TAKING THE OFF-RAMP

Travel Time Instead of Money

"CLEARLY, AMERICANS ENJOY leisure travel, but the 'time poverty' experienced by many dual-income households has become increasingly onerous. Nearly four of 10 adults now say they would be willing to trade an increase in their pay for an increase in vacation time. Fully 55 percent feel they do not have enough time off. As a result, 59 percent now say they plan to take more 'mini vacations' (four nights or less) in the next 12 months than they did last year."

Don't Miss the Big Lake Visitor Center

The Big Lake Visitor Center in eastern Arizona may be a small log building, but it contains a huge amount of information. Much of that is due to Garnet Jones, a volunteer for the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests who staffs the desk at the visitor center. In her "front yard" is Mount Baldy, at 11,590 feet, the highest peak in the White Mountains. Jones and her husband, Ron, both retired, have spent the past eight summers volunteering at Big Lake. Most people know the lake as a trout-fishing paradise, but during her time there, Garnet has found the area a veritable textbook of nature. She knows how many grebes nested last year, where the elk gather and which type of mushroom or orchid can be seen along the trail. And if she doesn't know the answer to a question, Garnet will grab a field guide off the shelf and thumb through the pages until she finds it. She signs up children to go on her walks along the nature trail near the visitor center, during which she'll introduce them to indigo buntings and brilliant red baneberry. And on the trail maps she hands out to all, Garnet points the way to an old spring and an abandoned railroad grade. Big Lake Visitor Center is located at the Big Lake Recreation Complex on Forest Service Road 260, 20 miles southwest of Springerville. Information: (928) 521-1842.

Got Maps?

Here's something new for the planning stage of your next excursion into the Arizona wilds. Check out National Geographic's MapMachines at Wide World of Maps. The digital technology kiosks, located at both the Phoenix and Mesa stores, allow you to zoom in on any area of the state, preview your custom map and print it on waterproof, 13-inch by 18-inch paper. In minutes you're out the door, with an $8 customized map.

Mile-high Golf Haven

WITH SUMMER temperatures rising, golf enthusiasts can get some relief from sweltering heat at the mile-high fairways in Prescott. These challenging mountain fairways test golfers' skills while affording panoramic views and a comfortable average putting temperature of 85 degrees.

Antelope Hills Golf Courses toll-free (800) 972-6818 Prescott Golf & Country Club (928) 772-8984 Prescott Lakes Golf Community (928) 443-3500 Quailwood Greens Golf Course (928) 772-0130

NO REPEAT PERFORMANCES

Navajo County Sheriff Frank Wattron sent out this odd invitation to witness the hanging of a railroader who had shot and killed his foreman. Heavily criticized for the callously worded message, Wattron bowed to pressure from President William McKinley and Territorial Governor Nathan Oakes Murphy, and issued a new invitation claiming, "any flippant or unseemly language or conduct on your part will not be allowed." Maybe Wattron should have heeded his own warning the first time around.

Old Becomes New

The young are returning to the old. At least that's true among some Hopi craftsmen who have chosen to go back to a traditional style of kachina carving. The wooden figures, often called "dolls," represent preeminent spiritual beings who spend half the year on the Hopi mesas in northern Arizona, and the other half on the sacred San Francisco Peaks above Flagstaff.

"These are our children," said Philbert Honanie as he gestured to the collection of figures hanging on the wall of Winter Sun Trading Company. He colors the shapes, carved of cottonwood root, with soft pink, turquoise and black pigments that he obtains from minerals and other natural sources. Bird feathers adorn some of the carvings.

Honanie's work is on exhibit during the Fourth of July weekend at Winter Sun, an eclectic craft and herb shop in downtowntown Flagstaff. Store owner Phyllis Hogan and trader Jonathan Day, author of Traditional Hopi Kachinas realized that few people knew of the old carving style.

Believing in its importance, Hogan and Day founded the exhibit, called "Preserving a Tradition." Several carvers are in the shop during the weekend to talk with visitors and customers about their craft. One of the youngest is 25-year-old Orlin Honyumptewa of the village of Moenkopi. "I grew up in the traditional way," Honyumptewa explained, "and I like to keep it going."

Winter Sun Trading Company is located at 107 Ν. San Francisco St., Suite 1, Flagstaff; (928)774-2884.

2001 Space Odyssey

The year 2001 seems like the ideal time for a space odyssey. And we're not talking about watching the classic 1968 Stanley Kubrick film, but something a little more hands-on.

At the Challenger Learning Center of Arizona in Peoria, west of Phoenix, visitors experience space travel by flying far off into the cosmos on a simulated mini-mission. Some play the role of a flight crew member, a mission controller or a scientist during a mock rendezvous with a comet.

The idea was built upon the dream of teacher Christa Corrigan McAuliffe to bring her space travel experience back home to her students. McAuliffe wrote in her winning essay in NASA's nationwide search for the first teacher to travel in space: "I cannot join the space program and restart my life as an astronaut, but this opportunity to connect my abilities as an educator with my interests in history and space is a unique opportunity to fulfill my early fantasies." While it's well known what happened to the Challenger mission on that fateful January day in 1986, few know that McAuliffe's dreams are being realized across North America and even in Arizona. The surviving family members of the Challenger crew created a living legacy in April 1986 when they founded the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. One of more than 40 such centers in the country, Peoria's is the most technologically advanced, with a mission control room modeled after the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Visitors may participate in missions, stargazing and special events held throughout the year. And be sure to view the rotundawrapping space mural created for the center by internationally known space artist Robert McCall, who lives in Arizona. The Challenger Center is located at 21170 N. 83rd Ave., Peoria; (623) 322-2001. Reservations are required.

Name That Cactus

WHILE SAGUARO National Park near Tucson protects thousands of 150-yearold saguaros, did you know that 50 other varieties of cacti grow there as well? Plus about 2,500 other plants call the monument home. Maybe it should have been named Lots of Cacti and Many Other Plants National Park.

Question of the Month

Is a pronghorn an antelope?

Technically, the pronghorn antelope isn't an antelope at all. The critters playing with the deer at home on the range from Mexico to Canada are the surviving members of a family that dates back nearly 20 million years. The pronghorns, or antilocapridae, are distinct from their African cousins, the antelopes. The 10,000 pronghorns in Arizona shed their horns each year, the only horned (not antlered) mammals to do so.

Say Again

Highway sign along State Route 389: "Six Mile Village - Three Miles."