Optional Events

Golf Tournament

Thursday, December 4, 8:00 a.m.

Sponsored by Great American Group and Summit Investment Management LLC

The Annual Golf Tournament will take place on two of the three Jack Nicklaus Signature golf courses located on the adjoining La Paloma Country Club. A tough yet rewarding nine holes, the par 36 Ridge Course starts off from an elevated tee played across the desert to a heavily guarded fairway. The next several holes require a mix of long and short shots to navigate native vegetation and contoured greens, mounds and hollows, and gaping canyon ridges. The fourth hole is La Paloma's most scenic par 3, played across the edge of a canyon floor sunk 30-40 feet below the green. Two tricky doglegs round out the demands of this nine-hole course; Total yardage: 3,554.

 

On the Hill Course you start your round with a splendid view of the Santa Catalina Mountains, but then turn all your attention to the undulating landscape of the Hill Course's nine holes. This lovely par 36 course winds its way over rolling hills, offering plenty of challenges with its many bunkers and grassy swales and mounds. The final hole will test any golfer with its deep valley leading to a small green guarded by grassy hollows; Total yardage: 3,463. $150 per player includes breakfast, green fees, cart and beverage cart. Please indicate your handicap on the registration form.

Bisbee / Tombstone

Thursday, December 4, 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
This is a great full-day tour of two of Arizona's most unique historical towns. The first stop, Bisbee, is an old mining town and artists' enclave that winds through the old residential neighborhood known as the Warren area. View the steeply tiered houses clinging to hillsides and browse the antique shops and fine galleries that feature works in a variety of genres and mediums. Take an adventure-filled expedition into the cool, deep shafts of the Copper Queen Mine. Miner's hard hats and heavy slickers are provided to tour participants for this rail trip through 6,000 feet of solid rock. Drilling and blasting techniques are explained, and tools and equipment used not so long ago are on display. Lunch is on your own at the famous Copper Queen Hotel, which was built in 1902 and came about as a place for digtnitaries and weary miners to rest their hats.

 

Next, it's on to Tombstone, "the town too tough to die," where Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp shot it out. It features the famous OK Corral, Boot Hill Cemetery and Crystal Palace Saloon. Tombstone was dedicated in 1962 as a Registered National Historic Landmark; the American West of the 1880s is still very much alive here today. Truly a Historical American Landmark, Tombstone is America's best example of our 1880 western heritage, which is well preserved with original 1880s buildings and artifacts featured in numerous museums. Tombstone Historama, a unique electronic audio/visual presentation, tells the factual story of the roaring silver mining camp. Guests will depart from the resort's front drive with a professional tour guide. This is a 7-8-hour event; $130 per person. Plan to wear comfortable walking shoes, sunglasses, sun hat and sunscreen. Please check the appropriate box on the registration
form.

Tennis Tournament

Thursday, December 4, 1:00 p.m.

Sponsored by The Bank of New York Mellon, Corporate Trust and Snell & Wilmer LLP

The annual round-robin mixed-doubles tournament will take place on the the ten championship courts, including four superb Georgia clay courts and six hardcourt surface courts of the La Paloma Country Club. $50 entry fee includes lunch and beverages, balls, court time, tournament fees and prizes.

Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum / Old Tucson Studios

Friday, December 5, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

The Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum is one of Tucson's best-loved desert treasures. Noted as "the most distinctive zoo in the United States," it is a combination zoological park and botanical garden, and a delightful place to view and enjoy all the area's desert wonders - animal, plant, reptile and insect. Exhibits re-create the natural landscape of the Sonoran Desert Region so realistically, you will find yourself eye-to-eye with mountain lions, prairie dogs, Gila monsters and more. Within the Museum grounds, you will see more than 300 animal species and 1,200 kinds of plants. Also included in the exhibits are a walk-in aviary. A "life underground" exhibit simulates a cave. Actual roots are woven into the natural-looking concrete banks to add authenticity. There are almost two miles of paths traversing 21 acres of beautiful desert.

