KBB

Try to attend one of their tea ceremonies. You must call and make reservations for this in advance.

The garden is open only on the weekends from Oct-May.

This town is growing fast, but is still a nice place to be – close enough to commute to metro Phoenix without living in the middle of it.

This hotel is very new. I got a room with a jetted tub, a free (huge and delicious) breakfast, and free wireless for under $100. It’s very clean and quiet and is located next to an Uno’s. So far, this has been the best place to stay in the Tucson area that I’ve found, especially for a a traveling student.

I actually stayed here by accident, but am glad I got to know about it. Don’t stay here in the summer – they only have a swamp cooler, no air-conditioning. The rooms look like they must have when the hotel was first built in 1919, I believe. Quite authentic-looking which means lots of character and ambience, but not a whole lot of comfort or amenities. Room 211 is the quietest in the hotel, I was told, and it was. No wireless, which was a bummer for this student, but the awesome radio and rotary phone kind of made up for it in coolness. Plus it’s haunted – who can resist? No elevator, be warned. I hear the bar is really neat but I didn’t get a chance to see it. Breakfast at the Cups Cafe was great. Also, the guy at the front desk was awesome – very friendly, accommodating, and laid back. Check out the old-fashioned phone operating machine that’s still in use! Overall, staying here was an adventure, and it was pretty cheap (less than $60).

The room cost about $70. They don’t tell you that there’s a fee for parking. It took them 7 hours to get the wireless working for me. Breakfast at the Coyote Cafe, which was a buffet, was cold and bloody awful. There was a leak by my window that started dripping at 4am – drip, drip, drip, all night! They charge $1.75 for a bottle of Coke. If you want to use the internet via the TV, they charge about $10 for it.

Good points – Centrally located in downtown, relatively quiet. Plenty of hot water.

I can’t wait to visit again someday. I could totally live there.

Kohl’s Ranch (http://www.kohlsranchvacation.com/) when I was a kid with my parents. I can’t tell you how many rounds of Pole Position and Duck Hunt I played in their arcade. The river in back of the cabins is a nice place to walk.

and a must if you’re a Twin Peaks fan.

rocks, and they have an annual Dia de Los Muertos festival that’s pretty fun.

you’ve seen ‘em all.