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Departs
December 22, 2008 6 days
Itinerary
Day
1
We’ll tour to
Yuma, Arizona today. Enroute, we’ll pass the
shores of the Salton Sea, El Centro, and the beautiful Imperial Sand
Dunes Recreational Area.
In Yuma, we’ll visit the
Yuma
Territorial Prison, built of adobe walls in 1876 and used until
1909. You wouldn’t want
to be housed in the “dark cell.”
Day
2
We continue on to
Tucson this morning. One of our stops will be at
the world-famous De Grazia Gallery In The Sun with its paintings,
bronzes, and ceramics by Ted De Grazia. Don’t miss the Mission in the
Sun, an open-air chapel De Grazia built and decorated with
frescoes. We’ll also
visit the spectacular Saquaro National
Park, an excellent display of Sonoran
arboreal desert.
Day
3
We’ll visit “the town
too tough to die” today.
We’ll hear about the Earp’s and the Clanton’s, see the OK
Corral and even visit “Boot Hill.” Don’t forget your Colt
45!
Day
4
Merry
Christmas!
After a leisurely
breakfast, we’ll sightsee some of the highlights of this gorgeous
city. Mission San
Xavier Del Bac, also known as the “White Dove of the Desert,” is one
of the most unique churches that you’ll ever lay you eyes on. The domes, carvings, arches,
flying buttresses, murals, and alter are picture perfect. At the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, you’ll see Gila monsters, hawks,
and bighorn sheep amid 1300 species of plants indigenous to
the
Sonoran Desert.
Day
5
-
Breakfast,
Dinner
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Tour
to Phoenix
area
-
Biosphere 2
Center
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Courtyard by
Marriott
On our way north to
Phoenix, this morning, we’ll stop
at the unique glass and steel structure called the Biosphere 2
Center encompassing 5 biomes: rain forest, ocean, savanna, desert,
and marsh. You’ll
forget that you’re really in the Arizona
desert!
Later, we’ll tour
Tempe and Scottsdale before we arrive at our hotel on the
west side of Phoenix.
Day
6
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Continental
Breakfast
-
Tour
Home
We’ll return to
Southern California, today, with many fond memories of our Christmas
in Tucson.
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