 

Then enjoy a step back in time to an Old West frontier town. Old Tucson Studios came to life in 1939 when it was built for the movie Arizona. The town lay dormant until 1945, when Hollywood once again took notice. By the 1950s, the Western era was in full swing and such classics as Gunfight at the OK Corral and Cimarron were filmed at the studios. More than 70 movies and TV shows such as "High Chapparel," "Gunsmoke" and "Little House on the Prairie" have been filmed here. You can experience behind-the-scenes action in movie production and enjoy some spectacular stunts, trick riding and gunfights! Sample hearty cowboy meals, or browse through the old-time emporiums filled with western wear, movie memorabilia and Southwestern gifts. Take a scenic drive through Saguaro National Park-West to Old Tucson; it is a different adventure each time you visit. This is a 7-8-hour event; $90 per person. Please wear comfortable walking shoes, sunglasses, sun hat and sunscreen. Please check the appropriate box on the registration form.

Southwestern Culinary Delight with Chef Janos Wilder

Friday, December 5, 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Spend the morning with nationally renowned Arizona chef and author Janos Wilder, and learn to experiment within the realms of "Southwestern Nouvelle Cuisine" and contemporary Mexican cooking. You will be sure to impress family, friends and clients with your newly acquired expertise. Janos Wilder has spent many years cultivating his culinary skills by serving as chef at the Gold Hill Inn in Gold Hill, Colo., Le Mirage restaurant in Sante Fe, N.M., and at La Reserve and Le Duberne restaurants in Bordeaux, France, where he learned first-hand the French sensitivity toward ingredients while being exposed to the techniques of classical and nouvelle cuisine. Chef Wilder has been back in the States since 1982 and lives in Tucson, where he and his wife, Rebecca, opened their own restaurant - Janos - located at The Westin La Paloma Resort. Since 1983, Janos has earned its place among the best restaurants in Tucson, receiving four Mobil Stars for four years running beginning in 1988. Janos Wilder is the author of Janos: Recipes and Tales from a Southwest Restaurant (Berkeley's Ten Speed Press, 1990). This is a 1-hour demonstration; $75 per person. Please check the appropriate box on the registration form.

Kartchner Caverns

Friday, December 5, 12:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Located in Southeastern Arizona, the park encompasses 550 acres at the base of the Whetstone Mountains. You will have an exclusive tour of the seven acres of pristine caverns that have become the focus for this new state park, which are hidden beneath one of the small hills that dot the majestic Chihuahuan Desert. The two main galleries, both the size of football fields, are kaleidoscopes of color, with 100-foot-high ceilings dripping with multi-hued stalactites and floors jutting up with matching stalagmites. Giant white columns form when the two features meet. Dainty white helectites, translucent orange bacon strips and shields of white calcite adorn this natural wonder. An extraordinarily thin stalactite, called a soda straw, hangs tenuously 21 feet 2 inches from the cave's ceiling. Rare quartz needles form "bird nests," nitrocalcite forms the "cotton," and an extensive array of brushite moonmilk are the cavern jewels. Kartchner is a wet "live" cave: Water percolates from the surface, and calcium carbonate features continue to grow in the darkness. Depart from the resort's front drive with your professional tour guide. This is a 6-hour event; $90 per person. Please check the appropriate box on the registration form.

Cattle Drive

Saturday, December 6, 1:00 - 6:00 p.m.

This is a day you will always look back on: the real experience of a western cattle drive, with all the sights and sounds that make up a cowboy's life. The incomparable scenery among the saguaros, and the joy of commanding a herd of 80-100 Beef and Corriente cattle from horseback, bring to life the unforgettable songs and stories of the old West and create an exhilarating one-of-a-kind western experience that you will long remember. You will be transferred to the Cocoraque Ranch, one of the oldest working cattle ranches in Southern Arizona. On your way, you will pass through the scenic National Saguaro Park-West. Once at the ranch, you will meet the ranch cowboys and be matched up with a horse based on your riding experience, then head out on the dusty trail. Keep an eye out for owls, hawks, roadrunners, coyotes and jackrabbits. Gila monsters, tortoises and antelope may also cross your path, but don't forget to keep a close eye on those wandering "Li'l Dogies." A wagon for a few "nonriders" will follow the cowboys on the trail. Time in the saddle will be approximately 1.5-2 hours. This is a 5-6-hour event; $180 per person. Dress appropriately; be sure to wear sturdy shoes/boots, jeans/long pants, sunglasses, cowboy hat/sun hat, bandana and sunscreen. Please check the appropriate box on the registration form.

 

On-site Registration Only