Shockingly, I had never even heard of Bearizona until seeing a brochure at a Hampton Inn near Havasu City in Arizona. I love animals, especially bears. I love attractions, especially places with over-the-top theming. And, I love wordplay…Bearizona!!!

Initially, we had planned to spend an entire long-weekend by a pool in Phoenix, and Havasu City was our first stop on the way to sunshine and umbrella drinks, however, the weather in Phoenix was more tees and jeans, than swimsuits. We cut our Phoenix stay short and headed to Williams, Arizona to see the bears.

We spent one evening in Flagstaff and woke up early to be the first in line at Bearizona. Technically, we were third in the queue, but it was good enough to have the experience of a virtually empty park.

The current entrance fees ( as of 4/20/21) are $25.00 for adults, $15.00 kids (4-12, children under four are free) and $23.00 for seniors ( 62+).

Bearizona is a magical and unique place that is divided into multiple sections. The most exciting section is a large portion of the park where you can drive-thru enclosures for a close-up view of the animals in a naturalistic environment.

We were advised to begin our day with the drive-thru section of the park. For visitors who would rather not drive or would prefer a guided tour, the admission also includes access to a bus ride through the same loop. Admission allows you to drive the loop/take the bus unlimited times throughout the day and we did it twice. The loop takes about thirty minutes.

Here we are on the bus! It wasn’t full, so we could spread out.

My pictures are a mix of our self-guided tour and the bus. During our drive, we felt very much alone and we were able to drive very slowly, enjoying everything. There were no cars waiting behind us. Our bus tour, a few hours later, revealed how busy the park had become within just a few hours ( arrive early.) I recommend doing both the self-guided and the bus. We enjoyed the stories on the bus tour, such as a woman who drove through the wolf section with her windows down ( big no-no, signs are everywhere to keep windows and doors closed) and a wolf jumped in her back seat and made off with a bag of dirty laundry!

The entrance… Welcome to Bearizona!

The first animals we encountered had hooves: reindeer, deer, mules.

I never realized how cute bison could be, until I saw them at Bearizona. Look at those adorable faces! I love the one that is chilling by the snow.

I couldn’t have predicted it back in 2019, but we have now moved to Colorado, where we live just minutes away from a big horn sheep preserve. That said, I have still only seen them in zoos. I’m hoping to change that this summer with a few local hikes. My husband gifted me with proper hiking boots and walking poles, now I just need to dump the excuses. ( It is mid-April and snowing as I’m writing this. Crazy Colorado!!!)

Check out those playful wolves! We were told in particular, the juvenile wolves are the most unpredictable in the park, and for safety reasons, we absolutely could not stop the car in their enclosure. They are known for being very interested in visitors and even hopping on vehicles.

All of the above animals are fabulous in their own ways, but the star of Bearizona is clearly going to be the bears.

I’ve never seen so many bears! Bears in dens, bears in trees, bears chasing other bears, bears sleeping, bears crossing the road…BEARS!!! Most of them completely ignored us and carried on with their bear activities. It was great.

After the tour, we headed to the other half of Bearizona, which is more like a traditional zoo, but with state-of-the-art enclosures and heavy theming.

There was a petting zoo with a giant turkey!

One of our favorite North America mammals, the endlessly entertaining, raccoon! We were luck to catch the raccoons during feeding time.

Foxes, badgers, and bobcats!

And baby bears. We were surprised by the lack of fur. Aw.

Our favorite individual animal of the day had to go to this otter who seemed to be asking everyone to throw him a fish! He stood like this for about twenty minutes and was bursting with personality.

The final animals were these gorgeous jaguars. The spotted one was exhibiting odd behavior. It was leaning against the glass and panting very hard. It was growing and clearly agitated at people on the other side of the glass. It seemed to be in distress, so we alerted a zookeeper.

I spent many years working in the Behavioral Research Department at the Los Angeles Zoo, and despite the situation with the jaguar, I generally felt that Bearizona was concerned with both animal welfare and happiness. I was impressed with Bearizona.

