Weird day trips from Phoenix

The strangest Phoenix finds are often a short drive out. These 18 day trips — Arcosanti, Carefree Sundial, Superstition Mountain Lost Dutchman Museum (with Elvis Presley Memorial Chapel) and more — are each hand-vetted and sourced: ghost towns, hot-spring soaks, roadside oddities, and odd small-town museums worth the gas. A weird day trip is its own kind of date.

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Arcosanti Paolo Soleri's half-built utopian 'arcology' city rises out of the mesquite 70 miles north of Phoenix — poure… Cordes Junction / Mayer
Carefree Sundial A 62-foot copper-clad sundial with a 35-foot gnomon aimed at the North Star anchors the tiny desert town's De… Carefree Desert Gardens, Carefree
Superstition Mountain Lost Dutchman Museum (with Elvis Presley Memorial Chapel) A regional-history museum in the shadow of the Superstition Mountains whose best-known exhibit is the Elvis M… Apache Junction
Dwarf Car Museum Ernie Adams, the self-described 'Father of the Dwarf Car,' hand-builds fully operational 5/8-scale classic-ca… Maricopa
Critter Crawl Night Tour, Boyce Thompson Arboretum Once the gift shop closes and the crowds leave, docents lead small flashlight-equipped groups out into the ar… Superior, AZ
Rock Springs Cafe A former military bivouac and stagecoach water stop dating to the 1880s, formalized in 1918 as an adobe gener… Black Canyon City
Sunflower Mine Discovered in 1911 by E.H. Bowman while searching for gold, the Sunflower Mine became a major mercury produce… Sunflower Mine
Dragon Mine Located in the San Domingo Mining District southeast of Wickenburg, the Dragon Mine is a former gold and vana… Wickenburg
Ajax Mine Established in 1915 in the Mineral Mountain Mining District, the Ajax Mine was a short-lived operation that p… Ajax Mine
Dacite Cliffs Mine Tucked away at the base of the towering Dacite Cliffs in the Superstition Wilderness, this historic abandoned… Dacite Cliffs Mine
Oro Grande Mine Founded in 1901 following a rich gold strike, the Oro Grande Mine in the Black Rock district became a short-l… Oro Grande Mine
Maricopa Mine The Maricopa Mine is a historic late-19th-century gold mine located just south of the Jewel of the Creek Pres… Cave Creek
Del Pasco Mine Discovered on July 4, 1870, the Del Pasco Mine was one of the earliest and richest gold strikes in the Bradsh… Crown King
Old Smith Mine Established in 1872 by P.W. 'Bill' Smith, this historic gold mining and milling site processed ore from the n… Old Smith Mine
Belmont Mine Discovered in 1899 and developed by the Arizona Belmont Mining Company, the Belmont Mine was a copper and sil… Belmont Mine
Tonopah-Belmont Mine Tucked into the rugged Belmont Mountains, the Tonopah-Belmont Mine was once the largest producer in the Osbor… Tonopah-Belmont Mine
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Built in the 14th century by the Ancestral Sonoran Desert (Hohokam) people, this prehistoric farming communit… Coolidge
Queen Valley Overlook Ruins Perched on a flat bench of Quebec Rock overlooking Queen Creek, these ancient stone ruins are believed to hav… Queen Valley