Arizona 2008 Official State Visitor's Guide - (Page 50) Nestled in the scenic foothills of the High Sonoran desert, Carefree Resort & Villas provides pure leisure with all the amenities of home. Indulge yourself in the area’s many activities including golf, spa and private excursions. Make your escape to the desert truly Carefree. www.carefree-resort.com/aot 1-877-786-1386 50 • A r i z o n A Just to the east, Mesa may have once endured a rep as a retirement community, but a reemerging downtown district has a distinctly youthful edge to it, with new restaurants and shops in the offing. The city’s resurgence is anchored by the architecturally spectacular Mesa Arts Center, a venue for plays, concerts and dance performances in one of four theaters. Browse the art gallery or take classes in the art studios. Nearby, there’s Arizona Museum of Natural History, which features dinosaurs, natural history and Arizona history, and the Arizona Museum for Youth, where your junior set can spend hours on interactive exhibits and take-home crafts. Mesa also serves as a gateway to the gentle rapids of the Salt River. Cool off by floating downriver in an inner tube rented from Salt River Recreation and to Usery Mountain Regional Park, lush with Sonoran Desert plants and popular with hikers. Diehard Cubs fans will want to soak up the sun at Hohokam Stadium during spring training. Chandler, Gilbert and Queen Creek were all once farming communities and now boast neighborhoods of new homes. Chandler and Gilbert have friendly Main Street-style downtowns with shops and restaurants. Find out more about the former at its Chandler Visitor Center, the McCollough-Price House, a 1938 historic home that now houses historical exhibits and artwork, in addition to visitor information. It’s near Chandler Fashion Center, home to more than 240 shops and, in true Arizona style, numerous restaurants. Chandler is also the site of the first grass golf course built in Arizona at the state’s original golf resort, the worldclass Crowne Plaza San Marcos Golf Resort. Queen Creek features Schnepf Farms, a working farm that’s also open to the public for fresh produce and is the site of a number of festivals. Phoenix and Central Arizona o f f i c i A l S tAt e V i S i t o r ’ S G u i d e http://www.carefree-resort.com/aot http://www.carefree-resort.com/aot http://www.sanmarcosresort.com http://www.sanmarcosresort.com
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