by Ed Chipperfield
04.05.2009
© Ed Chipperfield
1. Titan Missile Silo, Green Valley
The only remaining Titan missile silo in the country houses an original ICBM in its underground launch tube. Sit in the commander’s chair and allow the curator to take you all the way through the ignition sequence, and go to bed in the adjoining bunker wondering whether there’ll be a world outside tomorrow.
Price on application
2. Shady Dell Trailer Park, Bisbee
A park with a difference – every one of the Shady Dell’s 12 vans is authentic to the 1950s in the smallest detail, right down to their own golden-era radio station. Try the golden movie-star trailer for the ultimate in rockabilly luxury.
From $50 per night
3. Biosphere 2, Tucson
A vast experiment gone wrong, the 3.15 acres of self-sufficient greenhouses were designed to mimic a human community on Mars. Now you can stay in the crew quarters and be greeted every day by a walk through the world’s greatest environmental simulation.
From $55 per night
4. Skywatcher's Inn, Benson
Arizona’s famed for its clear night skies, so stargazers flock to the Skywatcher’s Inn: a hotel run from a mountain observatory with 8 massive telescopes and space-themed rooms that’ll make you feel like a geeky child of ten all over again.
5. Wigwam Village Motel #6, Holbrook
A classic of Route 66, the twelve concrete wigwams that make up the motel were the brainchild of a 1930s entrepreneur. Years on, they’re still pulling in the road trippers with a kitsch kind of beauty. Only three of the Wigwam Villages remain – here’s the best.
From $52 per night
http://www.galerie-kokopelli.com/wigwam
6. Nothing
"The staunch citizens of Nothing are full of hope and faith and believe in [the] work ethic. Through the year these dedicated people had faith in Nothing, hope for Nothing and worked for nothing for Nothing." So reads the town motto. They worked for nothing all right – the place is now abandoned and you cat set up camp in the rotting remains for free. As long as you don’t get up to nothing, that is.
Milepost 148 ½, Route 93 between Wickenberg and Kingman.
7. The Oatman Hotel, Oatman
When you’re driving through the baking desert, you need a cool room to retire to. Thankfully, the Oatman Hotel’s resident spooks oblige, including a bagpipe-playing miner and the ghouls of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. It’s an adobe monster mash in there.
From $35 per night
181 Main Street, Oatman, (928) 768-4408
8. Buckhorn Motel, Mesa
These old mineral baths didn’t do much to help the local wildlife – the hotel is peppered with over 400 stuffed native species, from pigs to peccaries. Have dinner overshadowed by a stuffed wolf before kipping beneath the gaze of a beaver – you won’t forget it.
5900 East Main, Mesa, AZ
9. The Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix
What you don’t expect to find in the outskirts of bland, sprawling Phoenix is the Biltmore. A grand Frank Lloyd Wright-designed masterpiece of architecture, this Art Deco tour de force looks more Gotham City than Dodge. If you’ve got the lolly and fancy a break from the trail, hitch up your hoss here. It’s the birthplace of the Tequila Sunrise, after all…
From $199 per night
www.arizonabiltmore.com
10. Alpine
When you think of Arizona, it’s all cattle skulls, dusty neckerchiefs and canyons. Try visiting Alpine – more of a forest-swathed Swiss mountain village than anything. Alpine was settled by German pioneers who were happy with being cut off for half the year, and it’s still staggeringly remote, and a favourite for hunters in the season.
On route 191, The Coronado Trail, around 100 miles south of Holbrook
Two joggers preyed on by big birds
Jerry White's incredible story of survival
Smart backpack for your four-legged friend
Comments (1)
iain maciver
21:01:2010
one day i hope to visit arizona wierd or not cant wait after reading this arcticles
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