What's new

Winter Vacation

Warm weather, hiking, biking, pool, good food, affordable, all stuff that I can do with a couple of 3 and under kids.

Peeks beat me to it. Tucson would be a good home base if you wanted to go to AZ. Southern Utah is great, though.
 
We enjoyed Phoenix with younger kids. I can't remember the parks names but I think it might have been the Sonoran Preserve with short hikes to see saguaro cactus. There was a earthen building with a great lookout point, which was pretty cool from the POV of someone who lives in an area without urban sprawl. The "mountains" in Phoenix' sprawl look like an oddity to someone like me. There's a train park there as well that was fun for the kids. The train ride was like $6, there's a playground (always a hit), and a pretty cool train track museum. All three of my boys have gone through a train phase young so it was fun for them.

Pretty much relaxing, easy family stuff. I'd plan on spending some time in Lake Mead area to break up the drive. That's a really cute little town.
 
If you want to do "amusement park" type things, Phoenix is a better bet. Doing Historical/Nature type things, you want to be in Tucson.

Things I like:

Pima Air Museum. Seriously one of the coolest things most people do not know about. Basically they have every aircraft the military has ever flown. Where else are you going to touch an SR-71 Blackbird. Many of the museum workers actually flew the aircraft they are speaking about, although we are starting to run short of WW2 vets :(

Sabino Canyon. If you are not committed to a few mile hike, this is the most pretty and accessible point to enjoy the Tucson desert experience. It has trams and allows for hiking much like Zion's. It is a very different desert experience from Southern Utah.

Tombstone. If you are a history buff, especially a Western history buff, this is a must do. It is a bit Tourist Trappy though.

Titan Missile Museum. Cold War era missile bunker that you can explore. If you were a child of the 70's or 80's this would mean a lot more. I actually got to turn the "Armageddon" key.

The food. OMG the different types of Mexican food are tremendous. Eat everything but the menudo. If you haven't eaten menudo by now, it isn't for you. Trust me. . .

If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them.
 
Back
Top