Sports & Recreation

Living in the city requires regular intervals of time away from the computer, the car, work and just about everything else. Our favorite place to let our worries fall away and get in touch with our inner center of peace, love, and all that wonderful hippie stuff is on the seemingly endless trails around South Mountain Park/Preserve.

Fans of Jim Thompson or Raymond Chandler will appreciate a drive down Grand Avenue at sunset. This isn't the pretty, well-manicured part of Phoenix. Dive bars line the street next to cheap, weekly rate motels. To the west, graffitied rail cars sit waiting to get hauled on to their next stop, and if you keep driving, you'll eventually run into I-10. From there you can just keep driving and eventually end up in L.A.

Signs warn of smuggling activity on this road, and it's possible you may run into some undocumented immigrants. But as development closes around the Valley, consider the smugglers your competition for the bumps and slides of Vekol Valley Road and its spurs, located southwest of Maricopa. The road is accessed off Interstate 8, about 13 miles west of the intersection of Maricopa Road and State Route 84. Taking the Vekol Valley Road exit (Exit 144), the network of dirt roads and washes takes you deep into the southern quadrant of the federal Sonoran Desert National Monument, a vast preserve of near-pristine wilderness. We drove the 15 miles from I-8 to the trailhead of Tabletop Mountain on a cool Saturday morning and saw no other vehicles or people until the afternoon, when we spotted a family on the trail and a pickup truck (possibly a smuggler) driving through an arroyo. On this road, the Wild West is still just a bit wild. From the adventurer's point of view, that's a good thing.

Phoenix is bound by history, be it the scattered ruins left by the Hohokam or the Old West cowboy and mining heritages created by pioneers pushing west. But some of the true greatness of Arizona's history is embedded in its geology — how the land was formed, baked, eroded, and mined, exposing all sorts of natural treasures to experience and elusive mineral treasures to seek. It is this adventure for natural and mineral bounty that makes the eastward run to the old (and still active) mining towns of Miami and Globe such a rich experience.

Start out of the Valley heading east on the Superstition Freeway, bending around the base of the Superstition Mountains. Stop by Arizona's oldest botanical garden (Boyce Thompson Arboretum in nearby Superior) and roll down Miami's main drag, Sullivan Street, before getting into Globe. Founded in the 1870s, Globe became the Pinal County seat, as well as one of the richest copper-mining areas in the country. Today, its oddities include the Elks Lodge Building (the "World's Tallest Three-Story Building," according to Ripley's Believe It or Not), one of the last remaining copper smelters in the United States, and the massive Besh-ba-Gowah pueblo, as well as a multitude of old mining town streets lined with shanties and old homes from the turn of the 20th century.

For the return trip home, continue to head back through time along the Apache Trail. The first section runs up along the west bank of Lake Roosevelt, passing by the Tonto National Monument cliff dwellings and the Theodore Roosevelt Dam. Just beyond the dam, the remainder of the Apache Trail is dirt, making for a very slow but incredibly beautiful drive through the heart of the Superstition wilderness, along the Salt River, and past Apache and Canyon lakes. The late-afternoon, early-evening hours turn the desert to hues of gold, red, orange, and magenta as the trail runs alongside high cliffs. Beware of some killer sunset glare as the road drives westward. The dirt will begin to feel endless, but it kicks out at Tortilla Flat as the paved road twists through Apache Junction and back to the Superstition Freeway.

When the mercury levels in Phoenix skyrocket into the triple digits, it's time to start planning an escape route. When we're looking to get out of town for a quick visit to cooler temps, we like to jump on the Beeline and book it up to Strawberry for a dose of pine trees, fresh air, and maybe a cheese-making class and a little quality time with a goat or two. Just an hour and half outside of Phoenix, the Fossil Creek Ranch in the heart of the Tonto National Forest offers everything from hiking with llamas to fudge-tasting from their very own fudge factory and cheese-making classes using the milk from the ranch's very own goats. Bring the kiddos up for the day to play with the baby goats, meet the pretty llamas, and take a tour of the creamery. The ranch is open every day except for Christmas Day and admission is just $3 per person or $10 per carload.

Arizona is home to some of the most amazing, scenic, and popular national parks in the United States. The Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest, Wupatki and Sunset Crater, and Walnut Canyon, among others, are all within two hours of Flagstaff. Typically, it would cost a family of four $20 to $25 to enter each park, but for a couple of special weekends, these amazing places will be open and free to all. Tie in some low-cost camping at or near one of the parks, and — presto! — there's a weekend getaway in which you'll take in some of the state's greatest places for just the cost of gas and food. Of course, the Canyon is worthy of a week unto itself, but a full day on the south rim, tied in with a circuit of Wupatki/Sunset Crater, makes for an inspiring day capped by a night camping next to the lava flow at Sunset Crater. On day two, head east of Flagstaff to Walnut Canyon and the colorful duo of the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. If there's time either on the drive up north or the return to the Valley, be sure to stop at Montezuma's Castle in Camp Verde. On any weekend, it's worth the trip.

Vegas, baby. Er, Indian Bend, actually. Indian Bend and Loop 101, that is, where Sin City meets Scottsdale in the form of Talking Stick Resort, the swanky 15-story, 497-room casino that, especially by night, can make you feel like you've just taken an airport cab to one of the hipper spots on the Vegas strip, one of the places you won't see someone else's grandma sitting stone-faced, Pall Mall in one hand, while she hits the buttons on a Wheel of Fortune slot machine. Sure, they've got slots, and all the other amenities of a gambling establishment, but the venue's newness, design, lavish high-end buffet, and posh digs guarantee that a better-looking crowd will surround you as you fork over your money to the dealer or machine of your choice. Which, along with a few cocktails, will help ease that pain you're feelin' in your wallet once you get through.

The ideal luxury resort hotel is able to maintain the perfect atmosphere so that — no matter the person or their preferences — everyone can feel relaxed and welcome. At The Boulders, lifelong Phoenicians as well as international travelers can get away from it all and experience a true escape. This Waldorf Astoria hotel is located in quiet, peaceful Carefree, close enough to the big city to be convenient while far enough away to feel removed. Guest rooms include everything from spacious suites with built-in fireplaces to luxurious stand-alone haciendas with three bedrooms, an outdoor patio area, and a full kitchen with top-of-the-line amenities. The Boulders Resort also boasts two championship golf courses, a terraced tennis garden, four swimming pools, and The Golden Door Spa. There are six places to grab a bite on the premises, including Palo Verde, with stunning views of the golf course and duck pond, and Spotted Donkey Cantina, which serves a classic Southwest-Mexican menu and crowd-pleasing frozen margaritas.

Fair warning: There are no slides, rafts, or lazy rivers at the Clarendon Hotel's Oasis pool. There is, however, a pretty cool waterfall, a killer color palette, and public access — you just have to buy a drink at the bar (and if you've heard anything about the bar at Gallo Blanco, which sits on the first floor of the Clarendon Hotel, you'll order a house margarita or two). The pool's been used as a backdrop for local fashion shows and has been a hotspot for hipster parties and weekend cool-downs. It's a place to be seen — from the hotel rooms that face inward and the hotel's rooftop deck, so just be sure to double-check your coverage before rolling off one of the oversize lounge pads or slipping out of the deep end for a dip in the hot tub.

If you're one of the few people in Maricopa County without a swimming pool in your backyard and you don't feel like hitting up one of the dozens of weekly (and ridiculously trendy) hotel pool parties, then you might want to check out Encanto Park's public pool. It may not be the largest or the swankiest pool around, but the price is right, and it sits right in the middle or the Encanto Palmcroft historic neighborhood.

The pool is open from 1 to 7 p.m. Saturday through Thursday (sorry, it's closed on Friday). All swimmers 17 and under swim free, ages 18 to 49 pay $3, and 50 and over pay $1. The pool has swim lessons in the morning, which is why the public swim hours don't start until 1 p.m.

