Away From Glitz and Golf Courses

Matt stared at the water cascading over the smooth, sloping rocks and gave me that you-really-blew-it-this-time look parents know too well.

It’s that look we especially hate to see on vacation, when we’ve tried so hard to make the kids happy, to persuade them that Mom and Dad can come up with some pretty cool ideas on occasion.

“No bathing suits in the car?” Matt asked, clearly hoping he’d misunderstood me. “No towels either? No extra clothes?”

No matter that the water was icy and the air chilly enough for even a kid to want a jacket.

We were a few miles north of Sedona, Ariz., at Slide Rock State Park, standing at a truly awesome spot and one irresistible for a boy who loves action: a natural water slide on Oak Creek, where the current carries swimmers downstream between red rock walls and the mountains. The littlest travelers can splash in natural wading pools. Originally planted by farmers a century ago, 13 kinds of apples still are grown here on the old Pendley homestead where Frank Pendley developed an irrigation system 85 years ago that’s still used today.

Not at all interested in farm history, Matt turned his attention to the noisy collegians whooping it up as they slid down the rocks, despite the chill. All I could do was promise we’d come back.

We haven’t returned yet, but friends in Arizona tell me the 43-acre state park is a popular spot for picnics and hikes. (Call [520] 282-3034 for information on special programs and camping. Don’t forget a fishing pole: Oak Creek is stocked with trout.)

Matt and I did agree on one thing that day, as we drove away munching Arizona apples. Scottsdale may have luxurious resorts with to-die-for swimming pools, but away from the glitz and golf courses, Northern Arizona has plenty of attractions to please any kid and his budget-minded parents.

Take the university town of Flagstaff, less than an hour north of Sedona and 85 miles from the Grand Canyon. While we couldn’t quite pick up what some seem to feel is the natural energy in Sedona, we felt right at home in Flagstaff. The decidedly family-friendly college town is a great place to teach the kids about Native American culture, geology and telescopes.

Flagstaff is home to the Museum of Northern Arizona, which has first-rate natural history, dinosaur and Native American exhibits, and the Lowell Observatory, where Pluto, the only planet ever discovered at a U.S. observatory, was first identified. It’s also within a 30-minute drive of natural sights, from ancient Indian cliff dwellings to a meteor crater that looks like the moon. The sights are so unusual that even kids steeped in television’s weirdest phenomena will be impressed. And with an elevation of about 7,000 feet, temperatures are far cooler in Flagstaff than in Phoenix or the Grand Canyon during the summer. (For information, call the Flagstaff Convention and Visitors Bureau at [800] 217-2367 or the Arizona Office of Tourism at [602] 230-7733 or visit the Web site at www.arizonaguide.com.)

We spent a Friday night along with other parents and kids peering through the huge Clark telescope at Lowell Observatory. (I admit I couldn’t make out much, but it was fun to try.)

Don’t miss the Visitor Center with its hands-on “Tools of the Astronomer” exhibits. (Call [520] 774-2096 for times when night sky viewings are scheduled and ask about children’s programs.)

At the Museum of Northern Arizona, we shifted our attention from the heavens to history. We checked out the Kiva Room, where we could see a ceremonial underground meeting place for Hopi men. (Ask about special Native American artist and dance demonstrations. Call [520] 774-5211.)

One morning we headed 10 miles out of Sedona to Walnut Canyon National Monument, where the Sinagua Indians, who were accomplished masons, built more than 300 small cliff rooms in the canyon’s walls. We climbed the 185-foot stairs to see some of the rooms that have survived for nearly 1,000 years. It was spooky, we agreed, to walk amid the spaces that children helped their parents carve out so long ago. (Call [520] 526-3367 for information.)

It was equally spooky at Meteor Crater, just east of Flagstaff, where a 1,406-pound meteorite traveling more than 43,000 mph crashed into Earth. It left a hole 570 feet deep--so big that a 600-story building would fit inside and so wide that at least 20 football games could be played simultaneously on the crater floor. Take time to hike the three-plus miles around the rocky rim and make believe you’re on the moon. The astronaut wannabes in the family will be impressed that the eerie terrain so closely resembles the moon that NASA astronauts trained here for their Apollo missions. (Call [520] 289-2362).

Taking the Kids appears the first and third week of every month.