My wife will be at an academic conference at the University of Arizona in Tucson in about two weeks’ time, and I’m taking advantage of cheap and partially subsidized airfare to tag along with our three children. This will be their first time on an airplane, and our first family vacation that isn’t within a day or two’s driving distance from NYC, a corridor between Montreal and Williamsburg, VA that we have well traveled in the past 5 or 6 years.
So, what’s there to do in Tucson? There’s some enormous national park nearby that looks like it’d be nice to visit, hike around and whatnot. What about in town? Frommer’s lists interesting sounding places like Biosphere 2, a T. Rex Museum, Colossal Cave National Park, and even a Children’s Museum.
I don’t know very much about the place, but we’ll be staying at a nearby (I hope) resort called The Lodge at Ventana Canyon. Its main attraction as a resort is its golf course, which is great, except that (a) I’ll be in charge of three kids aged 8, 6 and 4, and (b) I have never played anything other than mini-golf in my life. I wouldn’t mind giving it a go if there’s instruction available. There’s supposed to be horseback riding as well, I assume even for first-timers, though perhaps the smallest children will be too young.
Oh, and any particular must-try food/restaurant suggestions? Anything goes!
Don’t bother with Biosphere. Make sure you go to the Desert Museum (that’s near the enormous park nearby). It’s about 30 minutes west of UA by car and very kid-friendly. It’s beautiful desert with plenty of hiking and cool exhibits. Most of it’s outdoors, so come prepared. It can still get warm during the day even in the winter, so bring more water than you think you need.
Colossal Cave is east of UA by about an hour. Still, it’s worth the drive and you can do a pass through the city proper. Trust me, that’s all you’ll need. Tucson architecture is strip mall hell.
I haven’t been to the Children’s Museum in a long time, but I remember it being fun even as a grown-up.
People will try and tell you that you need to go to Old Tucson. You don’t.
Restaurants: Midway Molina’s on Speedway just west of Swan. Fine, fine Mexican food. Get the carne seca. Owned by the same family for something like 50 years.
Vietnamese: Dao’s Tai Pan on Wilmot south of Speeday. Even my friend from Chicago was impressed when I took her there. Get the beef pho or the beef fondue.
Breakfast: The Hungry Fox at Broadway and Swan. It’s always packed and there’s a reason.
Upscale: Acacia at St. Phillip’s Plaza. Chef Albert Hall is the owner, and for my money he’s the finest chef in Tucson, maybe all of Arizona.
And I just remembered: If you’re on campus, you can walk down University Boulevard (running E-W starting on the west side of campus) and there are lots of cool shops and restaurants within walking distance. Gentle Ben’s is a particular favorite hang-out spot. They do food and microbrews and such, and you can sit outside if you want.
Thanks for the suggestions, fuffle, I’ll look into them. Good advice about the weather, too: this Northeasterner had some vague ideas of “Arizona’s a big hot desert” without thinking, “hey, even deserts get cold at night, not all of Arizona is necessarily a desert, and we’re visiting in January”. Rather than going overdressed, I was probably in danger of freezing come sundown in the national park.
Children’s Museum, eh? Am I evil for telling my kids that Children’s Museums are places where they have stuffed, mounted children from decades and centuries past somewhere in the back? (We often go to the ones around NYC, Boston and Baltimore.)
Havining Grandparents that used to live Outside of Tucson in the Oro Valley, I might add that the Pima Air and space museum is pretty neat with all kinds of planes on display, Plus driving around near Davis Monthen (sp?) Air base is cool when you see the Acres of Mothballed planes. I remember seeing row after row F4’s plus others. I know the A10’s are based out of Davis.
The Desert Sonoran Museum is pretty cool, although it has been years since I have been there.
Putt Putt ehhh? The only real fun I had on visits in my late teens was going to Golf and Stuff on Speedway with my Second Cousins, Putt Putt Go Carts, Bumber Boats and Video Games !
The last time I saw my grandfather in 2005 we had Lunch at the Silver Saddle right off I-10 best steak lunch I have ever had don’t know if it was due to the last Luch I ever had with my grandfather or the open pit grilling technique. Had Dinner the night before closer to where He lived and with some other extended family there in town at The Metropolitan Grill on Orcale and Ina I think.
The University also has a Planetarium (with late night laser show)and natural history museum that might be nice for the kids with low or now cost.
Forgot to add that San Xaixer Mission is pretty neat to visit. It is out on the Idian reservation. Very cool to see a very old Mission Church. I think it may even be the oldest in the U.S. built by the spanish back in the days they controlled the region.
I had a long post typed out, and dis something stupid, and lost it. So here goes again, but shorter. I’ve lived here since June, and I’m still learning what’s around. If you’re on campus, wave at the library - I’ll be at work!
As mentioned, the Desert Museum is a must see - you can spend 3-5 hours here easily.
The Botanical Garden has a butterfly exhibit going on through the end of March.