Even looking at Tempe Beach Park's Splash Playground in the off-season, when it's dry and quiet, we get a pang of emotion. Over many summer days when the kids were toddlers, they'd laugh and tread the shallow canals of the park, swim diapers swollen with water. Then they'd cry that they were cold when a slight breeze hit them, even when it was 110, and we'd give them a towel-wrapped hug. As the summers rolled on, they got too big to ride the backs of the water-spouting blue whales. They lost their fear of the thunderclaps and "lightning" on the rainstorm stage — but enjoyed it more. They'd have wars with other kids on the water-shooters, chase each other on the slippery surfaces, and try to act brave if they stubbed a toe. We came less frequently once the kids learned to swim, and only the younger one went to the park last year. But the memories of this simple, magical playground linger long after the end of summer.

Big Surf is a Valley gift that keeps on giving. The two-million-gallon wave pool — the nation's first when it opened in 1969 — is just part of the fun here. The place sports two play areas for little kids stocked with floating islands and mini-slides. At least one of the big-kid slides is steep enough to give us a thrill every single time we take the plunge. Spending half a day at Big Surf can be a real adventure. That is to say that by the end of the day — after we've survived the heat, the crowds and the thrill of the water attractions — we know we had fun but aren't sure it was an entirely pleasant experience. But the kids love it, so off we go.

Some helpful tips to keep the frustration factor low: It's well worth standing in line for 30 minutes before the park opens so you're there early enough to set up lounge chairs in the shade under an umbrella. During a wave, your kid's raft might overturn and float away — watch carefully and you might be able to identify the teen who steals it. Practice your smuggling skills and sneak in snacks and drinks, which are officially prohibited except for those purchased at Big Surf's concession stands. Remember to use sunblock and drink plenty of water. Now you're ready to hang loose. And whatever you do, don't forget the sunscreen.

We can take it. It's true — some parents fear Makutu's: the swarming, screaming chaos of kids running and climbing and gaming for hours. And hours. Adults always want to leave first. But the kids could stay all day — because Makutu's provides the most fun Valley kids can have when it's hot, outside of the swimming pool. Because we're just taller children, we have fun, too — for a while. We'll follow the kids up the dark climbing tower to the overhanging, tunnel-bridges made of webbing that bend our adult feet in painful ways. We help catch them on the zip line. We're behind them on the Banana Slide, which always seems just a little too fast. We give the undersea-themed tunnel feature, which has some truly claustrophobic squeezes for anyone over 5 feet tall, at least one pass-through. Then we let the kids go do everything again and again while we relax by throwing mini-basketballs in the game room. True, we still want to leave before the kids — but only when they're almost as tired as we are.

If you and your furry friend are willing to venture out to the hinterlands of Gilbert, you'll find a pot of doggy gold at the end of the earth-toned rainbow of houses you pass along the way. Cosmo Dog Park is great for both pooch and master alike, with plenty of walking trails, running and playing areas for both big dogs and "timid" dogs, and even a pond and beach area, where the furry beast can romp around or take a flying leap into the water. There are four acres of fenced-in play areas, which provide plenty of room for dogs and humans to roam. The park is named after Gilbert's first police dog, so if your best friend is looking for inspiration, he or she can aspire to no less than a local legend. A plaque near the entrance to the park memorializes Cosmo. As an added bonus, if your quadruped is anything like ours, it'll enjoy a ride home in the car after meeting some new friends.

Got a dog with a Napoleon Complex? Then this is the place for you. We like this park for its abundance of shady spots and, most important, separate play areas for big dogs and "little" dogs (with separate entrances), so you don't have to worry about any ankle-biting. There's plenty of room for running and playing, sniffing and leg-lifting too, although the "small dog" side is a bit more cramped than the "big dog" side. Water fountains are available to keep the little yapper hydrated on hot days, and plenty of seating is available under the huge trees in the small dog area. The park's open from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

The East Valley has a new factory of elite athletes, sending competitors to this year's games that pit them against the very best in the world. And these athletes are only 11 years old. That's right, Kids That Rip Skatepark in Mesa sent two of its skaters to X-Games 18 in Los Angeles this summer to compete on the ramps. But not every skater out there has the goods to be X Games-worthy. So why not grind bowls, ramps, and rails aplenty on smooth wood surfaces indoors instead of baking in a cement microwave outside? Kids That Rip has over 3,500 square feet of street course bliss inside an air-cooled facility that will make it feel like Dogtown at Venice Beach. There also are the previously mentioned bowls and ramps, and even a tunnel. Skate camps for kids ages 5 to 15 run throughout the summer, starting at $199 per week for park members. The park also features an all-ages open skate at $15 for a three-hour session, with a themed open skate every first Friday.

Yep, there's a skate park in North Scottsdale, and like most things in the area, it's pretty new. At 16,000 square feet, it's not the biggest skating spot out there, but it's got the tables, benches, planters, and ledges to keep you entertained, and a bowl that drops down about 10 feet. It's the second city-owned skate park in existence around here — the other one's at Eldorado Park on the other side of town — and it's a little more upscale than your typical skate park, as it's almost always spotless, with a covered patio and lights. It's connected to the city's recently built aquatic center, which probably is the best summertime perk you could ask for. It may not be the ideal facility for the more advanced skaters, but, hey, it's one of the few free things to do in North Scottsdale.

Known as the the Valley's fastest group ride, the BOS has been pounding the roads of North Scottsdale since 1981. Named for its starting point — the Bicycles of Scottsdale shop that has come and gone a few times at the corner of Scottsdale Road and Shea Boulevard — the weekly group ride pushes out every Saturday at 7:30 a.m. with upwards of 50 to 60 cyclists making up the peloton. The roughly 60-mile route can change slightly from week to week, depending on the moods of group leaders, but by and large, the ride rolls north along Pima Road toward Cave Creek, cutting east for some climbing loops on Happy Valley Road and Legend Trail. The ride continually ascends to the summit point on Cave Creek Road known as "The Tower," a house with a large microwave antenna, just before the turnoff to Bartlett Lake. The return trip is where the fast part comes in, as it is nearly pure downhill all the way back into Scottsdale, and this group moves. If the idea of riding in a bunch is a bit intimidating, the route still is among the Valley's best, cutting along the scenic high Sonoran Desert along iconic landmarks such as Pinnacle Peak and Reata Pass.

South Mountain may be known worldwide as one of the planet's best mountain bike playgrounds, but imagine an alternate mountain bike trail system that combines a bit of everything from that premier park: a good dose of National, add some Desert Classic, a dash of Mormon, a pinch of Javelina, and smidge of Alta. Mash 'em all up and drop the results on the east end of the Valley, and, presto, there lie the Hawes Trail Loops.

The walls of downtown and Central Phoenix have been springing to life over the past few years, thanks to local artists looking to define this community through public art. Three specific areas of CenPho have become the home to a majority of these large-scale wall masterpieces: 16th Street, Roosevelt Row, and Grand Avenue. And there is no better way to take in this massive public museum than by bike. The three areas can be cycled on an easy, flat 10-mile circuit beginning and ending at Barrio Café on 16th Street, home to the Calle 16 Mural Project. With stops at The Hive, Roosevelt Row (be sure to check the alleys!), Phoenix Public Market, and Grand Avenue and Fillmore Street, Phoenix's finest mural artists are on display, with works by Lalo Cota, DOSE, Joerael Elliott, Jenny Ignaszewski, Rose Johnson, El Mac, and Luster Kaboom. Each of the murals speaks to, for, and about Phoenix in a unique, insightful, reflective, and provocative way, and seeing them by bike gives cyclists a chance to really stop and appreciate them as more than just wall decorations, because, after all, this art belongs to all of us.

One of the great things about Phoenix-area bike routes is that there is always a nearby ride whenever you get the urge. (You know the urge: the need to ride that just keeps building until you can't hold it any longer and you just have to go, even when it's dark.) And if you have to go at night, you might as well CRAP. CRAP stands for Car Resistance Action Party (which really just sounds like a bad excuse to call it a "CRAP Ride") and historically has been run on Tuesday nights. The ride started in 2006 as a social bike crawl from Tempe Town Lake along the Greenbelt to Old Town Scottsdale, where drinks are had. The ride then either returns along the Greenbelt path or cuts back through Scottsdale along other roads. All in all, it's a low-key 12- to 15-mile ride, and you always feel relieved and relaxed afterwards.

