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[quote=Anonymous]If you like hiking and desert beauty, do not miss Sabino Canyon, on the east side of Tucson.  The most popular hike is Seven Falls, which is the most beautiful place on God's entire earth.  In the summertime it gets crowded with swimmers, but in March it's offseason, easy hiking temperatures, and you may have it all to yourself, or close to.  Of course, there's less water running in the creek in March, so the falls aren't as scenic/spectacular, but still beautiful.  It's a tradeoff--more water in the falls, bigger crowds to share them with.

The second part of the hike would be hard for a 4 yo, though.  It's short--2.5 miles from the trailhead, I think--but a lot of it is switchbacks up a steep hill on a very narrow path with a pretty big dropoff.  But even if you can't go all the way, the first half of that hike is easy and flat, crossing back and forth over the creek.  There are also plenty of other, easier hikes in the park--just ask a ranger.  The tram ride through the canyon alone is pretty beautiful even if you don't hike.

There's also nice hiking in the Saguaro National Monument.  For a nice easy hike, drive east on Speedway Boulevard till it ends, park the car, and start walking.  It's an easy walk.  Cover up from the sun, carry plenty of water, and wear your sunscreen.  Or you could head down to the visitor's center, which is further southeast, on Old Spanish Trail.

The Arizona desert museum and the Old Tucson movie studio are good, and near each other (way out on the west side, over Gates Pass).  Do the desert museum first and get there early (like when it opens at 7 am), before the animals all go to sleep about 10.  The animals know how to live in the desert.  After lunch at the very nice museum cafe, Old Tucson should be fun for the 8 year old (esp. if he or she likes gunfights and action brawls by movie stuntmen).

There's also non-desert beauty in Arizona--you can drive up to the top of Mt. Lemmon, where it's cool and the pine trees are tall.  Same is true east of Phoenix, through the towns of Show Low, Payson, and Apache.  That's a longer drive, though--couple of hours in the car to get there, but it's cool when you arrive.

If the 8 yo is into astronomy, the telescopes on top of Kitt Peak (the University of Arizona observatory) are pretty cool.

There's not a lot that's beautiful between Phoenix and Tucson.  The standard route between them is I-10, flat and boring, outlet shops and truck stops.  If you ended up heading east from Phoenix to the Show Low/Pason area, you could drive down through Globe and come to Tucson on the old highway through Canyon del Oro and Oracle.  That's definitely the road less traveled, and you'd see some unusual and sometimes spectacular terrain on the way.  A lot of time in the car, though--that could turn into a four-hour drive.

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