Things to Do in Sun City

Randy Long entered the working world as a travel agent, a vocation that whet his appetite for globetrotting, adventure, and haggling with airlines. When he became a father and husband, he passed a passion for thrill seeking on to his family, and their recent escapades include scuba diving in Barbados and dog sledding in Alaska. It was this thirst for exploration and a love of aviation that drove Randy to become an FAA-certified powered-parachute instructor and found Arizona Powerchutes.

Powered parachutes are comprised of two-seater, wheeled carts that float 20 feet beneath 40-foot parachutes. At sunrise—or sunset during the cooler months—Randy and a passenger climb aboard the cart, and Randy hits the throttle, gathering speed for about 100 feet before the parachute fully inflates and hoists the cart into the air. Randy adjusts the altitude to his patron's comfort level and steers crafts over the exotic plants and mountain silhouettes of the Sonoran Desert, averaging a speed of 26 miles per hour. After journeys, powered parachutes float to land safely, as they are inspected by the pilot prior to each flight and by an FAA-approved facility after every 100 hours of operation.

At Deer Valley Rock Art Center, visitors walk a quarter-mile trail that leads to thousands of Native American carvings. The ancient artwork includes more than1,500 petroglyphs, which were created between 7,000 and 500 years ago. Inside, a museum teaches about the prehistoric population who once inhabited the area.

For lunch, visitors can head over to outdoor picnic tables or an amphitheater area. They might also spot local wildlife such as roadrunners, jackrabbits, and red-tailed hawks.

Freshly splattered paint drips down the mazelike barricades and buildings that speckle Fightertown Paintball Park's five fields, each of which pose their own scenarios and challenges. Players in full complements of rental or personal gear dive behind decommissioned vehicles and helicopter hulls on Field 1, seeking advantageous flanking positions and picnicking sites by sneaking through the trenches. Players deploy from Vietnam–era helicopters onto Field 3, descending into open spaces and trench combat with a maze of claustrophobic buildings, which teams can navigate by communicating through secret messages composed of paint splatters. The arenas host open-play sessions, long scenario events, and motorized skirmishes on ATV Dogfighting Systems, a fleet of four-wheelers armed with paintball-blasting turrets.

Born in 1945, Fred Amator's Arizona-bound life began on a dairy farm southwest of Phoenix. Later, work took him across the state, from the Sonoran Desert and Mogollon Rim to the Grand Canyon. During his Jeep tours, the CPR-certified driver's intimate knowledge of Arizona comes alive as he escorts two–four guests on desert journeys full of historical anecdotes, rather than mirages of Benjamin Franklin greedily chugging water.

During expeditions, Amator’s passengers take in panoramic views of the Gila Bend Mountains, off-road past the native trees and cacti around the White Tank Mountains, or potentially spot coyotes and rabbits at Margie's Peak. Amator also accompanies guests on three-hour trips to a farm in West Phoenix, where they observe fields full of growing cotton and the beginning of vegetable season before touring a dairy.

Stocked with mud, obstacles, and more mud, the inaugural Kiwi Dash 5K sprawls across more than 100 acres to test racers with an arsenal of mental and physical challenges. Huffs, puffs, and fist bumps sweep through the course as individuals and teams attempt to conquer 15 hurdles, which remain a mystery until race day. As an alternative to stuffing their pockets with bulky grandfather clocks, dash participants will be equipped with electronic chip timers to determine the three fastest male and female racers, who, along the person wearing the best costume, will receive an award. The Blues, Bruise and BBQ after party serves up a fully charged celebration of the day's collective accomplishments with live music, a motorcycle show, beer, and 65 barbecue vendors vying to transform muddy fingers into saucy fingers.

If you see a group of pilgrims or zombies wandering your streets, you can take comfort in the fact that it's probably not a reenactment of the American Civil War. It's likely one of Ryfle Events' scavenger hunts, which sends costumed participants on a race that fuses physical challenges, clue solving, and urban exploration. Race planners award cash prizes to the winners, who can compete in a championship round at the end of the year.