Part bike shop, part athletic training center, Faster is most unique because it is the nation's first shop complete with a cycling-specific wind tunnel. Discreetly tucked in the back of the shop, the tunnel is available to cyclists of any type — be they professional triathletes looking to perfect their aero tuck or weekend warriors wanting a good bike fit so their back stops hurting. They can get in the tunnel and see just how much drag quotient they create while trying to blaze to new levels of speed. This means that cyclists can go in, buy a bike, get it sized, and then get tested in a true wind tunnel to make sure they are riding that machine as fast as their physiology can possibly make it go. But the wind tunnel service does not come cheaply. Hourly rates start at $599, and the folks at Faster make no bones about the service being for athletes looking to optimize every bit of their ability and for manufacturers to test their latest developments. Either way, there's some cool science happening in the back of that shop and it's worth a trip to take a peek.

Imagine a place that enables people to commute to work or school by bike, saving loads of cash while improving fitness, by supplying the all-needed showers and safe bike haven while said folks work through the day (or night). One such harbor exists in Tempe, at the city's Transportation Center. Started as an initiative by Tempe to encourage bike commuting, operations of Bicycle Cellar were awarded to Valley cycling stalwarts John Romero and Joseph Perez. They since have turned the room that included little more than a couple of rows of two-tiered racks, lockers, and some showers into a full-fledged, full-service cycling center and retail space. Bicycle Cellar is open seven days with staffed hours from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. Monthly and annual Cellar members have after-hours (4 p.m. to midnight) access to lock up or retreive their bikes and use the facilities, with rates starting at $35 a month for bike storage. Cellar also has a wide array of bikes for rent, and its location near Tempe Town Lake, Papago Park, and ASU means that fast, fun riding is close, no matter which direction you head.

Simple physics dictate that in order to descend, one first must ascend. When it comes to cycling, it's widely known that climbing is not for everyone, although many believe that there is no greater descent than a descent earned. For those who fall into the former category and just go for the downhill bomb, Gnar Gnar Tours is your rescue, providing regular shuttle service up South Mountain every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. So, if you're one of those huckers bounding down National or Geronimo Trails on one of those burly downhiller rigs, a tow to the top with Gnar Gnar may be just what the doctor ordered. Runs up South Mountain cost $5 a trip or $20 for the day, and the shuttle stops at Scorpion Gulch near the park's main gate, the Heard Scout Camp, and Cactus Bikes in Akwatukee. There's also a shuttle service to Black Canyon Trail and up north to Sunrise Ski Resort, for a total heat escape. Bike rentals also are available for those who want to indulge in the torment of South Mountain but are in need of wheels.

Outside magazine recently named it the number-one bike town in America. Bicycling Magazine tabbed it number nine. The Old Pueblo may be regarded as Phoenix's little sibling in terms of Arizona's urban centers, but when it comes to cycling, Tucson has the Valley outclassed across the board. The fact that many pro cyclists and triathletes either live or train there in the off-season is proof positive that Tucson is among the very best cycling destinations in the United States, and it's a mere 90 minutes south of Phoenix. Tucson is home to two full-fledged hors categorie mountains (that's the hardest of the hard) in Mount Lemmon and Kitt Peak. The rolling landscape in and around the Tucson Mountains, including the always leg-straining Gates Pass, beckons roadies for miles of top-level riding.

With about 200 courses to choose from, this was a tough one, but being that we are suckers for magnificent views and thoughtful holes where sheer power doesn't always win the day, Las Sendas is this year's winner. This gorgeous desert course winds through the Usery Mountains in east Mesa nearly 1,800 feet above sea level, but unless your golf is as beautiful as the scenery, forget posting a decent score. No kidding, you can pretty much check out the entire Valley from the elevated 18th hole, a classic double dog-leg par-5 with water in play. The price is fair for such a treat of a course — as low as about $30 in the summers and about $100 in prime time, after the snowbirds have arrived. Often rated one of the top 10 courses in Arizona by real golfers, as if that matters.

Located about a half-hour southwest of Sky Harbor, on the other side of South Mountain, this sweet public course provides both a "true test" of golf and one of the best bangs for the buck this side of Augusta. The fairways generally are wide and forgiving, a must for our many wayward drives, though the second shots on the par-4s invariably are dicey, with strategically placed deep bunkers that protect the greens like sentries. And those greens, while expansive, undulate like belly dancers, which make dreaded three-putts loom ever possible. Though it's a bit of a schlep for many, the price at this Troon facility is much lower than at fellow courses in Scottsdale, an hour or so north. When the much-higher winter rates kick in, usually around November 1, it still costs "only" about $100 for a round. We do appreciate that we didn't lose even one ball over the 18, on our way to a comfortable 94. That, non-golfers, is eminently mediocre.

It may not be the Valley's most demanding course (actually two 18-hole courses, North and South), but this well-maintained facility on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, off Loop 101, is perfect for our scattershot game, especially in the summer, when prices drop from $175 to a cool $40 or so. The North Course has a hole, number 12, dubbed the Red Mountain Gambler, and with good reason — there's no easy way to get there other than to hit two almost perfect shots. That is usually above our pay grade. The perfectly sculpted fairways are wide enough to land an airplane on. And absolutely no worries about blasting the little white ball into someone's home, because there are none out there. After the round, the Wildhorse Grille, which sits inside one of Arizona's sweetest resort hotels, also named Talking Stick, is the perfect place to chill with a cold one and some of the best views around.

Some people dream of traveling the world, buying a sports car or a mansion, or diving into a swimming pool filled to the brim with Cristal should they ever win the lottery. And sure enough, that last option sounds pretty tasty, but we'd still prefer one thing over all these options: a world-class miniature golf course in our backyard, with all the old-school putt-putt features, including a Dutch windmill and a medieval castle and the open mouth of a dragon to chip a shot into. Until then, we'll stick with Castles N' Coasters, which at least has the medieval castle as a course feature and is pretty cool to go to on a non-summer weekday when all the screaming kids are in school and you have all four courses to yourself. Who needs mega-millions and mini-golf in the backyard, or even a backyard, as long as Castles N' Coasters is open for business?

It's time to shoot down some stereotypes: Geeks and nerds of the world long have been encumbered with the reputation of being nothing but a bunch of socially inept and physically unattractive loners who shirk the outside world in favor of hiding in Fortresses of Solitude to revel in their fandom obsessions (see: Cooper, Sheldon, from The Big Bang Theory). And though a certain segment of the population fits this description, it ain't necessarily true for everyone. For proof, look no further than the members of N.E.R.D.S. (short for "Niche Enthusiasts Really Doing Stuff"). The people involved with this local Meetup group help it live up to its acronym by routinely attending geek-friendly events across the Valley. The 600-odd members of the group include representatives from practically every faction in fandom, be they Whovians, Trekkers, Twihards, Browncoats, Gateheads, or Warsies. They flock to any and all events with a niche following, whether it's a gaming tournament, midnight movie premieres, or the annual Renaissance Festival. Unlike the bullies who likely laid into them during their school years, the nerds of N.E.R.D.S. accept everyone. Even if they haven't been outside for years.

We witnessed a melee taking place in the West Valley the other day, and it wasn't pretty. A horde of ferocious, green-skinned Orks carved through a phalanx of soldiers from the Imperial Guard in vicious fashion, waylaying bodies with their gnarly-looking chainswords and leaving few survivors by the end of the skirmish. Thankfully, such slaughter happened within the confines of one of the many combat-filled sessions of tabletop role-playing game Warhammer 40K that frequently take place at Imperial Outpost, and nary a drop of real blood was spilled. Geek-on-geek combat is the norm at this Glendale store, which regularly holds tournaments for many favorite RPGs and collectible card games, ranging from miniature-based titles like Flames of War and BattleTech to Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh! Imperial Outpost is also an absolute gaming paradise that offers more than 200 different titles for sale, each providing various dice-tossing, card-turning, and strategy-plotting antics. Owner Darren Johnson expanded the place within the last year, and it now offers twice as much space for the large green table where battles are held, as well as stocks of supplies for customizing units and figures (such as paint and precision tools), a wealth of accessories and singles, and a seperate in-house card shop called MannaWerx. Feeling game? Then head for the Outpost.

