Tuscon Family Getaway

Loew's Ventana Canyon hotel lobby

With a recent spate of cold weather in Los Angeles making us long for warmer climates, we took a family friendly weekend in Tucson, Arizona. We purchased an off-season package at Loew’s Ventana Canyon, a beautiful resort in a stunning setting with small creeks and easy nature walk trails that take you to a small waterfall. The desert Saguaro cactus native to the region are incorporated into the landscape, as is the welcoming shade of cottonwoods and mesquite trees.  Hotel rooms and suites are both modern and large, and most offer balconies or patios with great views. With a southwestern style design, the resort is also environmentally friendly, its buildings made from regionally native brown rock that seems to morph into the surrounding mountains.

Imposing cacti - we enjoyed their shapes and sizes near Tuscon

The over all look is very appealing, but best of all the hotel promotes a family atmosphere, offering special programs ranging from recreation programs for children to game lending libraries. Organic ingredients are on the menu at the hotel’s restaurants, and so are reasonably priced and reasonably healthy children’s entrees.

Nearby, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum beckoned to supplement pool time. But our first stop on our Saturday arrival was indeed the pool – where they offered us some pleasant and free frozen grapes, house-made lime popsicles, and lemonade. Kids are invited to splash and play; there’s an adults only pool as well, making it clear sailing for some “Marco Polo” in the water of the main pool. The clear blue skies, the dry desert air, and the warm, warm afternoon made it difficult to leave the pool, until the sun and the early autumn temperatures began to drop.

When we dried off and pulled on jeans and jackets, we explored the nature walkways, thoughtfully  lined with informational signs pointing out local flora, fauna, and animal life. The ambiance of the walkways and the entire hotel is relaxing.

Dinner gave us a sunset view and table-made fresh guacamole – always a hit – at the hotel’s signature dining spot, the Flying V Bar & Grill. Our kids enjoyed seeing the guac mixed up, and along with crisp house made chips, this reliable appetizer kept everyone happy until the entrees arrived. The wait staff is uniformly friendly and welcoming, offering crayons to the kids and gladly providing a side of extra cherries and lime slices with our daughter’s soda.

But our favorite hotel meal was Sunday brunch, with music provided by the Tucson Jazz Society. The excellent jazz vibe was great listening for adults, but because the hotel strives for both elegance and a family friendly environment, it was perfectly okay for the kids to move onto the lawn and dance to the mellow musical sounds. And the waffles were perfect. Keeping to the organic, locally-sourced mission of the hotel chefs, we also enjoyed pastries made with saguaro seeds. We had to convince the kids not to try and pick any off the local cacti.

After brunch it was time for a visit to the well-known Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Both a living desert and zoo with live animal exhibits in beautifully natural settings, and an indoor museum with excellent art and science exhibits, this institution is also a key resource for both research and protection of the Sonoran Desert environment, and its plants and animals. With over twelve hundred different kinds of plants and three hundred plus animal species in the exhibits spread over twenty-one acres, the pleasantly meandering paths lead families virtually through the entire Sonoran desert landscape.

Blue skies near Tuscon, AZ

With  a zoo, a botanical garden, and a museum all in one place, this is a fascinating way to spend most of a day. Our kids were able to safely get up close and personal with gila monsters and mountain lions. We could’ve spent the entire day watching the Prairie Dogs interact. The natural setting means the lizards on the paths are not zoo-kept, though equally fascinating to smaller travelers. We loved the grey wolf exhibit and the captive breeding program of eagles and hawks, species bred to be returned to the wild.

Equally interesting to our kids were the museum exhibits indoors which displayed minerals and fossils and even a dinosaur skeleton found in the region. The museum also offers a variety of kid- centric programs; for ages two to five there’s the Coati Pups Preschool Programs with docent led on- grounds exploration, live animal encounters, and the creation of a take-home craft. Our kids learned about bats and participated in a Sonoran Desert Seek and Find, locating diurnal and nocturnal animals and actually learning the difference between day and night wakeful creatures.

We made another stop in Tuscon, at the old Tucson Studios, where the movie Tombstone and many other film and television programs are shot. Both movie set and theme park, this wild west themed venue lets you walk down streets where John Wayne once raised his six gun and view an entertaining pastiche of vaudevillian music shows, stunts, and mock gunfights. You can take a guided tour or a miniature train ride. For older kids there are gentle horse back rides around the property. Our favorite, if slightly hokey, rides were the antique cars. Getting behind the wheel of the small-fry-sized miniature car was a lot of fun; as was the C.P. Huntington Train, which toured the studio site and circled the desert area. But best of all was the Old Tucson Story Museum. Nicely laid out exhibits were supplemented by guides specializing in amusing film-making anecdotes. We learned about the stars and directors who’ve worked here over the studio’s seventy-year history, and got to see costumes and props from western television shows like Bonanza, including the impressive Reno locomotive, standing sentry at the north end of “town.”

And after the cowboy stuntmen lassoed their last “bad guy,” we went back to our hotel for some more fresh made guacamole and a beautiful sunset from our patio. In the morning, another splash in the pool before heading back to LA, after our welcome respite from recently rain drenched Los Angeles.

About the Author: Genie Davis is a multi-published fiction author, screen and TV writer, and travel writer. If it was possible, she'd like to spend every day traveling. www.geniedavis.com