by Denise Paduano

Created on: September 09, 2009

Most of the year Phoenix boasts ideal temperatures, not to mention top rated golf courses, posh resorts and of course world famous cultural and specialty museums.

The Heard Museum is internationally renowned for its extensive collection of Native American artifacts and fine art. In 1999 the museum opened a 50,000 square foot addition that houses three galleries, an artist studio, an education pavilion, a cafe, and an expanded gift shop and bookstore. The museums collection which emphasizes the cultures of the Southwest includes more than 32,000 works of art and other objects in addition to a variety of hands on exhibits.

The Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum displays more than 3,200 samples of minerals, gemstones and ores from Arizona and other states. The museum also displays historical mining equipment provides information of Arizona's mining history.

Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting contains one of the world's largest collections of firefighting equipment. The Hall of Flame displays nearly 100 antique carts, steamers, wagons, ladder trucks and fire engines dating back near four centuries. The restored and refinished equipment provides visitors with an insightful understanding of firefighting from the early 1700's to the present. The museum has hands on children's exhibits and special fire safety classes. There is also a firefighting hall of fame dedicated to firefighting heroes. The hall of heroes includes a special wall of remembrance listing the men and women who have given their lives in the line of duty as firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians.

The Phoenix Art Museum, with more than 17,000 pieces contains one of the largest collections of art in the American West. From the 14th century to the present the collections of American, Asian, European, Latin America, Modern, Contemporary, Western American art and fashion design are on display. The museum also features international traveling exhibits, a hands on children's gallery, and video programs orienting visitors to the museums collections.

Mesa Southwest Museum is Arizona's natural history museum. Here one can explore Southwestern history dating to the dinosaurs. The prehistoric wing, which includes animatronic dinosaurs and realistic flash floods lets visitors explore dinosaur mountain and the underwater depths of Arizona's prehistoric oceans. The Discovery Resource Center involves kids in learning about the the Southwest's natural history by using interactive computer games to dinosaur bones and art materials. Through artifacts and petroglyph's learn about the local local Native American tribes.

The Arizona Science Center is aimed primarily at children but it's also loads of fun for adults. In this large facility you'll find state of the art interactive exhibits covering a wide variety of topics from the human body to coping with living a the desert. However it is not the topics so much as the individual displays that make this museum fun. There's a huge ant farm, a virtual reality game that puts you inside a video game, a massive truck weighing almost four tons, a flight simulator and a cloud maker. The ever popular soap bubble play area is housed on a terrace on the museums roof, as is a star gazing area. In addition to the many exhibits there's also a planetarium, and a large screen theater. This museum is a place you could easily spend all day.

Champlin Fighter Aircraft Museum is a aeronautical museum dedicated exclusively to fight planes and the fighter pilots who flew them. The museum houses aircraft from World War I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. In total there are about 33 flyable fighter planes on display.

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