When did bowling — of all things — become trendy?! We like our bowling old-school, thank you very much. We don't need designer couches and mood lighting (unless it's the glow-in-the-dark variety for cosmic bowling). Just give us loud music, cold beer, and clean lanes. You'll find all that and more at Let It Roll. In fact, this bowling alley combines the best of both worlds. It's vintage, right down to the crazy little murals on the wall, but this Sunnyslope stronghold — closed for years when bowling bottomed out — re-emerged as a rehabbed, spit-polished version of its former self. Best of all: Prices are lower here than at Let It Roll's super-trendy counterparts. We can definitely get hip to that.

We haven't broken out the measuring tape, so we'll have to take Octane Raceway's word that it's the largest indoor kart-racing facility in the United States. It certainly looks large. Even the check-in area is big. Two race tracks can hold 50 drivers at a time. Still, time does seem to slow down between races, while we're waiting for our next race time to come up. We have to be patient because we know we'll get our 12 minutes on the track, same as everyone else. Twelve minutes of sheer bliss, screeching around corners and accelerating to ludicrous speed on the straightaways. We can always have a beer in the lounge to ease the wait for the next race. The anticipation is still stressful, though, because the races are competitive. A printout after each match shows your time and where you placed against other drivers. Someday, when we've got some money to blow, we plan to invest it some of it in securing a number-one position at Octane Raceway.

As much as we love the Valley, we wish its founding fathers had seen fit to plant more curves in the roads. To find that long and winding road, it's best to leave town, of course — go to Bartlett Lake or Tortilla Flat. Takes hours to do that, though. We often need something to enjoy just for an hour or so after a slice of pepperoni. And that's where this ride comes in. From Tempe Marketplace we head west on Rio Salado Parkway, a twisty, divided road that's lit well at night. We take that to the Mill Avenue bridge — always an extra pleasure at sunset. From there, up the hill north on Galvin Parkway, which has nice curves, desert views and a perky roundabout. Keeping on 64th Street to Indian School Road we head west to find the only non-linear section on that road between there and Litchfield Park. Our short ride turns north again on 44th Street, with a right on McDonald Drive, which is straight but has roller-coaster dips that sweeten the view of Camelback Mountain. Leave your helmet on in case of photo-radar trucks on this section. When you get to Scottsdale Road, it's back to Straightsville.

With the exception of the two to three hottest months of the summer, Phoenix is a great city for outdoor activity. You can hike Camelback, South Mountain, the Mountain Preserve, or any number of other local trails. But for you runners out there, Phoenix can pose some problems. First, you have to contend with traffic, and then there's the distinct lack of hills to run on. If you're a runner in need of some hills, our favorite place to get away from the monotony of the flat, zero-grade streets is Paradise Valley.

A handful of other runners, and particularly bikers, usually find a place to park in one of the isolated residential areas near Paradise Valley Country Club (try somewhere near 54th Street), then hit the pavement. It's best to head up around Desert Vista and eventually down to Desert Fairways Drive, which will lead you to Camelback Resort and Spa, where you can get a drink of water and use the bathroom if you want.

You'll get your bellyfull of dusty paths, rocks, and cactus on this 15-mile trail in prime Sonoran Desert real estate. Hiking all of National Trail — from one end of the 16,000-acre South Mountain Park to the other — is a Valley adventure not to be underestimated. Don't under-hydrate or hesitate to snack. And bring two cars unless you really want to walk 30 miles. Shuttle it between Pima Canyon on the east end and San Juan Road on the west (we recommend Pima because San Juan Road is sometimes open only for bicycles or pedestrians). Following the trail's a cinch, thanks to the frequent signs. You'll top out at Buena Vista Lookout, at about 2,700 feet, before dropping back down to the foothills. When you can't see the city below, you won't believe you're in one. You can take your mountain bike, but going on foot offers both a workout and a fuller sense of the desert's beauty. Sometimes, all you can hear is the muted crush of your own footsteps – and the yipping of a coyote over the next hill.

Picacho Peak re-opened to the public on September 15, having been closed for the second time in two years for what state officials call the "summer season." Besides the decent camping facilities and yearly Civil War battle re-enactment at the site, Picacho's premier attraction is the spectacular Hunter Trail, which goes up to the precipitous summit. It's a four-mile-round-trip butt-kicker, harkening to the likes of Camelback Mountain and Piestewa Peak. Steel cables and planks help nervous hikers overcome the steepest parts, and the 360-degree view at the top of the surrounding desert and nearby mountains is well worth the effort. Problem is, only the buzzards saw that view during the closure, which ran from May 25 to September 14. Remember all that talk about state parks possibly closing due to the state's money problems? Almost all those other parks got to stay open all year. But the state is apparently hell-bent on doing these seasonal closures at Picacho Peak every year from now on, even though statistics show that thousands of people had been visiting the park during the May-September season. (Only one other park, Oracle State Park near Tucson, is also having part-time closures.) Picacho Peak is an easy, one-hour drive down Interstate 10 — better do it while you can.

It's not just the exercise our friends enjoy on our summer evening slogs up Piestewa Peak; it's the "camaraderie in pain." Indeed, we always suffer going up this one, at least a little. And that's the point. The long, rocky staircase leading to the 2,608-foot summit offers a phenomenal workout because of its stiff grade, ascending about 1,200 feet in 1.2 miles. Indeed, our heart's pounding from the very first steps at the trail head. Get to the top and you can scratch "exercise" from your daily goal list. Do it two or three times a week and you'll be ready for some serious adventure in the mountains — or at least have more energy for pushing a stroller through the mall.

Built in 2009, the trail from the Gateway Access trailhead to the base of Tom's Thumb in the McDowell Mountains in Scottsdale is truly upscale. We're not just talking about the multimillion-dollar trailhead facility off Thompson Peak Parkway, a resort-worthy piece of architecture with shaded breezeways and a neat, rusted-steel low bridge that leads to several trails. "Up" is the essence of this long, steep hike. You'll have gone about six miles and gained about 2,100 feet of elevation if you take the "Rock Climbing Access Route" to the base of the Thumb, a 150-foot-tall, somewhat cylinder-shaped granite prominence. We didn't dawdle, but the trip still took about four hours. You can also turn around at the top of the Tom's Thumb trail, making it a nine-mile round trip. Either, way, make sure you bring enough water and a snack to sustain you. One bonus in the summer: The steep slopes of the mountain's west side enjoy shade well after dawn, making at least half the hike pleasant even when the afternoon is slated for 115 degrees.

Usually, we're with those Echo Canyon snobs who sneer at the wimps coming up the easier Cholla side. But this year, we've rediscovered the pleasures of Cholla Trail on Camelback Mountain — especially the killer scramble up the last fifth of the 1.75-mile hike to the summit. If you enjoy a hands-on hike like we do, this trail will make you smile in between grunts of effort. On Camelback, both the main trails offer terrific vistas, good people-watching, and a heart-pounding workout with a climb of more than 1,000 feet. Most of the Cholla Trail has lesser grades than the Echo Canyon Trail, but that changes near the top. Suddenly, the options for rock-crawling open up, allowing hikers to spread out and choose their own paths. Spray-painted blue dots on the boulders help guide the way, but you don't have to follow them. When a bottleneck of hikers slows your momentum, look for another semi-vertical surface to jump on. A committed scrambler can find numerous, alternate paths up that require the use of handholds, yet aren't exposed enough to necessitate breaking out a climbing rope. Since the mountain is centrally located, you'll still have plenty of day left after all that monkeying around.

At the end of a dirt road in South Mountain's Pima Canyon Entrance, tucked away in a quiet desert arroyo full of mesquite and cactus, you'll find a collection of boulders with names. These are the gems of South Mountain bouldering, a type of low-vertical climbing activity that usually involves rock shoes and a chalk bag but no rope. On nice days, you're likely to find climbers scampering around the Entrance, Africa and World boulders, or the "Amphitheater."

