Mileposts/Events

Come to Our Spring Sale • Have Fun on a Ranch Cheer on the Ostriches • Join a Superstitions Trek A DUDE'S GUIDE TO HORSES

You've made your reservations for a dude ranch vacation - but you're a little nervous because the closest you've ever been to a horse is cheering a mounted John Wayne at the local movie house. Relax. It was folks like you that Carol Moore, manager of the Lazy K Bar Guest Ranch near Tucson, was thinking of when she developed a video that demonstrates all the moves you'll need for your ranch vacation. The 35-minute video, called "Which End Does the Hay Go In?" tells all about saddles and such, how to get on and off a horse without sending the wranglers into fits of laughter, what "horse body language" means, and the do's and don'ts of trail etiquette. The video (VHS) costs $24.95 plus $2 for shipping and handling in the U.S., $3 in Canada, and $5 in other countries. In PAL, it's $29.95 plus the same shipping and handling charges. To inquire about the video, call Hoofbeat Productions, (520) 744-3170; reach the ranch at (520) 744-3050.

HOW SUITE IT IS

Guest suites with themes inspired by Old West personalities are featured at Grand Canyon Suites, one of the newest hotels serving visitors to Grand Canyon National Park. The 36-suite hotel is located in the Village of Tusayan. It was designed to serve a variety of guests, including families and extended-stay visitors, with accommodations that offer a refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker; wet bar; television and VCR; and a wall safe. Contact Grand Canyon Suites at P.O. Box 3251, Grand Canyon, AZ 86023; (520) 638-3100; fax, (520) 638-0123.

ARCHAEOLOGY AWARENESS MONTH

Hands-on activities for children and adults, field trips and tours to archaeological sites (sometimes to places not usually open to visitors), history reenactments, talks, and demonstrations of Indian crafts highlight this month-long celebration held throughout the state. Most activities are free, including one of the biggest events: the Archaeology Expo, to be held March 7-8 at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. For a complete calendar of events, call the State Historic Preservation Office, Arizona State Parks, (602) 5424174.

STALKING WILDFLOWERS

For the latest tips on where to find desert wildflowers, call (602) 481-8134 in Phoenix. The recorded Desert Botanical Garden information, updated each Friday, is available March 1 to April 30.

BUDGET TRAVEL ACCOMMODATIONS

A free brochure listing hostels in the United States, including Arizona, is available from Hostelling International American Youth Hostels (HI-AYH).

The color brochure locates the hostels on a map and gives addresses and telephone numbers. It also provides general information about hostels and instructions on how to make reservations and obtain HI-AYH membership information.

Contact HI-AYH Map Brochure at 733 15th St., N.W.. Suite 840, Washington, D.C., 20005; (202) 783-6161; fax, (202) 783-6171.

ALL ABOUT THE BUTTERFIELD STAGE

Return to those days of yesteryear and once more ride the Butterfield Stage from its origin at St. Louis to trail's end at the City of Angels.

While it's virtually impossible to imagine how awesome and fearful that passage was, we can come fairly close through the pages of A.C. Greene's latest book, 900 Miles on the Butterfield Trail, published by the University of North Texas Press.

Author-historian Robert M. Utley says of the book, "The story of the Butterfield Overland Mail is one of the great sagas of America's westward expansion, full of exciting drama.... [Greene] ... has given us a fine mix of past and present to appeal to scholar and lay reader alike."

Greene, who trekked the entire stage route, incorporates newly found historical documents and changes in the landscape and explores the myths and legends that surround the 2,800-mile-long drama called the Butterfield Trail.

We give this book must-read status for anyone interested in the history of the Far West. It's available for $24.95 from your favorite bookstore, or contact the publisher, P.O. Box 13856, Denton, TX 76203; (817) 5652142. Richard G. Stahl

Ninth Annual Arizona Highways Spring Sale

It's that time of year again when magazine staff and volunteers from the Friends of Arizona Highways turn our parking lots into a big outdoor market where you can purchase (sometimes at or below cost) such treasures as books, note and greeting cards, clothing, and gift items. The sale will take place from 9 A.M. to 2 P.M., March 22, at the magazine, 2039 W. Lewis Ave., Phoenix. Come early and stay late for the best buys and the best chance at winning one of the door prizes (everybody, including kids - gets free door-prize tickets).

