Things to Do in Apache Junction

For more than 25 years the Grimh family has served as gatekeeper to the secluded beauty of Canyon Lake, welcoming travelers onto their modernly appointed paddle steamboat. The air-conditioned vessel plots courses for guided cruises, each of which highlight the canyon's vistas at a different hour. Nature and lunch cruises seek out bighorn sheep drawing pistols under the bright desert sun, whereas twilight cruises combine ambient, evening light with a buffet dinner of prime rib or filet mignon. Dolly Steamboats also set off at night for an astronomy cruise that includes dinner and expert star reading from local television and radio personality, Dr. Sky. An expert crew pilots the Dolly and her wealth of passengers on each photogenic excursion, gliding past the Sonoran Desert, rock formations, and the Tonto National Forest.

Survive Off Road's four-wheel drive and survival training courses equip students with the preparedness to overcome dire situations including navigating treacherous terrain or being stranded in the desert. Primary instructor Chuck Davis is certified by the International 4-Wheel Drive Trainers' Association and typically caps his classes at 10 students, preferring to share his expertise in an intensive, personal setting. In addition to scheduling Basic Survival 101, Four-Wheel Drive 101, and Stranded classes, Davis can customize his lessons to meet customers' schedules, objectives, and desire to give Mother Nature last year's Mother's Day card.

A marksman steps onto the range and raises a pistol, aligning the site not on a paper target, but on miniature pumpkins. To keep things fresh, the staff at Ted's Shooting Range likes giving both members and the general public a bit of novelty every now and then by furnishing its air-conditioned 75-foot range with targets that range from bowling pins to balloons. Ted's team also trains shooters during classes, such as the Basic Pistol and Home Defense courses.

Before East Side Art was officially founded in 1971, its first inhabitant was the visionary artist Benhardt Michelson, who used the location as an artist community in the 1930s. Today, art instructors and students flock to this oasis of beauty for summer and winter courses in painting, drawing, sculpture, and meditation. After pupils practice in the classroom, they can pop into the art-supply store, where wooden walls and ceilings shelter rows of shiny new supplies. East Side Art also has the ESA Gallery, where artists display Southwest-inspired paintings and prints, as well as sculptures made out of bronze, clay, and chewing gum. Outside, a lush courtyard and water garden provides an idyllic location for poetry readings and performances. While guests lounge in the shade after a hard day's painting, they can catch a glimpse of the Superstition Mountains, where the government stores its good luck.

No one knows where Dr. Vantas lost his way. Once an esteemed doctor at the vanguard of electroshock therapy for the mentally insane, the physician let his psychiatric hospital become a madhouse, prompting rumors of Vantas using inhumane experiments on patients. Those who enter The Asylum risk falling prey to its deranged denizens and the quack’s extremely cold stethoscope. This is the spine-tingling, horror-film narrative that plays out to visitors as they creep through The Asylum, a haunted site modeled after an 1870s-style mental institution and half of The Crypt Haunted Attractions’ two-piece tribute to fear.

The other creepy venue, The Crypt, beckons intrepid guests to descend into a vault filled with the living dead. As they tiptoe through the chamber's darkened corridors, voyagers must stay poised as they strafe around staggering corpses groaning about their hunger for brains or the lack of legroom in their casket.

Today's side deal gets you three classes at A Scrappin' Affair for $25 (a $45 value). At the end of the three-part craft course, students will take home a 6"x6" book. You also get eight hours of cropping time (a $15 value), meaning you can come in and use all the non-consumable tools in the scrapbooking lab without having to invest in expensive equipment. You can schedule the crop whenever you want, but it can't be split between multiple days.