Loll or launch
Activities in this retiree-friendly area: hikes, golf and a missile tour
South-central Arizona is rugged and wild, with a rich history that includes soaring Sky Island mountain ranges and Spanish missions. It’s also home to Green Valley. Who books a weekend getaway in a retirement community 30 miles south of fun and festive Tucson? Smart people with a penchant for bright, clear skies and a craving for a wide range of things to see and do, that’s who. The tab: $255 a night, including taxes, fees and breakfast buffet; $15-$25 a person for lunch, with tip and nonalcoholic beverage; and $9.50 for adults (anyone over 13) for the missile tour.
The bed
Green Valley stays are best had the condo-hotel way. A one-bedroom unit at the Wyndham Canoa Ranch Resort (5775 S. Camino del Sol; [520] 3820450, www.canoaranchgolfresort.com) included a full kitchen and, at 1,200 square feet, plenty of room to spread out. Evenings are well spent on an east-facing veranda, taking in the sunset on the Santa Rita Mountains and the trunk-andtusk geologic formation known as Elephant Head.
The meal
Firefly Restaurant (3001 E. Frontage Road, Amado; [520] 398-3028, www.fireflyrestaurantaz.com), a few miles south of Green Valley, is one of the best outdoor dining spaces south of the Tucson foothills. The food is American and reflects our melting-pot democracy: poulet crepes and a gyro platter, grassfed tenderloin and blue-crab cakes, pierogis and miso salmon. It’s varied and not at all discordant. If it’s not too hot, sit outside and take in the garden, desert and mountains.
The f ind
The Titan Missile Museum (1580 W. Duval Mine Road, Sahuarita; [520] 625-7736, www.titanmissilemuseum.org) is an eerie and enthralling reminder of the Cold War. There’s a real, though deactivated, 10-story-tall ballistic missile — once topped with the equivalent of 9 million tons of TNT — in that concrete tube in the ground. The one-hour tour goes underground and includes the nuke-hardened control room where a four-person crew worked in isolation. Longer, more exploratory tours are offered too.
The lesson learned
I’m AARP-eligible but refuse to admit to it, certain I’m still 19 and just in need of some warranty work. Green Valley might be mostly age-restricted enclaves, but it’s no Sun City circa 1976. The takeaway is that Green Valley is attractive for its setting and outdoor bounty: hiking riparian-rich Madera Canyon and the piney slopes of Mt. Wrightson, playing golf — San Ignacio and Canoa Ranch are standout canyon-and-cactus plays — and bicycling the freeway frontage route to Tubac. As a bonus, as you head south from Tucson through the Santa Cruz River Valley, the weather gets a bit cooler.