Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/10149
ARIZONA With a meeting in Flagstaff, group members can cross the magnificent Grand Canyon off their “bucket list” of things to see, while avid hikers and bikers can take advantage of the city’s Urban Trail System. Active travelers visiting Mesa might head to Usery Mountain Regional Park, where they can enjoy horseback riding, stargazing and exploring the rooftop garden above the new Nature Center. Those traveling with family to Scottsdale can take the kids on an adventure at the Out of Africa Wildlife Park in nearby Camp Verde. Downtown Tempe will soon be home to Arizona’s first urban garden, while the city’s offers a variety of outdoor recreation. Reid Park is one of Tucson’s most popular recreational attrac- tions — a great place to visit the zoo or enjoy an outdoor concert. Best known for its infamous former prison site, Yuma also is home to such visitor attractions as the Cocopah Indian Museum and St. Thomas Mission. PHOENIX Drawing an outdoors lover to a gathering in Phoenix should be Phoenix Convention Center Photo Credit: Phoenix CVB easy, whether you’re touting the more than 200 golf courses in the metro area or talking up the chance to go walking in the spectacu- lar Sonoran Desert, the 16,000-acre South Mountain Park and Reserve or the Desert Botanical Garden, which boasts the world’s largest collection of desert plants. A couple hours of pampering at one of the area’s luxurious resort spas would be a great way to unwind after all that activity. Phoenix offers some notable African-American cultural and historical attractions. The former Phoenix Union Colored High School, founded 1926 as Arizona’s first Black high school, now houses the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center. The historic Swindall House gave lodging to visiting performers like Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Louis during the days of segregation. The local Black Theatre Troupe makes its home at the Helen K. Mason Center for the Performing Arts. Kids might enjoy a visit to the new Arizona Popular Culture Museum, the Arizona Science Center, the Phoenix Zoo, the Hall of Flame — the world’s largest collection of firefighting equipment — or Rawhide, a recreation of an 1880s western town com- plete with shootouts, stagecoaches and pony rides. The city’s new Metro Light Rail system makes it easy to experience some of its most popular attractions. Stops include the Phoenix Art Museum, the Heard Museum, Chase Field, US Airways Center and the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. After a $600 million renovation, the Phoenix Convention Center now has nearly 900,000 sq. ft. of meeting and exhibit space. Earth-friendly elements of the new digs include chairs made from recycled car batteries and seat belts and a West Building that won LEED silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. For lodging accommodations, the Greater Phoenix area offers some 55,000 hotel rooms. CALIFORNIA Groups traveling to Anaheim can check out the new World of Color attraction at Disney’s California Adventure® Park. In Beverly Hills, art lovers might want to pop into one the newest galleries, the Coppola Art Exchange. Eco-conscious travelers note that the Natural Resource Defense Council recently named Newport Beach one of the cleanest in the nation. Leimert Park Village, an Afrocentric shopping and din- ing district, is just one of many Black heritage attractions Los Angeles. Along with a host of iconic sightseeing attrac- tions, San Francisco also is home to the African American Shakespeare Company. History lovers can head to the cap- ital city to Explore California’s Gold Rush past in Old Sacramento. The desert resort of Palm Springs offers a magnificent sky view from the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Visitors to Fresno can tour the African American Cultural and Historical Museum and a bounty of agricultural attractions. In California’s Tahoe North section, the Tallack Historic Site offers tours and demonstrations highlighting area his- 64 tory. San Jose’s Rosicrucean Egyptian Museum houses one of North America’s largest collections of Egyptian artifacts LONG BEACH Visitors to Long Beach should definitely include a tour of the famous RMS Queen Mary on their itinerary. You can get tickets for the popular Ghosts & Legends show and tour aboard the former World War II troopship and luxury liner, or perhaps make reservations for Sunday brunch at The Reef. On Saturday evenings in Long Beach, you can join one of the Saturday Sippers wine tasting tours. It could be a nice way to cap off a day featuring tee time at one of the city’s five public golf courses or any number of water and beach- side adventures provided by its 5.5 miles of coastline. If your taste for adventure runs to swimming with the fishes, you can do that indoors at the Aquarium of the Pacific, which houses an exhibition and educational facility that’s earned a LEED platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. Top local cultural and historical attractions include the Black Meetings & Tourism March/April 2010: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com