Without a state land permit, you may get harassed and ticketed by The Man on this crag. (If you want to keep it legit, call 602-542-2119 for permit info.) Either way, you'll enjoy some of the Valley's finest climbing if you head out to Little Granite Mountain in Scottsdale.

Rock climbing is a perishable skill. Thankfully, each time we find ourselves in too pathetic a state, we have the Phoenix Rock Gym to help with the necessary repairs. The two bouldering areas, including an upstairs room with sharply overhanging walls, are perfect for muscle-building and fingertip-hardening. Once we get back in shape, we usually can then find a partner who'll be willing to belay us on the 30-foot faces of the gym's main walls. Despite its friendly ambiance, the Valley's oldest rock gym has a hard side — we've ripped skin there, tweaked a limb on the lead wall, and worked our forearms until our hands could barely close. But it's all good. For inspiration, we look to the teens and tweens of Team Thrashers, the competitive climbing outfit that trains at the PRG under the tutelage of coach Jeremy Cox. Nothing motivates us to work out harder than watching a kid do 30 pull-ups without breaking a sweat.

There are plenty of spots around the Valley that can fulfill the urge to hit a few baseballs. There are only a few places where you can feed your inner big-leaguer at an indoor facility and face curveballs, 85 mph fastballs, a delivery that simulates a human arm angle, or get instruction from former pros. You can get even more serious with a membership, allotting yourself time every day to perfect your swing. From Little League-age on up, The Cages is where players go to hit. Or you can keep hacking at the crap that comes out of the antique pitching machines that litter the outdoor batting cages around the Valley. There are a couple of extra alleys inside The Cages, so pitchers are welcome too.

Old Hohokam Stadium, Phoenix Municipal Stadium, and Scottsdale Stadium stand as the last of the original Cactus League stadiums. The spring homes to 15 of the major leagues' teams have turned into sprawling multi-field complexes for a couple of teams to share. Character and warmth of the intimate training fields have been stripped so that fans can sit in pristine, generic stadiums at ticket prices nearing those sold during those teams' regular season. Yet one intimate fan experience still beckons, in the West Valley.

For most professional wrestlers, few things are as thrilling as hearing the roar of the crowd as they compete in the ring. In rasslin' parlance, it's called a "pop," and it can be addictive. Especially the massive rush of performing for tens of thousands of fans at televised extravaganzas as a superstar for World Wrestling Entertainment (a.k.a. the big leagues). Cheers from adoring WWE crowds can be so heady that many of the federation's ex-superstars attempt to recapture these glory days in front of much smaller crowds at various independent promotions across the country, if only to hear their names getting screamed once again. Here in the Valley, that means working events put on by the (ironically named) locally fed Future Stars of Wrestling, which frequently features a few erstwhile WWE competitors. Racy performers from the ultra-suggestive "Attitude Era" of the '90s, like "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn and Sean Morley (once known as porn-actor-turned-wrestler Val Venis) have previously faced off against FSW's roster of up-and-coming grapplers like Tyson Tyler and Willie Mack during biweekly Adrenaline Rush events at the Celebrity Theatre and other Valley venues. Other onetime WWE employees, including Johnny "The Bull" Stromboli and the villainous Iranian-born Shawn Daivari, also compete. Plus, they even get some television time once again via FSW's weekly television show, which airs Saturday nights at 11 p.m. on Channel 13. It's nowhere as spectacular as WrestleMania, but at least they're still getting cheered.

We gotta go with the Gorilla. We're not expecting much else to be good about the Phoenix Suns this year, but the Gorilla will remain a crowd-pleaser with his death-defying leaps, his goofy antics, and his public appearances around the world on behalf of various worthy causes. According to the Suns' website, he attended Fur-man University and Hairy Truman High School in Mon-key West, Florida, and has been a pro for 27 years (which translates to 59 gorilla years).

Being a fan of the Arizona Diamondbacks the past few seasons is akin to being on a roller coaster. In 2009 and 2010, the team found itself dwelling in the dank depths of the National League West standings. Then, the absolutely unthinkable happened last year, when skipper Kirk Gibson took Arizona from worst to first, leading them all the way to an unlikely playoff run. This year, however, they have struggled off and on. While fair-weather types have stayed away from Chase Field, Cindy McBride hasn't abandoned her "Boys in Sedona Red." In fact, the 66-year-old Tempe dental assistant has never missed a home game in more than a decade, be it a good season or bad. She's arguably the team's most diehard fan and definitely its most colorful supporter. Starting in 2002, McBribe began bringing homemade flags to every single contest at the Chase (as well as the occasional road game), which she waves energetically from her seat in the nosebleeds of the upper deck. Created in her spare time, each one utilizes the team's colors and is designed with unique patterns for specific players. Due to her tendency to shuffle about in the stands and fly flags when the D-backs are behind, announcers originally dubbed her "Dancing Granny" or "Rally Sally." These days, McBride is known as just "The Flag Lady" and has been waving her pennants extra-hard, if only to encourage the Diamondbacks to rally toward another NL playoff spot.

A couple of years ago, the folks at Channel 3 pulled a major boner by running an erroneous headline on their website stating that legendary longtime Phoenix Suns radio announcer Al McCoy was hanging up his microphone and retiring. Much to the relief of Planet Orange fans everywhere (ourselves included), it thankfully turned out to be completely false. Because, honestly, we can't imagine Phoenix taking to the court without McCoy's distinctive voice describing all the action from buzzer to buzzer. Having called Suns games for more than four decades, the former Iowa farm boy is as much a part of the team as anyone on the current roster. His signature catchphrases (like "Shazam!" after the Suns make a three-pointer or "Heartbreak Hotel" after a missed shot) are the stuff of legend, as are the humorous nicknames given to players (such as Steve Nash's becoming the "Nash Rambler.") McCoy's set to turn 80 next year, but he hasn't shown any inkling of quitting. Here's hoping the Suns finally get their shizzle together to win an NBA championship before he retires. We're sure Al's as eager to call that moment as we are to hear it.

Before Dave Tippett hit town, we thought ice hockey had two halves and four quarters, just like basketball and football. The Phoenix Coyotes head coach has brought hockey intelligence to this desert metropolis. Like they say, winning puts fannies in the seats, and it made us learn not only that there are three periods in a hockey game, but also that hockey is a fast-paced, thrill-a-minute sport that makes even the National Basketball Association pale by comparison.

Sure, the Coyotes had star forward Shane Doan and phenomenal goalie Mike Smith, but without Tippett, the Coyotes never would have pulled off their incredible 2011-12 season, in which they lost in the Western Conference finals to the eventual Stanley Cup-champion Los Angeles Kings in five games. Before that even happened, with Tippett pulling the strings, the Yotes won their first-ever Pacific Division title with a 42-27-13 record. They went on to smash the heralded Chicago Blackhawks in six games for the franchise's first playoff series win in 25 years (they were the Winnipeg Jets before moving to the Valley in 1996). After that, they prevailed over the Nashville Predators in five games, giving them the most playoff wins in their NHL history.

And though Tippett never laced up a pair of skates, he was the chess master who made it happen. Let's pray now that the Yotes' financial problems can be solved and Tippett and the Yotes can remain here for good. We need a good team in Sand Land — our mental health demands it.

Georganne Moline may have been the happiest fifth-place finisher in the history of the Summer Olympics. And why shouldn't the Thunderbird High School and University of Arizona hurdler have been beaming? In the finals of the 400-meter hurdles in the London Olympics, she finished in a personal-best time of 52.92 seconds. There wasn't much separating her from the gold medal winner of the event, Russia's Natalya Antyukh — whose time was 52.70 — except age: Antyukh is 31 and Moline is 22.

We never thought we'd name a hockey player best athlete in the Valley. Most sports fans around here barely knew the Phoenix Coyotes existed until their incredible run in the NHL's Western Conference playoffs last season. They lost to the Los Angeles Kings in the conference finals, but Shane Doan was a force to be reckoned with through the team's stellar season, in which they went 42-27-13. A 17-year veteran with the Winnipeg Jets-turned-Coyotes, the Yotes captain scored 50 points (22 goals and 28 assists) and his first NHL hat-trick (three goals in a game) during the season. In the playoffs, he scored nine points to lead the Coyotes to their first-ever playoff victories against Chicago and Nashville. Playing for Team Canada internationally, Doan has won two gold medals in world championships and was a member of Canada's Olympic team.

