Arizona has so much more than the Grand Canyon (which, to be honest, is pretty good by itself!). But nothing is close. Even if you want to drive across country, it takes hours just to leave the state!
Sedona has a lot, even if you don’t appreciate vortexes
Driving the Salt River Canyon to the high desert
Flagstaff
Route 66
Oatman
If you’re just in Phoenix Metro, at least go up South Mountain
There are tons of authentic Mexican/New Mexican food! You can’t swing a cat without hitting a good restaurant.
Walk past the Alamo if you haven’t seen it already. Don’t bother going in, unless Alamo history is your thing. Now you can say you visited the Alamo! Yay!
If this is your first time in TX, eat the following:
… Brisket
… Whataburger
While I don’t consider Whataburger the end-all, be-all of hamburgers, at least you can enter the “best fast food burger” discussions with some additional experience.
If you’re here in April, do some Fiesta activities. What is Fiesta? It’s a two-week long city-wide block party which has events all across San Antonio which each draw from 20,000 - 75,000 people, culminating in the Battle of the Flowers parade. The BotF causes the city to shut down - schools close, the post office closes, the government closes, many businesses close - so over 500,000 people can come downtown in the middle of a Friday to watch a parade. Then they drink for 6 hours until the nighttime parade begins.
Campus 805 is a complex that has several micro-breweries and restaurants, if you are into that sort of thing. I recommend Straight To Ale, and not just because my co-worker is a co-founder of the company.
You forgot San Antonio Missions. San Jose is a must stop if you’re in San Antonio. Much better preserved than the Alamo and gorgeous. I guess people like Riverwalk too, but I didn’t find it all that. It’s unique one supposes.
I was trying to limit myself to three “must see” or eat and I’ve had “Indian Tacos” offered by Paiutes in Nevada. They are delicious, though. If you want a challenge, try huitlacoche, fermented corn kernels.
True, Grand Canyon is something of a cliche, but there’s a reason, and I did warn it is something of a trip from Phoenix, your most likely point of arrival if you’re flying in. Closer by we have the Casa Grande Ruins monument and the Pueblo Grande ruins are in town itself.
Most of the restaurants around here are Sonoran, our neighbor to the south but with a bit of searching you can find New Mexican-style. If you know where to look, you can find the also rans like Mexico City and Oaxaca.