WEEKEND GETAWAY: TUCSON

getaway A Missile Museum Launches a Family's Two-day Tour of TUCSON'S Past and Future

ON A SPRING JAUNT TO TUCSON, OUR KIDS got to trigger nuclear conflagration and check out where the president of the United States dined all before lunch. Aiming a bit off the beaten path to avoid crowds (and overstimulated offspring), this time we bypassed such popular venues as Old Tucson and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum to unearth plenty of easygoing family fun.

Admittedly, the weekend's beginning was anything but auspicious. “You mean it only has one missile? How boring,” my 10-year-old carped as we drove from Phoenix to the Titan Missile Museum in Sahuarita, a leftover reminder of the Cold War about 30 miles south of Tucson. “It's like an art museum with only one painting,” he whined.

But it's some painting. This remains the last of 54 missile sites completed by 1964 across the United States. Each featured a nine-story silo housing a 103-foot, 330,000-pound missile that could launch in one minute and wipe out a large city though what most impressed our kids was that Star Trek: First Contact was filmed there. Entry fees of $4 for children and $7.50 for adults bought us use of required hard hats and the grand tour. Donning our hats, we descended into the inner workings of the vast underground missile center, clanking down flights of metal stairs (“55 steps down 110 coming up,” joked guides Jim Chaffins and Bob Brubaker) past 6-ton metal doors into the inner sanctum of the control room. Our son, chosen to sit in the commander's chair, threw us a gleeful grin as he turned the key to activate a simulated launch. The trip blasted off to a dynamite start.

Next, we stopped at south Tucson's Mi Nidito, a much-lauded landmark where then-President Clinton lunched during a 1999 stopover in Arizona. Amid a cheery blend of folklorico art, plants, Mexican flags and murals (as well as photos galore of Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Congressman Jim • Kolbe), we munched on huge helpings of beef flautas, birria tacos and chicken enchiladas and sipped orchata a sweet, nutmeg-tinged south-of-the-border nonalcholic drink.

Fortified, we headed a few miles north To the Tucson Children's Museum, a whimsy-packed mix of clever, kid-entrancing interactive displays. Youngsters romped through a mockup of a submarine control room, a pretend news-room where participants can see themselves on TV and a music room rocking with a cacophony of banging drums, gongs and cow-bells. Even our 12-year-old sophisticate laughed with delight as she tried a step-in bubblemaker that encased her in a giant, shimmering globe. This adventure costs $3.50 for children and $5.50 for adults, but on the third Sunday of any month the museum is free to all.

Deciding we needed a little downtime, we drove to the city's northern edge for a break at Fort Lowell Park, the site of a fort during the Apache wars. With wide fields for Frisbee-throwing, swings, ramadas, a pool and play-ground, this added up to the perfect spot for an alfresco family snack.

On Wednesdays through Saturdays, parents can add an educational note at no cost with a run through the park's free small museum. The onetime commanding officer's quarters and the fort's kitchen are packed with photographs of Indians and soldiers, weapons and artifacts. We walked down what remains of an allée of cottonwoods planted in another century to shade the 150 men and 100 horses who guarded against Apache raiders.

Refreshed, we headed a few miles east to Trail Dust Town, a re-creation of an old Western town, complete with a train for rides, stockade, 108-year-old carousel, shady gazebo and a cheery assortment of art galleries, restaurants and shops.

The kids eagerly panned for "gold," slurped ice cream cones and caught a rehearsal of a reenactment of an Old West-style shoot-out. The preteen browsed trinket and antique shops featuring everything from moccasins and stuffed armadillos to John Wayne toilet paper. We were disappointed to learn most of the entertainment starts in the evening with the dinner hour, but enjoyed an ambling afternoon before heading off for dinner at the nearby Gaslight Theatre.

From the garish posters outside to the eye-popping red velveteen wallpaper lining its walls, it's clear the Gaslight Theatre, a 25-year-old local institution, lays on the corn with a trowel. We enjoyed pizza, fried mushrooms and sarsaparilla from Little Anthony's Diner, a popular Tucson restaurant next door, while hooting through Sergeant Preston of the Mounties... or Yukon Count on Me, a lively rendition of vaudeville patter, hoofing and singing, all backed by a live band. We ended up howling at achingly awful

jokes. The show would never make Letterman, but the cast's exuberance proved infectious, as the audience sang along, booed, cheered, laughed and pelted the villain with popcorn. The experience costs $6 for kids; $13.95 for adults, plus the price of dinner.

After a night at the Wayward Winds Lodge in a rather spartan but spanking-clean suite with a kitchenette, we headed to the Blue Willow for breakfast. This cozy restaurant cum knickknack shop with its cinnamon-colored stucco walls, flowers and fountains offers fabulous food. The shaded patio proved perfect for a spring morning as we feasted on waffles topped with fresh fruit and real whipped cream.

Going to Reid Park Zoo (one of the few attractions open on Sunday morning) didn't rate as our kids' idea of a hip time, but ended up charming all.

We fed giraffes from a bale of hay, their great heads, with kissy-poo lips and twitchy ears, Looming near to nibble from eagerly outstretched hands. "Look, they're sharing and taking turns," I said, ever on the alert for a teachable moment, as a young giraffe ambled off to allow another to step up, so to speak, to the plate. "He's probably full," snorted our 12-year-old cynic.

Whether petting an Aldabra tortoise or stroking an iridescent Columbian rainbow boa at a docent display on reptiles, the kids acted like, well, kids, not Pokemon-packing, mallroaming consumers. In an unguarded moment, our son even cooed, "It's Bambi!" as a baby nyala pranced by.

Zoo admission is $4 for adults, 75 cents for children 5-14, and free for the little ones.

On a roll with biology, we drove about 30 miles north of Tucson for an afternoon at another world. The Biosphere 2 Center's geodesic glass domes and quonset huts bustled with activity like an otherwordly Oz set in the sagebrush. One of the largest ecological laboratories in the world, this air-tight greenhouse covers 3.15 acres. The $200 million center, founded in 1987, boasts partnerships with 28 universities offering 18 credits for a semester's stay to students from around the country.

For younger students, tours reveal artificial tide pools, estuary marshes, lagoons, rain forests and savannas big-scale science experiments teeming in a giant climate-controlled test tube. Our tour guide, Gilbert LaRoque, described how scientists created a La Niña experiment in which they inflicted a 27-day drought, followed by a 40,000-liter flood to measure how plant stomata reacted.

Antediluvian efforts aside, it's great fun to spot butterflies frolicking in the sun, donkey-dung sea cucumber or a quartet of neon-yellow tang darting through the nearly 1 million-gallon "ocean." Tours of this living laboratory run from 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. daily, and admission varies from $12.95 for adults to free for children younger than 5.

Peeking into one of the rooms at the Biosphere's 27-room hotel (actually a renovated Motorola executive retreat), I discovered where to stay next time we're in the area. Huge rooms, featuring a wet bar, sitting area, private patio and panoramic sweep of window, offer dreamy seclusion. A swimming pool, pond, tennis court and most of the Biosphere grounds beckon for evening strolls. Overnight packages include accommodations, all tour tickets and breakfast and dinner at the quite competent Canada del Oro restaurant.

A bit worn out from our action-packed sojourn, we headed home to Phoenix. All agreed a weekend that included trips back in time to both the Cold and Apache wars, giant bubbles, pink flamingos, munching where the president ate and a foray into our biological future rated as a great escape indeed. AH