plenty of other things to occupy one’s time, including fine dining, live entertainment, and more. Wild Horse Pass, one of the Gila River casinos, is our favorite place for a night (or day) of excitement. It’s got an enormous selection of slot machines, plus poker, roulette, blackjack, craps, and other ways to gamble. The dining selection ranges from the new, upscale Prime steak- house to a little food court where you can grab a slice of pizza between poker hands. And recently, Wild Horse Pass got the very first TopGolf Swing Suite in the state of Arizona, a dedicated space on the second level of the casino that offers drinks, food, casino games, and bays where guests can play virtual versions of golf, football, hockey, and more. When you’re looking for a place to have fun, Wild Horse Pass isn’t a gamble. Best Aquarium ODYSEA AQUARIUM 9500 East Vía de Ventura Suite A-100, Scottsdale 480-291-8000 odyseaaquarium.com What do you call a fertile spot in a desert where water is found? Most people call it an oasis. Here in metro Phoenix, we call it OdySea Aquarium. Arizona might be a landlocked state, but this Scottsdale attraction is devoted to water-dwelling critters — sharks, turtles, otters, seahorses, and of course, plenty of fish. It’s even home to the world’s only Russian sturgeon touch exhibit. OdySea is the largest aquarium in the Southwest, where more than 2 million gallons of water slosh inside the 200,000-square-foot attraction. On the hottest days, the dim interior of the aquarium is cool and refreshing. We love petting the stingrays and hanging out in the rotating submarine viewing theater, and we really love Fish & Sips, the aquar- ium’s monthly adults-only evening event where we get to commune with sea life with a cocktail in hand. And now that the aquarium’s animal encounters are happening again, we recommend ponying up the extra dough to get up close and personal with animal friends like penguins and sloths. Best Zoo PHOENIX ZOO 455 North Galvin Parkway 602-286-3800 phoenixzoo.org We love to watch nature shows at home, but sometimes, we just want to see the animals in person. A trip to Phoenix Zoo satisfies that desire to commune with other members of animal kingdom. Go, and you’ll see kids and adults alike delighting in the sight of tigers, orangutans, 106 BEST OF PHOENIX 2022 | WWW.BESTOFPHOENIX2022.C0M | SEPTEMBER 29, 2022
