From the makers of the Chandler and Gilbert skate parks comes what Valley skaters desperately need: a nice, clean, cool indoor place to skateboard. This isn't a rink where you do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around. It's a 21,000-square-foot state-of-the-art training site offering a street plaza, vertical ramps, bowls, decks, rails -- all the cool features at parks across the country that have been designed by SDG. This park also offers lessons and camps and hosts special events. Unlike its outdoor counterparts, it has an admission fee and designated open skating times. But, hey, that keeps the crowds down. And you can consider it insurance against heat exhaustion and lightning strikes during the desert's cruelest skating months.

As a rule, we snicker at anything resembling a religious experience -- particularly one that's being used as the center of a friend's birthday celebration. But when another guest insisted, "Oh, be a good sport," we rolled our eyes and went to the unusual fete -- at a labyrinth located behind the Franciscan Renewal Center.

It wasn't so bad. Peaceful, actually. Not that walking a labyrinth will change your life -- at least not in our book. Still, we did find it invigorating, in spite of our cynical selves. The act of walking a labyrinth is an ancient one, practiced by people for centuries. It is not a maze; there is no way to get lost. The journey of twists and turns through the labyrinth is thought to represent the journey through life. Some people say they find their god; others believe the act can heal.

This particular labyrinth, located in a quiet patch of desert at the foot of Mummy Mountain, is constructed of river rocks; it is roughly the size of a small residential swimming pool. Each of the nine guests in our party took turns slowly walking between the rocks, winding around and around and ending up in the middle, where folks have left trinkets and notes scrawled on scraps of paper and business cards, à la Jerusalem's Wailing Wall. Then back again.

Maybe it was the beautiful, almost-spring day, maybe the company, maybe the labyrinth itself, but we felt happy and peaceful upon completing our short journey, which lasted no more than five minutes, round-trip. We didn't snicker once.

Around the outside of the labyrinth, people have used rocks to leave their own messages: "Love" -- "Peace" -- "Why not?"

Why not, indeed.

We are duffers, every last one of us, and, as such, we deeply appreciate what club pros inevitably tell the media about their respective courses: "It's a tough-but-fair test of golf." We go for the fair part, which is why we love Encanto, a little gem of a track tucked away a few miles north of the State Capitol. We especially like the ninth hole, a longish par-4 with a fenced-in driving range to the left and a residential neighborhood to the right. Sand traps guard the hole on each side, and if you hit over the green, Godspeed to you. But if you do hit the little white ball long and straight twice (yeah, sure), you've got a chance for a par, depending on the pin placement. Every now and again, the evil groundskeeper will stick the hole on a ridge, where an ill-conceived stroke can lead to a four-putt. Now that's one place we've all been.

The fastest way to lose weight is to sweat it out in 100-plus-degree weather, while bouncing up and down on hot asphalt. Torture? Yes, but you can psych yourself out if you run fast and let yourself be distracted by the view on the scenic incline of the Dreamy Draw Recreation Area. The mile-and-a-half bike path winds through shaded areas dotted with boulders where you can stop to catch your breath. Heat stroke and dehydration aren't concerns: Drinking fountains appear at frequent intervals. Dreamy Draw, open from 5 a.m. 'til 10 every night, is your shortest and most visually pleasing route to cardiovascular success.

Even if you're not impressed by gunshot saguaros and sweeping desert vistas, surely you have to be impressed by a 7,000-pound sport utility vehicle, right?

Jesse Wade hopes so. Wade has been giving off-road tours of Tonto National Forest for 10 years and finds that Grand Canyon-eschewing tourists are mighty impressed with his Hummer-handling ability. His four-hour tours cost $90 per person and include Wade's sometimes manic yet highly educational narration on desert plants, desert animals and the Valley's ongoing environmental crisis.

It's so hard to meet new friends, especially when you're hairy as a bear, with a wet nose and a predilection for sniffing butts. What's a dog to do?

Thank goodness for Chaparral Park, with its fenced, 1.3 acres of lush grass, trees and, on any given day, as many as 150 pets with people. Here's where our pampered pooches come to mix, mingle and, yes, sniff butts, with fellow canines enjoying a taste of off-leash freedom. The park's open until 9 p.m. daily, and it's usually packed around 7:30 p.m. Our pup's been socialized, so he knows how to behave with his new buds (no fighting, no biting).

And if we're lucky, we just might find a new friend of our own, too. Someone who loves pets as much as we do -- but no butt sniffers need apply.

We completely understand why our dog loves to ride in the car with his head out the window. Ears a-flappin', tongue a-lollin', nose a-sniffin'.

While the helmet law keeps our ears from flapping, nothing lets us experience all the sounds, textures and smells of our Sonoran landscape better than a motorcycle ride along a desert road.

And nothing brings the earth closer to us than a ride that takes us north on Pima Road, where we head east on Cave Creek Road and then out to Bartlett Dam. Sometimes we see mule deer, bald eagles, javelinas and coyotes. We also see a splendid array of indigenous desert plants -- majestic saguaro, mesquite trees and blooming ocotillo. At the lake, we preside over more than 2,815 acres of sparkling blue water. And if we time it just right, we head back west just as the sun soaks into the mountains of Cave Creek, capping our adventure with shimmering watercolors.

Okay, so this isn't the "Best of Eloy" issue -- but there's no zoning for dropping pedestrians from the sky in our fair city. Anyway, Eloy isn't that far away (halfway to Tucson), and it's got what it claims is the "world's largest skydiving center," with nearly 200,000 annual jumps. Skydive Arizona is also the favorite hangout for Valley skydivers for one particular reason: It has a bar. Not to mention a swimming pool, air-conditioned packing area, skydiving school, three landing areas, gear shop, restaurant, $5-per-night bunkhouse and volleyball court. To get there, take Interstate 10 east to Exit 198, turn left, drive seven miles, then go left on Tumbleweed Road. The uninitiated can take a tandem jump for $140, while lifts for the certified (or is that certifiable?) start at $17. Just chute me!

With 35,000 square feet of rails, decks and bowls, this park offers something for skaters of all levels. We've seen high-flying skateboard veterans, intermediate in-liners and even toddlers on Barbie skates having fun here. Considered one of the top skate parks in the country, Snedigar is a busy concrete island in a large, relaxing park setting. What sets it apart from the growing list of Valley skate parks? Extra amenities like well-placed benches, a picnic ramada, a nearby Bark Park for doggies and a kiddy swing along the fence so little ones (and whoever's pushing them) can watch the skaters show their stuff.

A pool and your money are soon parted at this luxury resort, where non-paying guests will sigh contentedly as your stress and cash quietly drain away under the swaying palms. Spy tanning celebrities, cut in front of children waiting for the 92-foot water slide, or swim up to the bar for an $8 piña colada -- the choice is yours.

Oh, did we mention you must rent a $105 to $150-per-day pool cabana for admission? "¡Ay, Cabana!" is right. But you can also bring along four friends and play in your private lounge area, and surely those Billmore (or is it Bilkmore?) fogies don't keep track of every towel.