by Denise Paduano

Created on: September 12, 2009

Arizona's capital city of Phoenix rose from it's own ashes, in this case the ruins of an ancient Indian village. The name Phoenix given to the city by an early settler from Britain has proven appropriate. Rising from the dust of the desert, Phoenix has become one of the largest metropolitan cities in the country.

The Heard museum contains exhibits of the Southwest's Indians from prehistoric times to the present. Hands on exhibits help explain Indian life and culture. Featured are displays of pottery, weaving, basketry, and paintings, plus a collection of Kachinas so large it fills one room. The museums collection is world renowned and contains more than 32,000 works of art and other objects.

For rock hounds the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum displays more than 3,200 mineral specimens, including copper, gold and silver. Some of the displays are remarkable, like the 300 pound azurite nugget or an 8 foot high spiral of copper extracted from a mine in southwestern Arizona.

In west Phoenix the Deer Valley Rock Art Center represents a one of a kind attraction. There in a 47 acre pastoral setting visitors will find about 1500 petroglyph's, pictures chipped into the patina of desert rocks by prehistoric people. Some of the petroglyph's may be 5,000 years old. A small museum offers interpretive displays.

The Phoenix Art Museum is a more traditional showcase for paintings and sculptures from around the world including French, Asian, Latin American, and Western art collections. With more than 17,000 pieces of art the Phoenix Art Museum contains one of the largest collections in the American West.

The Phoenix Zoo sits on 125 acres in east Phoenix and is known worldwide for saving the Arabian Oryx from extinction. The zoo cares for about 200 endangered and threatened species among the more than 1,300 animals and birds in its display. It's children's section has earned praise from critics and zoo goers alike.

Next door to the zoo is the Desert Botanical Gardens, a park that contains more than 2,000 species of cactus and other desert flora. A 1 mile trail meanders among the plants, some of which are exotics from other regions.

A multi attraction destination in downtown Phoenix is Heritage and Science Park. Here visitors will find restored Victorian homes, a history museum, a doll museum and the Arizona Science Center. Both the history and Science museums feature hands on children's exhibits.

Cultural and specialty museums, a great zoo and lush botanical garden. The bottom line is, Phoenix has it all.

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