We ate lunch in the main cafe, which was enormous with two floors and theming to feel like a lodge in the woods. It’s beautiful and the food was delicious, although definitely theme-park pricing. I ate a pulled-pork sandwich with potato salad and Dan ordered macaroni and cheese.

After lunch, we perused the gift shop, which is also enormous. We bought tee-shirts, our customary souvenir magnet, and some stickers. I resisted, but the stuffed animal collection was particularly impressive.

We visited on a quiet day, mid-week in March and saw everything in the park within four hours. It couldn’t have been more perfect.

I’m ending with a few more miscellaneous pictures from our visit to Bearizona. If you are near Williams, Arizona, make sure to visit Bearizona for a spectacular animal experience.

We hit the road at 8am to start our drive from the La Quinta Resort & Club in California to our next night stop in Tucson, Arizona. Our idea for the road trip was to take our time and try to enjoy attractions on our drive. This was the first time that either of us had visited Tucson and my vague idea about the area was from reading Barbara Kingsolver novels decades ago.

Also adding an element of difficulty was things being closed due to the pandemic. Luckily, we were able to visit the Pima Air and Space Museum. It is one of the world’s largest air and space museums. We visited on Veteran’s Day, which made for a great tie-in, as many of the exhibits are related to the armed forces. My father, uncle, both grandfathers…were all veterans, and I thought of them as I saw exhibits relating to the wars in which they served.

Covid safety was a top priority, and although at the time Arizona didn’t have a state mask mandate, masks were required at the museum. The museum is enormous with exhibits both outdoors and in multiple hangars. It wasn’t crowded and I felt very safe.

Adult admission was 16.50 each and we spent about two hours exploring. We were rushed, as we had arrived late in the day. I think four hours is probably a more reasonable time to allot for experiencing Pima.

We started in the first hangar, where my husband wowed me with his aircraft knowledge. His father was a British Airways flight engineer, and besides that, my husband is both interested and knowledgable. Mostly, I had no idea what I was looking at, but marveled at it just the same. In particular, I like reading about the history of the planes.

Next, we headed to the hangar with the space exhibits. Although this is the Pima Air and Space Museum, it is about 85% air and 15% space exhibits.

One of the more unexpected exhibits was located outside. It was an art project using old planes, called “The Boneyard Project.” There was no signage to explain the project, but I love art and found it very interesting.

There were so many planes and helicopters outside!

Kennedy and Johnson’s Airforce One: This is not the plane that carried Kennedy’s body after his assassination, but still a significant piece of history.

In the middle of the Pima Air and Space Museum, there is the 390th Memorial Museum, a separate museum that is dedicated to the bombing group active during WW2. It had a separate suggested donation and was actually quite interesting. However, because we were short on time, we rushed through the building. Quite honestly, if we had known that it was a separate museum, we would have skipped it. We felt guilty talking to the volunteer at the entrance and then leaving so quickly. I would have liked to have spent a good hour or so exploring, but it was getting late.

We spotted the wildlife warning sign as we were entering the last hangar. I’m glad we didn’t spot a snake while we were exploring.

Shots from the last hangar.

Homefront items from World War Two.

If you’re in the area the Pima Air and Space Museum is definitely worth a visit. It’s a must-see for aviation and history buffs. We both commented that we wished that Dan’s father could have been with us. He would have loved it.

We stayed at a local Double Tree by Hilton, which was consistent with the brand offering good quality and comfort…plus their signature warm chocolate chip walnut cookies. The friendly employee manning the reservation desk recommended that we eat dinner at a local Mexican restaurant called Guadalajara Original Grill.

Guadalajara Original Grill was excellent with theming, food, and service. They have a complimentary salsa cart, which an attendant brings to your table for fresh, custom blended salsa. We splurged on top shelf margaritas, mega fajita platters, and flan. We were stuffed.

We had a great experience in Tuscon and I wish that we had more time to explore the local attractions. I’d definitely consider a future vacation here.

Bearizona 2019

November 2020 Road Trip: Tucson, Arizona