An Alberta native, Doan lives in Phoenix now. But he has entered into free agency, and there are rumors that, because of turmoil over ownership of the Glendale-based franchise, he may move on. Whether he stays or goes, he was by far our best — and winningest — athlete this year.

We saw Muhammad Ali in Phoenix earlier this year, and he looked good for a man who has fought Parkinson's disease for decades. But when he was helped to his feet at the Summer Olympics in London recently as a titular bearer of the Olympic flag, we were struck with how weak the former mightiest athlete on the planet has become.

We've got a lot of crazy right-wingers in Arizona. You know who you are, Joe Arpaio, Russell Pearce, Jan Brewer, Jon Kyl, Ben Quayle. In the sports world, George W. Bush-loving hurler Curt Schilling used to pitch for the Arizona Diamondbacks. So it's refreshing to have a wanna-be politician (he once said he planned to run for governor of his home state of Alabama) and former big-time athlete in our midst who voted for Barack Obama. To boot, this guy appears on national sports broadcasts (he's a regular on TNT) and extols Arizona as a great place to live. Which it is, except for the aforementioned Tea Party-smooching yahoos who are, in all but one case, still representing us in government.

Professional sports championships are a rare commodity in Arizona. So much so that we not only tend to go batty whenever a team gets achingly close to grasping that elusive brass ring (read: the Phoenix Coyotes' unlikely playoff run this year) but also cherish the squads who succeed and bring home a world title trophy, like the Diamondbacks' titanic upset of the dreaded New York Yankees 11 years ago. This extends to the local fringe sports teams, who also have a special place in our hearts, even if their title-winning efforts are largely ignored. For instance, the Arizona Rampage — the Valley's semi-pro dodgeball squad — won the National Dodgeball League's open-division world championships in 2010 but never got a tickertape parade down Central Avenue. And by all rights, they should've, considering how they staged a real-life version of the 2004 comedy film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and defeated teams from around the globe to earn the title. Winning without recognition is just one of many pitfalls of competing in a semi-pro league, as is the fact that they need car washes and other fundraisers to help pay their way to tournaments. And although the Rampage came up short defending their title at last year's world championships, team captain Bill Fair promises a return to glory in 2012. Even if most local sports fans couldn't care less, we'll still cheer them on.

We loved the 2012 Summer Olympics — mainly because we found out about so many incredible athletes in our midst. Athletes who compete in off-the-radar sports like women's weightlifting. We're talking here about Mesa's Sarah Robles, who's not going to ring up the endorsement deals of beautiful gymnast Gabby Douglas but who's distinctively the strongest woman in America. Robles was featured on an Olympic broadcast as the other kind of Olympian — the kind who labors in obscurity and had to scrounge up the money to make it to London.

It's hard to imagine a woman officiating the behemoths in the National Football League. But it was hard to believe that a woman would ever officiate the freakishly tall lurches in the National Basketball Association. That was before Violet Palmer started acquitting herself well as an NBA referee in 1997. Now comes Tempe's Shannon Eastin, who's admitted she's nervous about her new role in the previously all-male world of NFL referees, but who's at the same time excited about the challenge. She got her chance as a replacement official employed by the league while a labor dispute festered with regular refs. Point being, nobody knows how long her gig will last, but like Palmer before her, she has lots of experience. Eastin's been calling BS on football players' antics for 16 years as an official, a lot of that time at the college level in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Diana Taurasi is the best basketball player here. Forget about anybody currently on the Phoenix Suns roster; the Phoenix Mercury's Taurasi has surpassed everybody currently playing hoops in this city. We'll also forget about Taurasi's two WNBA titles, that she led the league in scoring in 2011 for the fourth-straight season, and her three national championships as a University of Connecticut Husky.

Have you seen that thing?! It's getting so large that in post-game interviews, we expect TNT's Craig Sager to ask James Harden what the key to the game was — and then ask his beard. He started sporting facial hair that would've made the most hirsute Al-Qaeda thug jealous while still at Arizona State University.

Okay, we're sick and tired of hearing what a nice guy Steve Nash is! Yeah, he's in the twilight of his brilliant NBA career and, yeah, he wanted to go to a potential championship team, and the Phoenix Suns sure ain't gonna be that in our lifetime. But, Steve, the Los Angeles Lakers! The Lakers of Kobe Bryant and Metta World Peace (the nutjob formerly known as Ron Artest), the Lakers that have been a thorn in the Suns' side since for as long as we can remember, the Yankees of professional basketball! Look, we could've understood your going back to your Canuck homeland — why not the Toronto Raptors, where we never would hear about you again? Well, you'd be on TV twice a year playing the Suns, but we wouldn't watch. Or what about your summertime home of New York City, also in the Eastern Conference. We'd only possibly have to look at your mop-head twice a season there, too.

Mike Smith's a big, lanky guy for a goalie — 6-feet-4, 220. The Canadian's wingspan makes him hard to score on, and this was a major reason the Phoenix Coyotes made it to the NHL's Western Conference finals last season. Many believe Smith was the main reason, Coach Dave Tippett and forward Shane Doan aside. Because of his 2.21 "goals-against" average and his .930 save percentage last season, he should have been a shoo-in to win the Vezina Trophy for best goalie, but he wasn't even nominated. This is reminiscent of the longstanding bias against this desert franchise; NHL general managers decide this honor. The Valley repeatedly is derided as the blazing Siberia of NHL hockey. Which means that nobody takes Phoenix that seriously, even in a Pacific Division-title year. Another reason Smith wasn't taken seriously, despite his phenomenal season, was that he came out of nowhere. The season before, he was warming the bench as a backup for the Tampa Bay Lightning. But goalies often appear out of the mist at about Smith's age, 30. It takes them a long time to learn their craft. What Mike must do now is have a second star-studded year so that he moves to the top of the goalie pack.

We feel sorry for Larry Fitzgerald — which is hard. Fitzgerald is considered the best wide receiver in the National Football League, he's been a pro for eight seasons, and already he ranks fourth all-time in receiving yards per game; he's been selected for the Pro Bowl six times, and he signed an eight-year, $120 million contract extension in 2011. No, it's not because he continues to wear dreadlocks (maybe they're hair extensions) after cooler celebrities have abandoned them as passé. It's because, since the famed Kurt Warner retired, Fitzgerald has been left to run around on the football field with nobody at quarterback who can consistently throw him the pigskin.

John Skelton is the best quarterback in Phoenix. Which, granted, ain't saying much. Problem being that the Arizona Cardinals have to put somebody under center, and there's no reason to believe — based on this preseason, his limited performance with Arizona last season, or even his time with the Philadelphia Eagles — that much-touted Kevin Kolb can power the team. The Cardinals must start John Skelton, who would be a great backup behind somebody like, um, Peyton Manning, who spurned Arizona for the Denver Broncos because he's always loved some guy named John Elway, who runs the Denver franchise.

It's been a while since any Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher's been in the National League Cy Young discussion. As Diamondbacks, Brandon Webb won the best-pitcher trophy in 2006, and Randy Johnson won it four years straight from from 1999 to 2002. Now comes slow-talking, happy-go-lucky, Louisiana left-hander Wade Miley, Arizona's only contribution to this year's NL All-Star team. Miley's unlikely to win. He's a rookie. The only rookie to ever win the Cy Young was Fernando Valenzuela in 1981, and nobody really knew how old Fernando was (some joked that he was 30-something before he reached the majors from deep in Mexico). Valenzuela also won the NL Rookie of the Year award in '81, and guess what? Miley's in that discussion, too.

J.J. Putz is no putz. The name is pronounced Puts (as in he puts away hitters), thank you very much! And you'd think you wouldn't want to mix that up if you were interviewing him after a Diamondbacks game. Putz is a giant at 6-feet-5, 250 pounds, with that imposing glare from the pitcher's mound. A guy that big throwing that fast terrifies batters: His fastball doesn't hit the upper 90s much anymore, but it still clocks 94 miles per hour routinely.

