Arizona

Why Oprah Winfrey just had to shout out these 3 Arizona spa resorts

Published

6 months ago

June 10, 2025

Press Room

Why Oprah Winfrey just had to shout out these 3 Arizona spa resorts

Three Arizona spas were listed in Oprah Daily’s 2025 Hotel O-Wards.
The list includes spas with exceptional treatments, services and practitioners.

Three of Arizona’s most luxurious destination spa resorts received praise from Oprah Winfrey.

Her website Oprah Daily recently honored 53 destination spas worldwide in the 2025 Hotel O-Wards. Now in its second year, Oprah’s Hotel O-Wards recognize spa resorts whose treatments, services and practitioners are “best-in-class.”

The 17 honorees in the U.S. and Canada include three from Arizona: Sanctuary Camelback Mountain, Mii amo and Castle Hot Springs.

The three resorts are no stranger to recognition among Arizona’s most celebrated travel experiences, with Oprah Daily praising each of them for high quality and distinctive services.

Here’s a look at each of the Arizona honorees and why they were selected.

Sanctuary Camelback Mountain, Scottsdale

Scottsdale has more than 50 resort and day spas, according to Experience Scottsdale, the city’s convention and visitors bureau. Sanctuary Camelback Mountain stood out among them in the Hotel O-Wards survey because of the size of its spa − 12,000 square feet − and the diversity of its treatment menu.

Standout offerings include a restorative meditation experience called Nidra sound voyage, which is claimed to equal three hours of sleep, and a form of underwater shiatsu massage known as watsu therapy.

Mii amo, Sedona

The accolades for this wellness spa within Enchantment Resort in Sedona’s Boynton Canyon − a vortex believed to have healing energy − have piled up since a $40 million renovation was finished in 2023, including from USA TODAY readers who named it the nation’s best spa in 2024.

Oprah Daily cited the renovation for elevating its offerings, including 23 casitas, 26 treatment rooms, a two-story fitness studio and a new restaurant, Hummingbird.

All-inclusive getaways at Mii amo can last from three to 10 nights, with treatments including past-life regression with a hypnotherapist and aura photography, both cited by Oprah Daily as highlights.

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Castle Hot Springs, Bradshaw Mountains

One of Arizona’s oldest resorts, the 1,100-acre Castle Hot Springs in the Bradshaw Mountains north of Phoenix offers wellness retreats that include bathing in the resort’s mineral-rich hot springs.

A multimillion-dollar renovation brought the resort back to life in 2019 after a fire shuttered it in the mid-1970s; its second life has seen widespread critical acclaim, including Travel + Leisure declaring it Arizona’s best resort in three of the last four years.

Oprah Daily praised the water-centric programming, including watsu therapy in the hot springs, paddleboard yoga and − in contrast with the average 106-degree temperatures of the springs − a newly introduced cold plunge pool with temperatures ranging from 43 to 46 degrees.

Michael Salerno is an award-winning journalist who’s covered travel and tourism since 2014. His work as The Arizona Republic’s consumer travel reporter aims to help readers navigate the stresses of traveling and get the best value for their money on their vacations. He can be reached at Michael.Salerno@gannett.com.

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Arizona

USS Arizona Memorial Gardens ceremony honors Pearl Harbor victims

Published

2 hours ago

December 8, 2025

Press Room

USS Arizona Memorial Gardens ceremony honors Pearl Harbor victims

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (AZFamily) — A breathing flag ceremony at the USS Arizona Memorial Gardens at Salt River honored the 1,177 sailors and Marines killed aboard the USS Arizona during the Pearl Harbor attack 84 years ago.

The USS Arizona casualties account for more than half of the total U.S. military service members killed on Dec. 7, 1941.

Pillars surround the memorial gardens. The taller ones light up around sunset. They represent each life lost. The pillars are positioned to match the exact width and length of the battleship that sank.

Navy veteran Jeremia Mueller paid his respects to the fallen who never expected to go under attack on what started as a peaceful Sunday morning.

“Bright and early in the morning. They were getting ready for a church service on a Sunday just like today,” Mueller said.

He brings his family to the memorial every year. As he tells his children about the remnants of the USS Arizona houseboat recovered years after the attack, he hopes the bravery and sacrifice will forever be remembered.

“We know they’re continuing to stand watch where they lie and we honor and remember them,” Mueller said.

The memorial gardens grounds are free and open to the public from dawn to dusk.

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Arizona

Bobby Hurley, Players Discuss Arizona State’s Blowout Win Over Oklahoma

Published

15 hours ago

December 7, 2025

Press Room

Bobby Hurley, Players Discuss Arizona State’s Blowout Win Over Oklahoma

PHOENIX — Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley broke down the Sun Devils’ resounding victory over another SEC foe in Oklahoma alongside guards Noah Meeusen and Moe Odum after the conclusion of the game Saturday night.

To watch the full availability, view below.

Below is a partial transcript of the post-game press conference, with added commentary.

Hurley on Subbing Out Starters Early

Dec 6, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona State University Sun Devils center Massamba Diop (35) dribbles against Oklahoma University Sooners forward Mohamed Wague (5) in the second half at PHX Arena. Mandatory Credit: Anna Carrington-Imagn Images | Anna Carrington-Imagn Images

“I don’t really I didn’t know what was going to happen. All I knew was that we talked about rebounding. We had specific drills where and they would tell you that a shot went up and whoever got the rebound played offense, or every guard and every player had to run to the paint to get a rebound, just so we avoided standing around and watching the flight of the ball, not going after the basketball. So if, if, in my thought was, if I don’t do anything about this after giving up two offensive rebounds right away, then what I’m saying is meaningless.”

