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An Old Neighbor Moves in a Little Bit Closer

Arizona Has Never Been So Near
Thanks to Non-Stop Flights From Ventura County to Phoenix

Having a neighborhood airport in Oxnard has certainly been a convenience, if not a blessing, for travelers looking for an easier way to get in and out of LAX. United Express has been shuttling Ventura County residents back and forth for years, but as of last November, when America West Airlines moved in alongside United in the Oxnard terminal, it became possible to fly non-stop to Phoenix, creating a promising new pipeline between Ventura County and Arizona. The fares are reasonable ($116 RT at this writing), there are six flights each day, and you can be in Phoenix in 45 minutes. That's less time than it takes to drive to Santa Monica.

Always looking for a chance to travel without having to hassle with LAX, my husband and I took advantage of the new route as soon as we heard about it. We booked a six-day Winter sojourn through Arizona that took us from the urban sprawl of the Phoenix/Scottsdale area through the snowy mountains of Flagstaff, and ultimately to the Grand Canyon. It was an eclectic mix of luxury vacation in affluent Scottsdale (where we stayed at posh resorts and dined at four-star restaurants), and down-and-dirty road trip through the forested highways north of Sedona (where we stayed at a Best Western Inn and had pizza delivered). The cultural, social and economic elements were as diverse as the landscapes.

THE NORTH AND SOUTH OF IT

Most people don't have a clue about the vast physical differences between northern Arizona (mountains, pine trees and snow) and southern Arizona (parched land, saguaro cactus and 115-degree summer heat). One of the best ways to learn about these two different environments is to see them through the eyes of an experienced tour guide on an ecological jeep tour. If you want to get intimate with the flora and fauna, this is the way to go. In Scottsdale we spent four fascinating hours with a knowledgeable and entertaining guide named "Lucky" on an off-road Sonoran desert trek provided by Wild West Jeep Tours.

Lucky took the two of us and three others into the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation area, a vast, protected spread of remote desert where every plant, animal and rock had a story to tell. He introduced us to the Jumping Cholla Cactus, which has spikes strong enough to flatten a jeep tire, and showed us how to tell the difference between true ancient Indian petroglyphs and the fake ones carved by vandals and pranksters. Ruins of 500 year-old Hohokam Indian dwellings lay undisturbed in the preserve, and Lucky was a wealth of information about the tribe's history, not because it's part of his job, but because he truly loves the land, cherishes the culture and believes in preserving what's left of it. The Hohokam people mysteriously disappeared long before the Europeans arrived, and theories about their demise include drought, overpopulation, war with other tribes or simple resource exhaustion. And speaking of resources, although Phoenix, along with its adjacent suburbs, is growing at the terrifying rate of 10,000- 12,000 people per month, Lucky told us that only 18% of the land in Arizona is privately owned, which means the bulk of the state is relatively unpopulated. Indian reservations account for 29% of Arizona, and the rest is controlled by various governmental bodies.

But in the populated regions growth is rampant, and the Phoenix area is rapidly becoming another Silicon Valley as prosperous dot coms and other high tech interests move in and take hold. Workers are attracted from all over the country, and the area's infrastructure struggles to hold up under the weight of such frenzied expansion. The highway system and city streets are constantly under construction and traffic is a serious problem. Plan your driving excursions carefully… parts of Phoenix and Scottsdale can be aggravating at rush hour.

FROM HARSH DESERT TO THE LAP OF LUXURY

The solution is to get out of the car and plant yourself firmly on a poolside lounge at one of Scottsdale's lavish resorts. There are plenty to choose from in all price ranges, and one could easily stay for several days without ever leaving the property. Spa vacations are the big thing in Scottsdale, and hotel developers knew what they were doing when they started building opulent resorts here. The landscape surrounding most of these places is staggeringly beautiful, with miles of wild desert, eerie rock formations, Technicolor sunsets and starry skies that go on forever. If you're looking for total escape and relaxation - and if you can afford it - you've come to the right place.

We investigated two of Scottsdale's newest resort properties - The Four Seasons on the north end of town and the Inn at Copperwynd, located in Fountain Hills a developing suburb adjacent to Scottsdale on the east. These two resorts offer comparable levels of luxury, service and dining, with amenities to match. Though both are exclusive and pricey, their personalities are quite distinct.