Miguel Montero has one of the hardest jobs in sports, certainly the hardest on a baseball team — catcher. Not only must he direct the pitcher, which includes a professional intimacy with each hurler that probably makes his family jealous, and help oversee the position players, he must do it wearing a mask and squatting for the better part of two hours a game. From that position, he must leap up to catch foul balls with a mitt shaped like a pancake and throw out speedy runners trying to steal — something that Montero has learned to do extremely well. These are his defensive duties. In Montero's case, he's also a solid, middle-of-the-order hitter with a .282 batting average, 13 home runs, and 66 runs batted in. At 29, all-arounders like him are extremely hard to find — which is why it didn't surprise us when he beaome the highest-paid player on Arizona's roster at about $60 million over the next five years. If the Diamondbacks manage to contend in the off-season, it will be because of his on-field management and grace under pressure.

Paul Goldschmidt only is in his second season as a major-leaguer — and we usually don't award our coveted Best All-Around plaque to such a newbie. But Goldschmidt is becoming the consummate player. He hits lots of home runs and doubles (16 and 34 respectively), he's fleet of foot for a 6-feet-3, 230-pounder, makes stellar defensive plays at first base — and studies game film hours a day to prepare for pitchers the D-backs are slated to face. It's paid off this season, as Goldschmidt has been one of a few Valley of the Sun bright spots in local sports. We watched him play the superb Washington Nationals this season when he did something big guys never do: After reaching first base on an error, he made it to second rather than settling for the easy one-bagger. Then, before the pitcher could deliver the next pitch, the behemoth stole third (he knew the pitcher's delivery habits from his intense preparation), rattling the catcher so much that he threw the ball over the third baseman's head into left field. Goldschmidt scampered home to the adulation of his manager and teammates. But the dude has been doing it all season: The steal described was his 11th. Did we mention that he's also had one of the two or three best batting averages on the team all season? Power, average, steals, defense, smarts — sign the dude to a rich, long-term contract!

The rub on Jason Kubel, acquired this season from the Minnesota Twins, is that he strikes out a lot — a disease that has plagued sluggers who work the left side of the field for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Remember traded-away D-backs third baseman Mark Reynolds, who on and off led the majors in striking out. This season, left-fielder Kubel has struck out 116 times, which has put him among the top 10 whiffers in the big leagues.

When trade talks began about Diamondbacks right fielder Justin Upton this season, we hoped the team would send him packing. You know, get something/someone valuable in return for him, unlike local teams traditionally haven't done here with floundering "superstars." (Does the name Amar'e Stoudemire come to mind?) But, of course, the D-backs held on to their former top draft choice. And he has performed better, but not to the point of becoming the perennial All-Star power hitter they've paid through the nose for — he signed a six-year, $51.25 million contract two years ago. When he came to the majors in 2009, he had a .300 average. He's never achieved that since, batting .273, .289, and so far this season .272. But what's disappointing for this long-ball hitter by trade are his home run and runs-batted-in totals in 2012. He hit 31 home runs last season, with 88 RBI, and seemed finally to be living up to his heralded potential. This year he's hit nine homers and has a measly (for a slugger) 45 RBI. He's letting Jason Kubel-come-lately in the Snakes' lineup eclipse him. Naturally, Upton's got the huge contract that comes with major talent, but he hasn't played like an $8.54-million-a-year man this summer.

Well, eccentric is a mild description of the antics that Trevor Bauer displayed during his brief sojourn with the Diamondbacks before getting plopped back in the minors this season. His teammates were mostly mum about the highly touted rookie pitcher, except that the eyebrows of a few were raised to hairline level. The disdain reached a crescendo when Bauer shook off veteran catcher Miguel Montero calls (All-Star pitchers defer to catchers of Montero's expertise), which resulted in Bauer's and the D-backs' getting bombed. Bauer's stubborn, and his weird ways have paid off for him during a stellar minor league stint: Last summer in the minors, he struck out a mind-blowing 43 batters in 26 innings. At the bottom of it, Bauer insists on throwing what he considers his best pitches at all times, rather than pitching around troublesome hitters, the conventional MO for big league hurlers. Problems being: MLB hitters eventually figure out pitches, no matter how good they are, and blast them — which is why every pitch isn't aimed for the strike zone.

Andre Ethier grew up near what is now Chase Field and was a huge Diamondbacks fan (he went on to play at ASU under legendary Coach Pat Murphy) — which makes it all the more ironic that he and his Dodgers have been such a bane to our boys of summer. Especially this year. The Dodgers keep getting better, and the D-backs keep staying mediocre — even though several experts predicted that they would be in the World Series this year. Part of the reason the Dodgers are rising now after a big slump is that outfielders Ethier and Matt Kemp have returned to the lineup from injuries. Ethier has come back from a left oblique muscle strain. This season, he hasn't matched his 2011 performance of a Gold Glove award and hitting in 23 straight games, breaking former Dodgers and Yankees manager Joe Torre's record as a player. But the intense Ethier has added spice to the Dodgers' powerful lineup in his cleanup role. In his abbreviated season, he leads current Dodgers in hitting with a .285 batting average (lifetime in the majors .290) and in runs batted in (65) — with 11 home runs. If the Dodgers make it to the World Series, the half-Mexican-American Phoenix native (he spends winters at his Chandler ranch) will be a major reason why.

What Jared Dudley does for the Phoenix Suns doesn't show up on the stat sheet. Dudley will never be a Hall of Famer, but he's essential to Coach Alvin Gentry's squad if it has any hope of pulling itself up by its sneaker strings to mediocrity this season. To say the Suns are in a rebuilding mode is like saying New Orleans was in a rebuilding mode after Hurricane Katrina. With the recent departures of Steve Nash and Grant Hill, we've barely heard of most of the roster. But the smiley Dudley is back for his third full season, having come over in a trade from the Charlotte Bobcats with Jason Richardson. Though Dudley was considered just the other guy in the trade, his on-court hustle off the bench made him vital to the Suns' offensive plan, and Richardson was traded away. And it's not that he's only a tenacious defender; Dudley can score and rebound. He just can't jump very high for a guy who's 6-feet-7; he rarely dunks. (He was a fat kid who slimmed down and made it to the millionaire world of NBA millionaires — the guy's an inspiration to us all.) Last season, J-Dud averaged 13 points and five rebounds a game in an average of just 31 minutes of playing time. The forward's an upbeat journeyman who'll be a locker-room leader this season with that host of young players. And he's a lock to be one of a couple of bright spots we'll enjoy watching as the Suns predictably blow.

We know the kid can play! In fact, when the Phoenix Suns traded him to the Houston Rockets in 2011, he was supposed to be the successor to ball-handling wizard Steve Nash. The trade boggled the mind because, while a little streaky at first, Dragic turned in some performances that made even perennial All-Star point guard Nash envious. We'll never forget his literally taking the team on his skinny shoulders in game three of the 2010 Western Conference semifinals. The lightning-fast Slovenian scored 23 of his 26 points in the final period to lead the Suns to a 110-96 victory over the San Antonio Spurs. In what then-teammate Grant Hill called the best fourth-quarter performance he'd ever witnessed in a playoff game, Dragic's scoring burst included five of five three-pointers to bring Phoenix back from an 18-point deficit. But the main thing we love are his passing skills. He learned from the master, Nash, and it showed last season with the Rockets, where he averaged 5.3 assists per game. The good news is, he's back in Phoenix, where he will anchor a mostly underwhelming Suns lineup.

Into 3D printing, radio, gaming, augmented humanity, pomo fiber arts, musical tech, or just making and inventing in general? HeatSync is a community-supported space where folks of those bents can play, demo, craft, swap ideas, knuckle down on projects, hack, gossip, or just observe. Along with the power of multiple brains, visiting HeatSync Labs gives you an opportunity to use equipment — like lasers, welders, oscilloscopes, and the Cupcake printer — that can be tough for individuals to purchase and maintain. Check out the online discussion boards and events calendar for details, and plan some face time. See a video of HeatSync Labs.