Hurley on Outworking Opponents

ASU Sun Devils head coach Bobby Hurley talks to his team during a timeout in their game against the Georgia State Panthers at Desert Financial Arena on Nov. 17, 2025. | Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“I think sometimes if you concentrate on defending and playing hard and rebounding, then all of a sudden, like the shot just becomes a natural thing, it becomes second nature or and then, because you’re playing harder, you know, I thought we out we played harder. So, I mean, I look, I think I respect their coaching staff and their program. I thought we outworked them today, and because we did that, we were rewarded.”

Hurley on Marcus Adams Jr.

Dec 6, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona State University Sun Devils forward Marcus Adams Jr. (8) celebrates after making a 3-point shot against the Oklahoma University Sooners in the first half at PHX Arena. Mandatory Credit: Anna Carrington-Imagn Images | Anna Carrington-Imagn Images

“Well, he missed so much time that it’s not surprising that it took some time, but getting him back to the mainland and getting him to practice, and even our own players, not only the coaches, our players, encouraging him to practice harder to get some extra conditioning in, and that would be him, because I saw him encouraging Marcus after practice was over, as he was doing additional sprint work to get himself back in shape.

And you can’t you have to do more at this stage, if you’re him, because of all the time he missed. So he deserved to play well because of all the work he put in all week to get ready for this game. I wanted to say that, like even to the broadcast team, as we talked to them today about the game keys, like I I knew some in some way that he was gonna he was kind of a positive impact.”

Hurley On Team Responding to Adversity

Dec 6, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona State University Sun Devils guard Anthony Johnson (2) dunks over Oklahoma University Sooners guard Jadon Jones (12) in the second half at PHX Arena. Mandatory Credit: Anna Carrington-Imagn Images | Anna Carrington-Imagn Images

“It just feels that it validates trust that you have in the whole group. And and they were the guys that I took out. I think we’re excited that the guys went in. We’re having a positive impact on what what what was happening out on the floor. And you know, sometimes you go with your gut instinct and you’re right and you’re wrong. Sometimes that time it worked. But it wasn’t like they did something so bad that they all needed to come out. It was just more of like, what we were talking about all week long, how we needed to get better at rebounding, and right away it became an issue.”

Hurley On Team’s Overall Performance

“I mean, it was really kind of a clinic on offense. I thought our shot making, our execution, scoring in transition, and it all started with our mentality and our mindset on defense, to rebound and get stops, and we did what we supposed to do, held in 35% 20 something in the first half, but we’ll get a lot out of hopefully learning how to play, you know, with the lead better and, you know, I said to the guys towing that line of staying aggressive and not doing something crazy, and letting the team and back in the game, and that’s what was happening a little bit in the second half.”

Read more on why the Arizona State men’s basketball team will exceed expectations in the 2025-26 season here, and on why the bright future of the football program isn’t dimmed by the loss to Arizona here.

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Arizona

Arizona men’s basketball crushes No. 20 Auburn for 4th win over ranked opponent

Published

1 day ago

December 7, 2025

Press Room

Arizona men’s basketball crushes No. 20 Auburn for 4th win over ranked opponent

After beating three ranked opponents in its first five games, something no college basketball team had done in more than 35 years, Arizona soared to No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25. Getting to the top spot would require some help.

That assistance came in the form of fellow Big 12 school Iowa State winning handily at No. 1 Purdue on Saturday afternoon. All the Wildcats had to do was pick up a fourth ranked win, particularly in impressive fashion, and it could rise to first on Monday when the next poll came out.

Arizona made its case for No. 1 with a 97-68 over No. 20 Auburn. It’s the fifth-largest margin of victory for the Wildcats over a ranked opponent in school history and largest since beating No. 19 Western Kentucky by 39 in 2002.

Koa Peat had 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting while Jaden Bradley and Brayden Burries had 16 points each and Ivan Kharchenkov had 12 points, five rebounds and eight assists for the Wildcats (8-0), who shot 61.2 percent overall and 63.6 percent in the second half.

The 61.2 percent was Arizona’s best field goal rate against a ranked opponent since 2016.

Auburn (7-3) shot 33.3 percent, 28.6 percent in the second half, and its 15 turnovers were converted into 21 points for Arizona. Tahad Pettiford had a career-high 30 points on 10-of-19 shooting for the Tigers, while the rest of the team was 11 of 44.

Arizona led 44-32 at halftime and by the first media timeout of the 2^nd half the edge was 26. The Wildcats outscored Auburn 18-2 coming out of the locker room, keeping the Tigers without a field goal for the first 5-plus minutes.

The only player Arizona couldn’t stop was Pettiford, who had nine straight points for Auburn at one point including a 4-point play to get within 69-45 with 12:41 left.

The Wildcats didn’t miss consecutive shots after halftime until midway through the second half, starting 11 of 12. Auburn, on the other hand, started 0 for 7 and went almost six minutes without a field goal yet kept the margin from getting much bigger because of an abundance of fouls called.

After a relatively foul-free first half, with Arizona only attempting one free throws, the second half saw the officials get much more involved. The teams combined for 25 fouls and 32 foul shots, compared to 29 field goals.

Arizona’s first 10 points were in the paint, either on drives, dump offs or dunks, for an early 4-point lead. Auburn followed with nine in a row to go up 15-10, taking advantage of four UA turnovers, only to see the Wildcats capitalize on four Tigers giveaways en route to a 12-0 run and a 7-point advantage.

Auburn missed nine straight shots while Arizona went on a 15-0 run to lead 39-21 with 3:43 left before halftime. The lead got to 20 before the Tigers finished the first half on an 8-0 run.

Arizona heads east for its next game, taking on No. 12 Alabama in Birmingham next Saturday. The Wildcats beat the Crimson Tide in Phoenix during the the 2023-24 season.

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