The Inn at Copperwynd is intimate, isolated and European-flavored, and for a hotel that does double duty as a country club, the place is actually quite down-to-earth. Perhaps this is because the earth itself is a big part of the Copperwynd's appeal; the place is located in the midst of four mountain ranges that afford spectacular panoramic vistas from every room. The guest rooms (with fireplaces and balconies) and the private villas are part of a 100-acre high-end residential community that includes a health club, golf, tennis, meeting facilities, event areas, gardens and pools. Guests at the inn are granted membership privileges to the health club, so Copperwynd is a good choice if you're looking for a spa retreat, which isn't a bad idea after a day of jostling around in a jeep and hiking with the Gila monsters.

Across town, the Four Seasons Resort stands serenely in the rocky foothills near Pinnacle Peak (if you saw the movie "Raising Arizona," you've seen this stunning location). A larger, more formal property than Copperwynd, the Four Seasons is the ultimate upscale experience. There are curtained cabanas at the pool, where overindulgent attendants offer fresh fruit, iced towels and bottles of Evian water. Guest rooms are constructed in clusters of low rise mission-style casitas, most with private plunge pools or outdoor showers. At night, fire pits blaze here and there around the grounds and a classical guitarist entertains in the lobby lounge.

We were surprised at the number of families with young children we saw at the Four Seasons. Traditionally, one wouldn't expect a swanky resort like this to be particularly kid friendly. But it turns out that there's an on-site kids club, and the cost is included in the daily rate (most hotels and resorts charge an extra fee). Kiddie menus are available in both restaurants (one casual, the other formal, and both are superb), and amenities like high chairs, playpens, bottles and car seats are available for the asking. The kids club will entertain your little ones all day long with golf lessons, field trips, swimming, biking and other diversions while you lounge around the pool, take advantage of the first-rate spa and gym facilities or spend the day on one of the 130 world-class golf courses nearby.

After all the workouts and spa treatments, you're going to have to replace those lost calories somehow, and Scottsdale is famous for its restaurants. We fell in love with a place called Lon's at the Hermosa, a seductive little secret that's part of an authentic 1930s Arizona hacienda which was hand-built by cowboy artist Lon Megargee as his home and studio. It's one of the most popular restaurants in the area, and for good reason. The food is original and spectacular, and most of the fresh fruits and vegetables come from the chef's own 5,000 square-foot garden just outside the kitchen door. Another favorite was Café Terra Cotta, located at the edge of The Borgata of Scottsdale, a shopping complex modeled after a 14th century Italian village. Terra Cotta is casual, affordable and world-famous, thanks to glowing reviews by the likes of the New York Times, Esquire and Wine Spectator and countless awards of excellence.

SEDONA AND BEYOND

Twenty-five years ago the other-worldly landscape of Sedona, Arizona was home to a few cabins, a handful of shops and an unassuming hotel or two. It was a sacred place to the ancient Native Americans who lived among its towering red rock pinnacles and pristine waters, and throughout its history, the town's inhabitants have survived comfortably on mining, farming and a tiny bit of tourism.

The Sedona of today has become almost unrecognizable since tourists, vision seekers, artists and entrepreneurs discovered the area and transformed it into a slick, expensive resort town. Depending on your perspective, this is either an improvement or an environmental crime, but if you're looking to experience some of the most wildly beautiful natural wonder you've ever seen, there's no place better. And the best way to see it, is as always, is by jeep.

Once again, we donned our hiking boots and bandanas for a dusty afternoon in the canyons. The tour we chose took us to Doe Mountain and across scenic Legends Ranch. A rugged trail led past the ruins of old pioneer settlements, a Navajo medicine wheel and majestic cliff and red rock formations. Our guide from Red Rock Jeep Tours was another cowboy wiz kid, well-schooled in geology, history and the culture of the indigenous Yavapai and Apache tribes. He even gave us the inside scoop on the best bars and restaurants in Sedona - where the locals hang out - but made us swear not to publish that information.

Our stay in Sedona was a short one, merely a stopover on our way to the Grand Canyon, and although we spent two days there and loved the jeep tour, we were somewhat turned off by the souvenir shops, overpriced real estate and the overhyped New Age thing. We were however, very happy with our modest room at the Best Western Inn, and had a great Mexican meal at a popular and unpretentious eatery called El Rincon.

We preferred the outlying areas of Cottonwood, Jerome and Oak Creek Canyon to the commercialism of Sedona, and one of our greatest discoveries was the Tuzigoot National Monument just outside Cottonwood. There, the ruins of a tiny little city still stand, commanding a spectacular view of the Verde Valley and surrounding mountains. Tuzigoot was a pueblo with more than a hundred rooms, and was inhabited by the Sinagua Indians during the 13th century. One gets a good sense of how the inhabitants lived, and the museum has a fascinating collection of artifacts that includes evidence of the Sinagua trading with tribes as far away as the Gulf of California.