For more information about the sale, call toll-free (800) 543-5432; in the Phoenix area, call 2586641.

PLAYING COWBOY

Billy and Caren Wiltbank's Beaver Creek Ranch, near Alpine in far eastern Arizona, offers cowboy wannabes a variety of frontier experiences from year-round horseback trips and week-long stays to spring and fall horse drives through high desert and mountain meadows. Ranch activities also include weekly rodeos and hayrides. For more information, call Beaver Creek Ranch, (520) 339-1913.

EVENTS Founders Day

March 1; Florence A parade, arts and crafts, live entertainment, and a street dance highlight the 12th Annual Founders Day in Florence. In addition to the special events, check out the nostalgic downtown (where Murphy's Romance was filmed); McFarland State Historic Park, a museum jampacked with period exhibits; and south of town a memorial to cowboy movie legend Tom Mix, who died thereabouts in a 1940 auto accident. Before you leave "the town where time stands still," though, take a look at the Victorian-era courthouse, with its fake clocks on the tower they ran out of funds when the building was put up in 1891 and couldn't afford a real timepiece. Nowadays, folks just prefer it that way. Founders Day admission is free. Information: (520) 868-9433.

Renaissance Festival

Weekends through March 23; Apache Junction Knights jousting for the favors of fair ladies, the king and his court deigning to mingle with their subjects, and hearty food and drink have visitors to this annual event believing they've slipped back in time to a 16th-century European market fair. Also on hand: artisans working at their crafts, ye olde games and contests, and more exhibitions and demonstrations than you can shake a turkey drumstick at. The festival started February 1. Admission is $11.95, adults; $4.95, children. Recorded information: (520) 463-2700.

Ostrich Festival

March 6-9; Chandler There'll be a parade, performances by "big-name" entertainers, arts and collectibles, and food booths at this annual salute to ostriches. But many folks show up just for the ostrich races. The birds are big and gawky, but they can run like crazy: up to 35 mph. Information: (602) 963-4571.

Carriage Driving Competition

March 8-9; Coolidge Some of the West's best hors es and carriage drivers provide nonstop excitement at the Arizona Combined Driving Event, to be held at Goree Farms on Christensen Road. Saturday's highlights include the oldfashioned carriages being driven in a precision pattern, demonstrating elegance and training; plus a best-time event that involves racing around a narrow winding course marked by tightly spaced pairs of traffic cones. Sunday offers a marathon in which carriages negotiate obstacles at top speed. Admission is free. Information: (602) 853-9497.

Civil War Battle Reenactment

March 8-9; Picacho Peak State Park The Civil War comes to life again at this state park 40 miles north of Tucson when professionals reenact Civil War battles fought in Arizona and New Mexico. Visitors can tour "military camps" and watch demonstrations of candle-making, cooking, and laundering frontier-style. Admission is $5 per vehicle. (If you're lucky, the Mexican gold poppies will still be in bloom hereabouts, turning the hillsides into a sea of yellow.) Information: (520) 466-3183.

Dons' Lost Dutchman Trek

March 9; Superstition Mountains If this annual all-day event in the fabled and scenic Superstitions did nothing but offer its spectacular firefall burning coals tumbling down a high cliff and a program about the Lost Dutchman with dramatic special effects, it would be worth the price of admission. But there's plenty of other stuff going on as well: Participants can take guided hikes to historic and scenic sites and watch live entertainment, including Native American dancing and the Ballet Folklorico from Mexico. And, considering the number of people this event attracts, the hearty food and beverages (included in admission) are served up in record time. Admission is $35, adults; $17.50 for age 12 and under. Information: (602) 258-6016.