Things to Do in Tucson

The sight of a medieval castle surrounded by tall cacti may seem anachronistic at first, but it's hard to question the image when one is trying to putt a mini golf ball into a grassy hole off the circulating paddles of a windmill. It's whimsical moments like this that make Golf N’ Stuff's name feel understated. Beyond the two lush 18-hole mini golf courses that draw year-round visitors, the entertainment center boasts go-karts, bumper boats, and more than 100 arcade games. A mechanically rotated rock wall challenges climbers to simulations of El Capitan and Half Dome, and batting cages let both kids and adults perfect their swings before the upcoming zombie apocalypse. Visitors can refuel on hot dogs, soft-serve ice cream, and soda at the snack bar.

Three baseball cages and three softball cages housed in the indoor Batters Box facility hurl their best stuff into the strike zone so that baseball players can polish their cuts. Various settings enable all levels to improve, serving slower pitches to younger and less-experienced players and transforming into hecklers so experienced players can master their game faces. Batter’s Box also employs a couple of decorated instructors in Jerry Hairston Sr., a 14-year major leaguer and father to two current pros, and Autumn Champion, a former standout at the University of Arizona and current record holder for the fourth-highest softball batting average in the nation.

The polymath instructors at Tucson Circus Arts prepare participants for the performance arts or simple self-betterment with a wide range of curriculum that encompasses circus, dance, music, martial arts, and theater. Through activities such as stilt walking and aerial-silk acrobatics, visitors improve flexibility, strengthen the upper body, and challenge the mind.

Golden Pin Lanes hosts healthy competition atop 48 sparkling new composite lanes and features an advanced scoring system, which keeps track of points scored, player order, and the winner's fingerprints. Late at night, staffers flip on strobe lights and turn up dance tunes before heading back to the bar to pour happy-hour drinks and serve pizza and popcorn. Within the 50,000-square-foot entertainment citadel, a fleet of flat-screen TVs projects the latest sports games, and pool tables and video games give hands a break from all that heavy lifting.

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.

High above the Sonoran desert, on the Tohono O'odham Reservation, the Kitt Peak National Observatory keeps track of the night sky with the world's largest collection of independent telescopes. Throughout the day, guides lead tours of three of the behemoths, including the world's largest solar telescope and a historic gazing dome built in 1973 to broadcast the moon explorers’ games of golf. On those chilly desert evenings, visitors can take part in the nightly observing program and view distant planets and far-off galaxies through 20- and 16-inch telescopes. Reservations are recommended; the program is quite popular and stars tend to shyly hide behind comets around large groups.