The road leading out of Sedona toward the Grand Canyon winds through an immensely beautiful section of highway 89A called Oak Creek Canyon, and this is where the red rocks give way to the deep woods. It's surely one of Arizona's most scenic stretches, and aside from private homes, a few small inns and a couple of restaurants, the canyon is pretty much undeveloped. If you're planning to visit Sedona, definitely try to get a room in one of these forest hideaways. You'll find a whole range of styles and prices, from rustic creekside cabins and small motels to vacation rental homes and the resplendent L'Auberge de Sedona. If you happen to be there during the summer, don't miss Slide Rock State Park, where you can slide down a natural rock formation into the crystal clear waters of Oak Creek.

THE BIG DITCH

The Sonoran desert in the south is mystical and ancient, as are the mountains, forests, plateaus and caverns in the north. But nothing is more mind-boggling than the Grand Canyon. I've personally been there numerous times, but this was my husband's first glimpse of "the big ditch" (as the locals call it) and I wanted him to experience it from as many angles as possible. So I decided to start him out with an aerial view.

We took a 45-minute tour with an outfit called Grand Canyon Airlines, which departs from the Grand Canyon airport (yes, there's an airport. The cost is $75 for adults and $45 for kids, and it's and worth every cent. Passengers are equipped with headphones though which they can listen to a narrative in any of five languages, and the view is, needless to say, unforgettable. After the flight, it's a five minute drive from the airport to the canyon rim.

What many people don't know is that it's possible and quite easy to visit the Grand Canyon as a day trip. We left Sedona at 8:00 that morning. By 11:00 we were on the plane flying over the canyon, and at 12:30 we were having lunch at the Bright Angel Lodge on the canyon rim. We were back in Sedona before dark. But that's only one of the many ways to experience the big ditch. There are eight hotels in "Grand Canyon Village," the commercial area right on the rim where you'll find hotels, restaurants, shops and museums. The hotels are operated by an organization called Grand Canyon National Park Lodges, and many are booked a year in advance for the high season (Spring-Summer). At the top of the hotel heap is the world-famous El Tovar, which offers the most deluxe accommodations available. For an idea of how popular El Tovar is, New Years and Christmas reservations are booked as much as five years in advance.

For the average tourist, the diversion of choice is to spend the day casually strolling along the rim trail, which extends for miles in either direction from the Village. During the high season, a shuttle bus makes stops along the path so that you can catch a ride back to Village when you get tired of walking. More adventurous travelers might opt to hike or ride a mule down one of the trails that leads into the gorge. Some people descend the trail for only a few minutes just to get a different perspective, while those who take their hiking more seriously make the trek all the way to the bottom. At the bottom, hikers can either camp or spend a night at the Phantom Ranch, an oasis on the canyon floor which provides bunks, meals and a great opportunity to compare notes with other adventurers. As might be expected, reservations are hard to come by.

Now that it's so easy to get to Arizona from Ventura county, a whole new world of recreation and adventure has opened up to us. To save money and avoid the crowds, travel during the off season (Summer in the southern part of the state, winter in the north). There are hotel bargains galore. The Grand Canyon attracts something like 5 million visitors a year, most of them during the summer. So buck the trend and go in November or February. It might even be snowing.

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WHERE TO CALL FOR INFORMATION

America West Airlines (800) 235.9292 http://www.americawest.com
Best Western Inn of Sedona (520) 282.3072 http://www.innofsedona.com
Café Terra Cotta (480) 948.8100 http://www.cafeterracotta.com
Four Seasons Resort (480) 515.5700 http://www.fourseasons.com
Grand Canyon Airlines (520) 638.2407 http://www.grandcanyonairlines.com
Grand Canyon National Park Lodges (303) 297.2757 http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/
Inn at Copperwynd (480) 333.1900 http://www.copperwynd.com
L'Auberge de Sedona (520) 282.1667 http://www.lauberge.com
Lon's at the Hermosa (480) 955.7878 http://www.lons.com
Sedona Red Rock Jeep (520) 282.6826 http://www.redrockjeep.com
Wild West Jeep Tours (Scottsdale) (480) 922.0144 http://www.wildwestjeeptours.com