MTA Today - Winter 2013

The prickly pear cactus blooms in the Arizona desert.

For information on all deals and discounts, look through your Benefits & Discount Directory or visit www.mtabenefits.com.

Escape to an exotic
Arizona landscape

With its flowering cacti, lush green ground-cover and brilliant sunsets, the Arizona desert is spectacular in the spring. Head for Tucson, where you’ll find the Tucson Botanical Gardens, with 15 acres of specialty plantings, including wildflowers, Native American crops, cacti and other desert flora and fauna. Fifteen miles away, along the Old Spanish Trail, is Saguaro National Park, which features sweeping desert landscapes set against purple mountains. Other unique places to see include Colossal Cave Mountain Park, Kartchner Caverns State Park and Catalina State Park. Other Tucson attractions are the historic Mission San Xavier del Bac, the famed Gallery in the Sun, featuring the works of Ted DeGrazia, and turn-of-the-century Mexican neighborhoods. Stay at Comfort Suites Sabino Canyon or any other Choice Hotel and get a 15 percent MTA discount.

WHERE TO GET INFORMATION

You can find all the places on the Tip Sheet by visiting www.mtabenefits.com.

Find Heritage Museums & Gardens under “Discounts,” then “Discount Directory.” For Choice Hotels® International and Wyndham Hotel Group, look under “All Benefits,” then “Hotel Discounts.” For the Hilton Puerto Vallarta, go to “Travel & Vacations,” then “MTA Vacation Center.” For the Aquarium of the Pacific, look under “All Benefits,” then “Theme Parks.”

And when you travel, be sure to take your MTA credit card with you.

Experience amazing
sea creatures

At the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif., you’ll find more than 11,000 sea creatures on view in a wide variety of exhibits. Get up close to penguins in a crawl-in space that lets you into their world. The Shark Lagoon features more than 150 sharks, some of which you can reach out and touch as they glide through shallow pools. You can see others through a viewing window, coming nose to nose with these graceful but fierce predators. At the Whales exhibit, you can hear the sounds of humpback, sperm, gray, blue, beaked and Northern right whales. Walk along a rocky coastline among barnacle-encrusted pilings and enjoy ocean and inland vistas. Look in the water and watch sea otters as they swim and interact among kelp and fish. The Aquarium of the Pacific is just one theme park where MTA members receive a discount.

Explore Cape Cod
in the off-season

See the Cape without the crowds, serene and uncluttered. Walk along what feels like your own private beach. Dine in trendy restaurants without a reservation. Visit art galleries and gift boutiques at your leisure. Play golf or go boating year-round. See the vast spring gardens, ride an antique carousel and visit the art museum at the Heritage Museums

& Gardens (free to MTA members). Stay at any Wyndham Hotel Group lodging on the Cape and save up to 20 percent as an MTA member.

Entertain your family at an all-inclusive resort

The new Hilton Puerto Vallarta provides everything you want for the perfect vacation: an ocean-front setting, grand terraces, pools, magnificent views of mountains and Banderas Bay, elegant accommodations, fine and casual dining, everyday activities and entertainment, water sports and much more. You’ll treasure your time at this luxury hotel set in a world-famous Mexican resort destination. Book through the MTA Vacation Center and receive special MTA deals and discounts at the Hilton Puerto Vallarta or hundreds of other vacation sites around the world.