When video-gaming goes from casual hobby to serious business, diehard gamers look for every advantage to take down their virtual enemies. Enter Evil Controllers. The online gaming distributor caters to a worldwide customer base of xBox and PlayStation enthusiasts by building custom video game controllers that meet the button, thumbstick, and trigger requirements of individual players.

Evil genius Adam Coe founded the Tempe company at age 19 in the Mark Zuckerberg fashion of building and distributing controllers from his dorm room at the University of Arizona. As demand for a once-nonexistent market multiplied, Coe abandoned his academic distractions to pursue his business efforts full time, with the help of his mom and older brother. Four years later, the words "evil controllers" might as well be considered a cheat code, as far as disadvantaged gamers are concerned.

Delivering one-of-a-kind products through an online platform that puts their competitors to shame, Evil Controllers lets customers construct their designs from scratch using the website's Controller Creator. Finished dream devices can even be shared on social networks so friends and family know exactly what to get you for the holidays. It's just one of the many features Evil Controllers offers to stay ahead of the game in the business world.

This is also one of the few companies that delves into the market of accessible controllers. Working alongside the Able Gamers Foundation, Adam Coe connects individually with disabled gamers to develop the right controller for each one's range of motion. Turns out, Evil Controllers is not so evil after all. See a slideshow here.

The Secret Service was less than thrilled, but how do you keep POTUS from playing with a big air-powered PVC gun at the White House Science Fair? At the February event, President Obama found 14-year-old Joe Hudy's extreme marshmallow cannon, which fires relatively harmless s'more stuffing up to 176 feet, as fascinating as we do. The Phoenix teen is no one-trick pony; he holds two editors' choice awards from Maker Faire and has launched a small business selling one of his other inventions, a kit to make a 3x3x3 LED Cube Arduino Shield. Your computer makes it light up, and that's all we know. We might stick with the candy gun.

Of all the animals that might look out of place in the cactus-ridden sauna of the Sonoran Desert, penguins arguably rank first. Fragile-looking, flightless waterbirds in the land of rattlesnakes, dust storms, and a heat wave that begins each spring and stretches to fall — it's just plain wrong. The first time we saw the collection of black-footed penguins at World Wildlife Zoo, it was in May — on Mother's Day, to be precise. A small waddle of the birds gathered in the only patch of shade in their rocky pen, which was about eight square feet and shrinking as the sun went higher. It was clear that the birds would soon have to make a choice between swimming in their cold pool, going inside to their air-conditioned apartment, or roasting in the sun like roadkill. Sad.

Take the terror out of spotting a black bear alone in the wilderness and view it like we do — from inside the security of our own vehicle.

Although it's been dead since the end of the Cretaceous period, the towering Tyrannosaurus bataar inside the Arizona Museum of Natural History is still terrorizing smaller creatures, albeit of the Homo sapiens variety, with its frightening teeth, menacing presence, and roaring countenance. Toddlers sometimes skitter away from its petrified skeleton, despite the fact it hasn't moved on its own for more than 80 million years. Theropods like this fearsome killing machine are just one of more than a dozen fossilized bones on display in Dinosaur Hall, the museum's main attraction. Other ancient bones include those of the cow-like camarasaurus, the duck-billed iguanodon, and numerous examples of triceratops. Meanwhile, models of pterosaurs and pteranodons hang from the ceiling over in the Rulers of the Prehistoric Skies room. And Dinosaur Mountain, a three-story re-creation of a Triassic peak, is populated by growling animatronic versions of a pentaceratops, stegosaurus, and other scaly relics. It's like Mesa's own version of Jurassic Park, except without the deadly dangers of dinos running amok.

Phoenix might not have a lot of things, like cool ocean breezes or soaring forests, but one thing we do have? Snakes and other reptiles. We're like a herpetological all-you-can-eat buffet.

Allow us to nip your first question right in the bud: No, the pair of Komodo dragons currently residing at the Phoenix Zoo are not related to the winged serpent of legend in any way. Nor do they breathe fire, although their bite is considered to be quite toxic. Sadly, the only commonality (other than the whole scales thing) is that, as a protected species, the Komodo dragon possibly could wind up being just as invisible as the mythical beasties. There are about 50 in captivity around the globe, which is probably one of the reasons Valley residents have turned out in droves to catch a glimpse at the bulky Indonesian creatures, who measure around seven feet long and are considered the largest lizards in the world. Well, they usually only see Ivan, the male, who's more social and often is found sunning himself on a rock in his half of their habitat located along the Tropics Trail. Gaia, his sister, is more of a recluse, preferring to hang out in the shade of her sleeping area. And though Komodos can be vicious — and reportedly have feasted on humans — Ivan seemed relatively docile, merely gazing at us through the Plexiglas while calmly darting his tongue out. Then again, they might've been sizing us up for a potential snack.

About 50,000 years ago, a chunk of rock the size of several freight-train engines fell from the sky near what is now Winslow, hitting the ground with a blast not unlike that of a nuclear bomb. In just 10 seconds, the explosion forged Meteor Crater, which is 4,000 feet across. That's kind of scary to contemplate. But also really nifty. We found the drive out to Meteor Crater well worth the long straightaway of Interstate 40, since we linked up the trip with visits to the Petrified National Forest and Homolovi State Park. But Meteor Crater, as far as holes in the ground go, is memorable — especially the intense wind on the crater's rim. The museum at the visitor's center is top-notch for a facility of its size, with dinosaur bones and a meteor video game that helps kids learn how easy it would be for their world to be destroyed by space rocks. We're just hoping that meteors don't strike twice in the same state.

You're going to need to pass a killer job application to see Arizona artist James Turrell's longest-running project. Turrell is an internationally acclaimed artist who works with natural and man-made light and environments to create ever-changing installations. His pieces have been featured in museums around the world, and since the '70s, he's been working on his biggest installation — inside an extinct, 400,000-year-old volcanic crater in northern Arizona.

There are a lot ultramodern things afoot (Air Traffic Control Simulator Lab, anyone?) at Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus, a 600-acre offshoot campus in southeast Mesa. The many professional and technical programs that characterize the Poly campus include a golf-management major with students to whom a golden golf swing means just as much as a great GPA. At the high-tech Ping Swing Analysis Lab, students can analyze their swing and harness the power of science to improve their skills. The lab, named after Phoenix-based golf equipment manufacturer Ping, resulted from a donation by the owners of Ping, the Solheim family. Ping also offers free tours of its north Phoenix factory and free walk-in fittings with their factory-trained professional club fitters.

Pressure has a way of bringing out the best in people. Take Scottsdale Community College engineering students Trung Dinh and Dmitri Mihailov, for instance, whose abilities to work under the gun helped them reign supreme at this year's Avnet Tech Games. The pair had five hours to design, assemble, and program a wheeled robot out of parts harvested from a Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 set and race it through a complex obstacle course faster than their opponents. Dinh and Mihailov succeeded, beating out a half-dozen teams from other post-secondary schools and winning $2,000 for school. Teaching college students from tech-minded fields how to thrive under pressure and utilize their skills in real-life situations are the goals of the games, which are thrown annually at the University of Advancing Technology and award scholarship money as prizes. Seven different challenges are staged, including such trying tasks as constructing and tweaking a PC to have the fastest processing speed possible, building a solar-powered water pump from scratch, and assembling a data network using patch cables. (Virtual competitions involving crafting cell phone apps and other digital-oriented contests are held online and are open to students across the country.) Recruiters from Microsoft, Cisco, and other tech firms also attend, which adds to the intense atmosphere, because no one wants to pull an epic fail in front of a future employer. Luckily, no one's ever shorted out any electronics with flop sweat.

Taking a girl out to a fancy dinner doesn't mean you're going to make it to home base, and buying a lottery ticket doesn't mean you're guaranteed to win millions, but if there is one thing out there that's a sure win — even if your prize is just a couple of tasty fish — is fishing on a fish farm.

For several weeks in both the spring and fall, make a detour off the trails at the Desert Botanical Garden and find yourself surrounded by butterflies. In fall, the assortment is rather limited, but still stunning, as you'll hang with black and orange monarchs. Spring brings more color. Either way, the humid, airy Marshall Butterfly Pavilion is paradise for both people and butterflies. When you leave, a garden volunteer will check you for hitchhikers.