The area is known as the Seven Wonders for the seven national monuments near and around. The farthest, the Grand Canyon, is 80 miles away.

Winter visitors to Flagstaff head for the Arizona Snowbowl, a 770-acre ski resort with 2,300 vertical feet of runs for skiers and snowboarders. Founded in 1938, the resort has 32 lifts, and is surrounded by summer homes for valley residents when they can scoot up the chairlift to 11,500 feet to see the Grand Canyon on a clear day. (arizonasnowbowl.com)

Other Flagstaff highlights include the Lowell Observatory (lowell.edu) where Pluto was first sighted and the world's largest stand of ponderosa pine. Navajo and Hopi are reservations nearby. There are over 160 dining options. June through August is the high season, with average temperatures hovering around 80 degrees.

Conference hotels include the Little America Hotel of Flagstaff, (248/10,000; littleamerica.com/flagstaff), the Radisson Woodlands Hotel (183/6,400; radisson.com/flagstaffaz), and for a intimate setting, historic Colton House, (musnaz.org) a private home for 12 individuals overnight in their own accommodations or for 20 in meetings by day.

Flagstaff's unique venues include Riordan Mansion State Historic Park (azstateparks.com/Parks/parkhtml/riordan), a 1904 Arts & Crafts estate house with original furnishings for groups of up to 125 people. The Museum of Northern Arizona (musnaz.org) can take 100 in elevated theater seating which scoots up against the wall for table set up, and also the Cocino Center for the Arts.

Getting There

Flagstaff Pulliam Airport's runway extension is estimated to be completed within two years. In the meantime, US Airways offers shuttles from Sky Harbor. (flagstaff.az.gov)