Things to Do in Oro Valley

The camp director is Corey Williams, a former Arizona Wildcat and 12-year pro player turned TV analyst for the Arizona men's basketball team. The camp's staff will consist of elite players from the Tucson Summer Pro League, collegiate basketball players, and other talented hoopsters. Although daily schedules vary, campers can expect to learn the fundamentals through drills, games, and tournaments. Summer basketball camp is a fun form of exercise for children that will help them develop leadership and teamwork skills. Email ahead to reserve your child's spot in camp.

Kruse Arizona Tours are led by Alan Kruse, whose encyclopedic knowledge of local culture earned him the title “the king of local tours” by the Arizona Daily Star, as well as a vice-presidency at the Southern Arizona Guides Association and membership at the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau. Opt for the twilight Barrio Viejo walking tour and meet by La Pilita to set out on a two-hour exploration of the cultural and architectural traditions of local Hispanic culture. Or take the tour of Armory Park, which meets at the Royal Elizabeth Bed and Breakfast and boasts two hours of enlightening education about the Victorian and Californian architectural stylings of 1880s Tucson. The two-part Pioneer Women of Tucson tours chronicle female architects, artists, and politicians who have shaped Tucson's cultural landscape. Tourists can meet at the northwest corner of Main and Alameda for a two-hour stroll admiring the historic mansions of Main Street, complete with anecdotal entertainment on the life and times of early Tucsonans. Tour guide Alan Kruse is a former college professor who now boasts one of the busiest walking-tour schedules in Tucson. His cunning wit and quirky attire promise to charm even the most gruff and hardened historical home touree. Call ahead to schedule the tour of your choice and prepare for two hours of unparalleled enlightenment.

Since 2002 The Loft Cinema, a nonprofit, has unspooled a constantly changing lineup of independent, foreign, and classic films. The classic big screen in the main theater and secondary screen upstairs flicker with a full schedule of small-run documentaries and feature films. Special themed series—such as Late Night Cult Classics, which exposes night owls to quirky hits, and One Hit Wonders, one-night-only showings of thought-provoking documentaries—bring little-seen titles to life in brilliant 35 mm. An eclectic concession stand dispenses snacks both familiar and creative, including popcorn drizzled with real butter, vegan cookies, craft beers, and licorice boom mics that are slowly lowered over guests’ heads.

Colorful handholds dot the artificial mountain range rising from the floors of Rocks & Ropes and The Bloc climbing + fitness’s 20,000-square-foot facility. Walls twist, turn, and arc into cave-like overhangs and swollen cliff sides, at the bases of which belayers heft students to new heights.

The Bloc climbing + fitness

A partner gym of Rocks & Ropes, The Bloc climbing + fitness is a 20,000 square-foot, air-conditioned rock-climbing destination. Inside, a dozen autobelays allow visitors to make high, harness-assisted ascents. Or, you can test your bouldering skills on a 7,000 square-foot wall. In addition, the gym offers yoga, meditation, and pilates classes in its 2nd-story heartSTONE studio, welcoming both beginners and experts. The gym also includes cardio and weight equipment for those looking for a vigorous exercise or a heart-to-heart talk with a treadmill.

Over the years, the University of Arizona’s athletic teams have been linked together by one phrase: “bear down.” Now the official battle cry of the Wildcats, those were the dying words of an iconic student-athlete, John “Button” Salmon, who died in 1926 after a fatal car accident. Since then, the phrase has stood behind countless milestone moments, such as when Lute Olson, in 1983, became the 11th head coach of the Wildcats men’s basketball team, setting off a string of 25 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances—including a national title in 1997. Several other national titles belong to Arizona outside of the hardwood, including four from the men’s baseball team and eight from the women’s softball program. Every fall inside Arizona Stadium, the Wildcats football team rouses up to 56,000 fans with hard-hitting Pac-12 showdowns, by far the most popular event on campus behind the linguistics department’s weekly phonetics bee.

This museum of pint-sized pieces showcases more than 275 miniature houses, room boxes, and other collectibles that are organized into three categories: Enchanted Realm, History and Antiques Gallery, and Exploring the World. Leave the girth of planet Earth and enter the whimsical fantasyland of a tiny-sized Enchanted Realm. Interactive exhibits allow you to search for an elusive fairy within the goblets of a sentient tree showpiece or unearth scattered woodland creatures, snow villages, fairy castles, and witch compounds. Teleport through the blue, arched rotunda to the History and Antiques Gallery, which chronicles the significance of miniature relics throughout history and displays one of the oldest mini houses in the United States, dating back to 1775. Travel the floor as a nephilim Magellan in the Exploring the World section, which surveys the cultural value of miniatures from other countries.