Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Guide

Don’t let “museum” fool you — this is a zoo, a botanical garden, an aquarium, and a natural-history museum all fused into 98 acres of open Sonoran Desert on Tucson’s west side, and it is one of the best attractions in the entire state. Founded in 1952, it puts you face to face with the actual living desert: mountain lions, black bears, a walk-through hummingbird aviary, a coyote yard, prairie dogs, and a raptor free-flight show where trained hawks and owls swoop low over your head. Everything here is native to this desert, which is the whole point — you leave understanding the Sonoran Desert as a living thing, not a wasteland.