Still taking your snowbird trip? Planning next year’s escape to the south? Here are four fantastic locations to add to your itinerary during the snowbird season’s final weeks.
Great blue heron at Venice Audubon Rookery. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved
Sarasota
Sarasota and her string of eight islands are tucked into the Gulf Coast of Southwest Florida.
Sarasota County encompasses nearly 40 miles of shoreline and include Sarasota, Longboat Key, Lido Key, Manasota Key, Siesta Key, Englewood, Nokomis, Osprey, and Venice.
Thanks to John Ringling’s legacy, Sarasota is known as the “Circus Capital of the World,” with many offerings designed to honor the past, present, and future of the circus.
Venice Area Audubon Rookery is a renowned location for bird photography.
Desert Botanical Gardens at Papago Park in Phoenix. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved
Phoenix
Snowbirds love Phoenix. It’s not hard to figure out why. During the winter the Valley of the Sun offers up some of the greatest winter weather anywhere.
Opportunities abound for day trips in and around Phoenix. Some of the trips, like the Grand Canyon, are long drives. Others including Prescott, Sedona, and Oak Creek Canyon are closer, offering visitors more time to enjoy the destination.
A popular day trip, the Apache Trail winds through deserts, mountains, canyons, by cliff dwellings, along lake shores, and through old mining towns.
Mission
Located in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley, Mission welcomes the thousands of Winter Texans that call this area their seasonal home. With winter temperatures averaging 72 degrees and with a ZERO percent chance of snow… why wouldn’t they? And there is never a shortage of activities to do, places to visit, or delicious Tex-Mex food to eat.
Mission offers some of the most spectacular locations for birding and butterfly watching on earth. The Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park/World Birding Center and the National Butterfly Center have created havens for the special species unique to the area.
Tucson
Saguaro National Park near Tucson © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved
Tucson spreads throughout the Sonoran Desert in a valley surrounded by five mountain ranges that provide ample scenic backdrops. Just north of downtown in the heart of the historic Presidio district, Old Town Artisans provides the perfect place to while away an afternoon. Set in an 1850s adobe structure on the site of El Presidio, the fort was built by the Spanish in 1775.
Some of the major attractions include Sabino Canyon, Saguaro National Park, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Mount Lemmon, Sam Xavier del Bac, Catalina State Park, Kit Peak National Observatory, Tohono Chul Park, Pima Air and Space Museum, and Old Tucson Studios.