Arizona

A concrete jail in Arizona once slid about 225 feet down a hillside. It still sits where the ground finally let it rest. I can’t think of a better opening…

Three mini taiyaki can land in one order here, filled with Nutella, custard, and sweet red bean. That fish-shaped snack comes from a food court sitting inside a grocery store…

Flagstaff has a thrift shop with no price tags at all. You simply pay what you can, and nobody judges the number. That detail stopped me cold. Then I learned…

Your pho might arrive on a rolling cart, like dim sum, before you’ve even settled your napkin. That’s the routine at one busy Vietnamese noodle house in Arizona, and I…

Seven hundred thirty-six steps stand between a small parking lot and a neighborhood that has been quiet for roughly 800 years. That’s the full count on one short loop trail…

A rock sitting quietly in a display case in Arizona is roughly 2.3 billion years old. It looks pretty ordinary, and that is exactly what makes it so funny. The…

Fry bread gets mentioned more than any other dish at one small-town restaurant in northern Arizona. It shows up piled with homemade beans, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and green chili strips….

A Bengal tiger leaps into a pool on cue at this place, and the show runs daily. Somewhere nearby, a giraffe is probably leaning toward a safari vehicle for a…

One humidor in the Valley is so big that people keep bringing up its size before anything else. That’s a bold opening act for a laid-back shop in a quiet…

One goat named Scooby has been in charge of a certain Arizona farm for years, and nobody seems eager to challenge him. He shares the place with little goats, a…

A carousel turns in the middle of a giant car collection in Arizona, and kids ride it for free. Right next to it sit gleaming classics, a free arcade, and…

The owners are named Joe and Joan, and they really do walk the room to check on your table. That alone made me smile. It feels like breakfast at a…

One cinnamon roll at this diner can easily feed two people, and it comes buried under loads of icing. The word huge gets used about it a lot, and for…

A doll named Dolly has left grown-up ghost hunters short of breath at an old gold camp in the Arizona desert. She has a whole room to herself, and she…

An elk keeps watch from the roofline of this downtown theater, and the building beneath it has hosted audiences since the early 1900s. That detail alone made me stop scrolling…

A crack in the ground near an ancient ball court breathes cool air at you, and nobody plugged it in. That natural blowhole sits a short walk from red stone…

A railroad president once rode in a private business car built in 1879. Today, kids can walk right through it. That car sits in a rail yard in Arizona, surrounded…

Cheesecake on a stick is on the menu at one Arizona festival this fall. Honestly, that detail alone had me scrolling for more. The lineup is big. Nearly eighty food…

A real amphibious Duck, a Deuce and a half, and a Humvee are waiting to give you a ride. The price is roughly what you’d spend on a vending machine…

Some pilots in Arizona fly in just for a slice of pie. They land, park the plane, and walk a few steps to breakfast. That detail alone had me hooked….

Ninety feet up a pale limestone cliff, a 20-room apartment building has been hanging on for roughly 900 years. Nobody has been allowed inside since 1951. Somehow, that makes it…

A deer might tug on your shirt here because your snack delivery is running slow. That’s not a warning sign. That’s basically the welcome committee. At this small northern Arizona…

Every year, people mail chunks of stolen stone back to one Arizona park, along with apology letters blaming the rocks for their bad luck. Some of those notes are actually…

Forty-five thousand yards. That is how much quilting fabric one Arizona shop on this list says it keeps on hand, and I honestly can’t picture where it all fits. Then…

Wings get mentioned more than 100 times when people talk about this little bar and grill. That’s a lot of love for one menu item. It also tells you exactly…

A pizza with pistachios and onion on top has people happily waiting an hour or more in the middle of a big Arizona city. That’s not a typo, and it’s…

A carved stone cat has been chasing a carved stone mouse across one Arizona church front for more than 200 years. Neither one has made any progress. That playful detail…

A peacock struts around a rescue farm in Arizona while toddlers trail behind with buckets of feed. Admission costs about as much as a fancy coffee, and every dollar helps…

Apple fritters roughly the size of a human head show up at a counter that opens at 4 a.m. every single day. That includes Sundays, by the way, and the…

Sliced brisket at one Arizona barbecue counter can vanish well before closing time. Show up for a late dinner, and you might settle for chopped instead. That says a lot…

A warehouse full of fabric, paper, and picture frames lets you set your own price. No price tags, no haggling, just an anonymous contribution for whatever you carry out. Teachers…

A Victorian house from 1894 still stands in the middle of a modern downtown, surrounded by skyscrapers and city traffic. Its neighbors are just as old. Together, they form a…

Winter tomatoes bound for supermarkets across the country often pass through one small Arizona border city first. That head start can show up right on a local grocery receipt. Food…

One guest stayed in the same room once used by the actress who played Maddie in the movie Tombstone. That’s a fun bit of trivia for a tiny inn with…

One Tucson bookstore runs its whole operation on solar power, which feels about right for a state that has sunshine to spare. Another shop in the Valley built its reputation…

A spicy po-boy stacked with buffalo mock chick’n has become one of the most talked-about sandwiches in Arizona. Not one bite of it comes from an animal. The same kitchen…

Every clear evening, a wall of volcanic rock east of Phoenix turns gold, then copper, then a soft rosy purple. The show lasts only minutes, and the ticket is just…

An Arizona businessman once traveled through Mexico gathering hand-forged ironwork and carved wooden doors. His goal was simple and a little wild. He wanted to build a Mexican village right…

Tossing a coyote a leftover hot dog can actually get you a citation in parts of Arizona. That surprised me, because it sounds like a joke rule. It isn’t. State…

A big fight scene from the 1971 movie Billy Jack was filmed right on this Arizona town square. These days, the most dramatic thing happening there is usually a giant…

Hundreds of ancient carvings crowd one low pile of dark volcanic boulders in the middle of the open desert. Some symbols look like spirals. Others look like animals, human figures,…

A former Target building now holds dim sum carts, Peking duck, soup dumplings, and a whole roasted pig. I can’t imagine a better plot twist for a big-box store. It…

A three-story mountain stands indoors here, and every so often a flash flood comes roaring down its face. Thunder rumbles. Lightning flickers. Animatronic dinosaurs move and roar along the ledges…

A glass window lets diners watch dumplings get pinched by hand while they wait for their own. That alone would earn my attention. But the kitchen behind it also tosses…

A natural bridge in central Arizona rises 183 feet above a creek, and it’s believed to be the largest travertine bridge in the world. I had to read that twice,…

Mud, straw, and sunshine built some of the toughest walls in Arizona. A few of these adobe structures have outlasted Spanish kings, Mexican governors, and cavalry bugles. I love that…

A former president once sat down here and cleaned his entire plate. That meal was a bean tostada, a birria taco, a chile relleno, a chicken enchilada, and a beef…

A Honda Civic once carried trays of homemade Puerto Rican lunches to offices and schools around Arizona. That little car eventually led to the state’s very first Puerto Rican food…

Gold leaf covers the lobby ceiling, and it glows over your head like the whole room is lit from above. That alone would be enough for me. But this place…

Around 300 author events a year happen inside one bookstore in Arizona. That’s close to one for every day the calendar flips, and the shelves still make room for new…