone #). I'm excited and overwhelmed by all the choices! Thank you!

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

So far you have not added Yuma Territorial Prison, London Bridge, Jerome, Toozigoot monument, Canyon De Chelley, Painted desert, Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, Old Route 66, Casa Grande Ruins, Cochise Stronghold just to name a few more.Of course to see all there is to see here in Arizona you would need 2 years.

BeachLady Loc: Surfside Beach, SC

Sorry - 12 days. BEST of the best for photography? And in the general area of Tucson to Sedona to Phoenix...

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

2 years?? I lived there for 3 years and didn't come close to covering it all. Many of the places you listed are a long way from where he is visiting.

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

Lots to photograph in and around Sedona. I suggest you plan to get to the Grand Canyon very early and/or stay until sunset. Mid day light in the canyon is rather blah. Nice to look at but doesn't produce very good photographs. Superstition mountains east of Phoenix are worth a visit. Tucson Mountain Park and the Desert museum are a must - again the park is great at sunset. Also suggest a trip to San Xavier del Bac mission south of Tucson.

Grampy Loc: Canton, Michigan

Ditto to these suggestions.

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

Tucson: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, International Wildlife Museum, Pima Air & Space Museum, San Xavier Mission, Mini Time Museum(Miniature Doll Houses), Biosphere II in Tucson.
Picacho Peak State Park
Casa Grande: Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
Phoenix: Heard Museum(Recommend either a 35mm f1.4 if crop sensor, or 50mm f1.4 full frame)
Chandler: Arizona Railway Museum
Arcosanti: on I 17 near Prescott turn off
Jerome State Park. Before you get to Sedona
Dead Horse Ranch State Park.
Sedona: Slide Rock State Park.

These are just the ones I remember off the top of my head. If you get a State of Arizona map you will find more. Anyplace you go in this state there are very nice photographic opportunities.

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

And you haven't visited a different site every day either. I have been here since 1972 and haven't seen all there is to see. Not only that but I see different stuff every time I go someplace. I retire in about 2 years and I figure it will take me six months to just see everything there is to see around Tucson.

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

I'm in Tucson and never knew there was a hummingbird House, I will have to take a short trip there. I would recommend going to havasu falls...

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

There is also a butterfly house as well.

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

I heard about the butterflies but had forgotten about them dang...I need to get out more :)

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

Hit the lottery then you won't have to work. :lol: :lol: :lol:

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

See if you can find a few copies of "Arizona Highways" magazine in your local library. Amazing pictures and many clues on where to go.

waykee7 Loc: Cortez, Colorado

When you're driving to Tucson, about 2/3s of the way between Phoenix and Tucson is Picacho Peak. They've had a dry winter, but they had an ok monsoon last summer, so there may be some California Poppies and lupines there.

Chiricauhua National Monument in the SE corner of the state is fun, interesting rock formations. Cochise stronghold is of some interest in the Dragoon Mountains. The Huachuca moutons are interesting, especially for hummingbirds. Most of the species in North America breed in two canyons in that mountain range.

The northern part of the state is the "colorado plateau" province. That means that the geology, unlike central and southern Arizona, is primarily sedimentary. Of course, the most interesting feature is the Grand Canyon. The advice someone else gave you to hit the rims in the morning and evening is rock solid. However, I would take that a step further. If there is a storm coming in or clearing you get the chance for good light. If the forecast is for clear skies, well, if I hadn't been to the Canyon I'd go to see it, but I would hold little hope of making an interesting photograph. The canyon is deceptive. What looks like a little ridge on the other side may actually be the equivalent of a mountain range. The redwall, a limestone deposit, is 800 foot thick. . . and in the entire length of the grand canyon, there are only 100 documented routes through that cliff. If you can get some clouds and dappled light with cloud shadows it gives a depth and perspective that isn't available to you as a photographer in flat, clear skies. The El Tovar lodge at Grand Canyon village is interesting; it was part of that lodge-building in the national parks in the early 1900s. It was on the rim here that Teddy Roosevelt said "The ages have been at work on it. Man cannot improve on it. Leave it as it is for your children's children's children". Three extraordinary books have been written about The Canyon in the past several years. Death is the Grand Canyon is an account of the 650 people who have died in modern times in GC. It sounds morbid, and gruesome, but I couldn't put the book down. Grand Obsession is a biography of Harvey Butchart, the Math professor from Northern AZ University in Flagstaff who spent 700 days exploring in the canyon. . . and documented his routes with mathematical precision. Harvey was incredible; I've hiked some of his routes, but I am not fearless like he was. I've spent a couple hundred days in the park and Canyon. . . his 700 days didn't involve any days loafing. The Emerald Mile is fabulous, a can't-put-down account of the attempt to run the river at 90,000 fps in the great flood of 1984 in a wooden dory in an attempt to set a world speed record for traversing the 277 miles of The Canyon. I ran the river that summer at 60,000 cfs, and I can't imagine 90,000 cfs. Oh, it's also worth hitting the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, especially if you have any interest in native cultures and prehistoric archaeology and indian art and paleontology. It's a jewel of a museum.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

While in Sedona, I strongly suggest a 'Pink Jeep' tour, especially the 'Broken Arrow' trail:
http://pinkjeeptours.com/sedona/tour/broken-arrow-jeep-tour