There’s also the Kitt Peak National Observatory near by. I’ve heard the Titan Missile Musuem linked upthread is neat, but haven’t been.
Mission San Xavier del Bac is neat - but it is a long drive to see an old church with three children. If you’re coming back from someplace else, it’s a nice stop.
Restaurants…Blue Willows (it may just be Blue Willow, I don’t remember at hte moment) on Campbell about a mile to a mile and a half north of campus is good. It can get fairly crowded though - but it’s good. I’ve been there for breakfast, lunch and dinner and wasn’t disappointed at any of my visits.
India Oven is slightly north of there, also on Campbell but on the other side of the street. It’s good, but service is SLOW. I wouldn’t call it a must eat, but if you like Indian food and have a craving, it’s tasty.
Yeah, it’s surprising how the temperatures can go to extremes. It’s been in the upper 30s at night for a while, although the past few days haven’t been so bad. But then lunch rolls around and you strip down to a T-shirt (probably pants also).
I remembered another good restaurant: Brundog’s Zy-de-que. It’s an entirely forgettable name, but the guy there does amazing soul food/Cajun. I had some collard greens with serrano vinegar and I thought I’d bliss out right there at the table. I think it’s 1st and…well, something. On the northeast side.
sugar and spice made an excellent point. I-10 is closed from the south of Tucson to the north. You have to get on outside the city or use frontage roads. It’s an ungodly mess. They say it should only take about 3 years to finish construction…
For a day trip, you might enjoy driving south to Tubac. It’s a little artist community filled with artwork and shops and restaurants. It’s a nice place. You could go there in the morning and see San Xavier on the way back.
Also there’s the International Wildlife Museum. You don’t want to go there. All of the wildlife is stuffed and mounted. Seriously.
Posting to subscribe - The family and I have gone the past couple springs to visit mom and take in some baseball. That’s the main purpose of going, but we always have a day or two to goof off, and I’m frankly tired of mom’s idea of sightseeing, which is going to the mall.
A couple of these sound interesting - I’ve been looking at the Desert Museum, and the Pima A & S Museum, I think they’re in this year. I also like the idea of walking through the campus area, I’ve driven through there a lot, and thought it looked fun but haven’t convinced anyone to join me.
Tubac is very cool, I’ll vouch for that - only a couple places to eat/drink, but it’s friendly and there’s some cool stuff there.
I will third (or fourth) the Desert Sonoran Museum. Right up the street from that is the International Wildlife Museum filled with taxidermied animals. We like to call it The Stuffed Animal Museum. It’s a lot more interesting than it sounds. When we make the trip down to Tucson, we usually go to both.
I will also agree to skip Old Tucson . It was really pricey (Close to $20/admission) for how little was there (in 1998). Upon checking out the website, they’re closed to the public due to filming.
Here’s another vote for Gentle Ben’s and another one for Colossal Cave.
If you’re tempted to go out of the way to Tombstone, Arizona, don’t. It’s completely commercialized.
If you like hot sauce, try to score yourself a bottle or two of Arizona Gunslinger Jalapeño Sauce. You should be able to find it in the grocery stores on campus, though it will be expensive; I didn’t have as much luck finding it in other grocery stores around town, and particularly not at the Commissary. You can get it on the Internet, but it’s hard as hell to find in stores outside of Arizona. Skip their habanero sauce; there are better ones out there. Their jalapeño sauce is simply not to be missed, though.
Getting around Tuscon can be a pain sometimes–miles and miles of boulevards through endless housing developments and strip malls…but saguaros ARE more interesting to look at than your average landscaping.
Mission San Xavier del Bac, the classic old Spanish Mission, is not too far south. I’m surprised that no-one has mentioned Kartcher Caverns. I consider it to be one of the premier show caves of the southwest. (I could do without the canned music at the end of the tour, though)
The Stuffed Animal Museum is very cool. They got one of, well, everything. The huge room with all the hoofstock has to be seen to be believed.
I’ll second the Titan Missile Museum. I was there two weeks ago, and took the tour. Very interesting, the guides were superbly informed (and all volunteers, I gathered).
So, we’ve been here about 36 hours, thought I’d give a status report.
We went to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum for most of yesterday, it was great.
For dinner we went to Cafe Poca Cosa in downtown Tucson. Terrific food, very memorable.
Today, we visited the picture rocks on Signal Peak in Saguaro Nat’l Park and a quick visit to Sabino Canyon Park today.
Tomorrow, we’ll hit the air/space museum in the morning, then see U of A a bit as my wife’s talk is at around 2:00pm. I will have to eat dinner with my 3 kids without her in the evening, any suggestions?
I really look forward to visiting El Charro Cafe at some point too, is that OK to visit with kids on my own? I see from their website they have a new “satellite” location called El Charro Ventana on Kolb and Sunrise, which would practically be walking distance from where we’re staying (I’ve already visited the CVS at that intersection during my stay when I found out I’d forgotten to pack any contact lens stuff).
