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Each year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation releases a list of the cultural sites facing the biggest threats in an effort to raise awareness about the risks they face and to protect their future.

Bond with your loved ones while exploring the great outdoors in the Grand Canyon State.

These Arizona small towns are big on charm, history, and culture.

Rugged beauties like the Grand Canyon and the red rocks of Sedona entice travelers, but high-end resorts and top culinary options make this vast western state worthy of many return visits.

The Grand Canyon State is rich in artistic attractions, including world-class museums, lively festivals, and several Frank Lloyd Wright sites.

As “killer bees” (or, more accurately, “Africanized honeybees”) continue to make a home in North America, most news stories about them are scary... ...but in Bisbee, you can taste their sweet side. You may have seen the man behind this diminutive store, local master beekeeper Reed Booth, on television. He’s “the killer bee guy.” And here on this Victorian mining town’s Main Street, you can sample the sticky results of his semi-dangerous labor: honeys, honey butters, whole seed honey mustards. They’re almost worth the drive down to Bisbee...but you can also buy them online. And sometimes, if you time it just right, you’ll find yourself strolling in the snow. Bisbee is over a mile high up in the Mule Mountains.

In the backstreets of the mile-high mining town of Bisbee, Arizona, some unlikely art: a stencil of Mona Lisa? blindfolded? framed by Buddhist philosophy? This is some of the street-art that inspires residents in this SE Arizona town to display bumper stickers with this request: “Keep Bisbee Bizarre.”

Anyone visiting Tucson should consider a day or overnight trip to Bisbee, which lies just 90 miles southeast. During its heyday as a mining town in the early 1900s, Bisbee was one of the richest mineral sites in the world: its mines produced copper, gold, silver, and minerals such as turquoise, malachite and azurite. It was 1975, nearly 100 years after copper was first mined here, when mining operations were no longer profitable and ceased production. With a history so deeply connected to mining, the city decided to “repurpose” the mine to keep its history alive and bring tourists to the area. A section of the famous Queen Mine was cleaned and structurally reinforced, before opening to visitors in 1976. According to the mine’s website, more than a million visitors have toured the mine since it opened. The tour takes about an hour, and reservations are recommended. Before taking the train 1,500 feet into the side of the mountain, visitors are equipped with a hardhat, a bright yellow slicker, and a miner’s lamp. The guides are former miners who share firsthand knowledge of the mine’s history and operation, and all of it is fascinating. Bring a sweater, since the temperature underground is about 50 degrees. After the tour, learn even more about mining at the nearby Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum. And after that? Bisbee has fantastic art galleries, shops, restaurants, and restored Victorian neighborhoods. Don’t miss the Cochise County Courthouse, a stunning Art Deco building.

A mile high and just up the road from the Mexican border, the Victorian mining town of Bisbee has no shortage of galleries. Artist and gallery owner Poe Dismuke often works by the light coming in from the streetfront window. Here, his easel holds, not a canvas, but a T-shirt—a one-of-a-kind garment with flies that are somehow charming. Unlikely art. (For more information: www.sampoegallery.com 24 Main Street, Bisbee, AZ 85603)

In the old mining town of Bisbee, a mile high in the mountains near the Mexican border, we found a place for lunch just as it began to snow. Not all of southern Arizona is hot desert... The patio of “Poco’s” restaurant is tucked into a shady alley in this Victorian town, but on this wintry day, we said no to al fresco dining. Inside this hole-in-the-wall, we had creative local fusion fare. My lunch was the “poco dog": Korea meets Mexico in a vegan version of the classic “Sonoran hot dog": chipotle aioli and homemade kimchi (kimchi!) and guacamole atop a vegetarian sausage and refried black beans on a bolillo roll! East meets south-of-the-border: viva!

Last April, I spent a morning hiking along the San Pedro River, just NW of Bisbee, AZ; the caterpillars were astoundingly abundant. When I stopped, I could hear them munching on leaves all around--a surround-sound of crunching, the aural fecundity of spring. Between Sierra Vista and Bisbee, the high grassland highway slowly slopes down to this cottonwood-lined river--one of the few free-flowing rivers left in the Desert Southwest. This ribbon of forest stretches from the Mexican border up towards the lower-elevation desert, providing a flyway for migrating birds and even habitat for the occasional jaguar (very rare). In the late 1980’s, this area was made a National Conservation Area, and it’s a nice shady walk in what can often be sun-blasted country.

This small and charming café serves up some of the best food in Arizona. My friends and I ate lunch here twice during a recent visit, and all agreed that the quiche here was the best we’d ever had. The pecan pie was out of this world. Everything was outstanding – from soup and sandwiches, to dessert. The service is friendly and fast, and the prices are moderate. Open from 11-5 daily; closed Monday.