tucson: My family and I are traveling [by car] towards Phoenix with a possible stop in Tucson. We been to both places once with positive results, but the second time around, we would like a more local perspective. I'm looking for some local favorites with a few tourist attractions sprinkled in as well. Basically: -restaurants (family friendly) -shops -sights that only locals would know about. I'm seeking help from mostly residents of these cities, but anyone's advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. :D|||These are some place for Tucson. 1. The Sonoran Desert Museum is something fun for the whole family. They have lots of great desert animals. Get there as early as possible before it gets hot and all the animals take a nap. If you go on a weekend, they will have docents to give you more info and maybe have some animal you can touch (lizards, tarantulas, snakes,...) 2. The Titan Missile Museum is another great family site. They take you into what was once an actual Titan Missile facility. Very top secret when it was operational. Very educational. 3. The best restaurant in town is Cafe Poca Cosa. It's located in downtown Tucson on Pennington Street. Big lime green parking garage looking building. Anyway, it has great food. I hesitate to call it Mexican food, because it is not what you think. No burritos, tacos, or enchiladas here. Just really good fresh food. Go for lunch to save some money. Try the "Chefs Special" to sample more if this is your first time. You get 3 smaller portions of the entree, but you don't get to choose which 3.|||I live in downtown Phoenix and love it. Restaurants you might want to try are Cibo which is a very nice pizza place. For a more family setting try The Old Spaghetti Factory. This is one of my favorite places. It has a trolley in the middle of the restaurant and things all over the walls. The tables and chairs are pretty different too. If there is a game going on while you are here you definately want to check that out. There are always tons of people outside riding the light rail, eating on patios, and just having fun at the games. If you go outside of downtown a bid there is Castles and Coasters which you children should love. I've listed the websites under source.|||Well, some fun and unique things to do in Phoenix are 1. Take a tour of the university of Phoenix stadium where the Cardinals football team plays with the retractable roof and the playing field that slides in and out of the stadium. http://www.justbuytickets.com/Venues/Pho鈥?/a> 2. Take a hot air balloon ride http://www.hotairexpeditions.com/general鈥?/a> 3. go tubing down the Salt River http://www.saltrivertubing.com/ Fun western restaurants - steakhouse type http://www.reatapass.com/history.htm http://www.pppatio.com/home/default.asp fun and delicious pizza restaurant http://www.pizzeriabianco.com/ Have a wonderful time!|||Restaurants: REAL Mexican food: Carolinas in down town. http://www.carolinasmex.com/ Indian Fry Bread: Fry Bread House http://www.azcentral.com/ent/dining/Rest鈥?/a> Pizza & Wings: Uncle Sams (3 locations) http://unclesamsaz.com/ Shops: Go do downtown at coppersquare: Old town Scottsdale is overrated and too crowded. http://www.coppersquare.com/directory/ If you're into small Historical shops, cafes and Farmer's Markets, Glendale is a nice place to visit. It's a small area, but neat. http://www.historic-glendale.net/ Sights: I've always found the "Boulders" in North Scottsdale to be interesting. http://www.theboulders.com/|||i recommend going to westgate many family friendly restaurants there and shops i also recomend arrowhead mall sights i say downtown phoenix is a great place to be in hope you enjoy it here ;)|||In tucson there is a place you can hike called catalina state park and you can hike up to these waterfalls and pools its really nice there and what my boyfriend and I did when we went to tucson is just saw a place that looked decent and just stopped in and it was really good food, i can't remember the name of it now. As for Phx!, I'm a born and raised phoenician I would reccomend going to the wild life zoo with you're family, it's a spectacular zoo and they recently opened a large aquarium there. This is alot better then the phx zoo because you can get a lot closer and personal with the animals its great!, you get to see penguins in the desert! For restaurants, Fudruckers is a popular choice its got just classic american food burgers and all but it's aimed for the children and has a great environment. Living here my whole life and having been only to cali i'm not too sure on a lot of restaurants if they're actually chains or not. You can try Mama's kitchen in glendale its really good food but it looks like a hole in the wall. Also Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville is in Glendale and it has people walking around on stilts so its a fun environment too! Also along glendale ave, around 55th ave there is a great chocolate factory called cerrta candy co. you can go on a factory tour and have a lot of fun. As for shops it really depends what your looking for if its native culture I would reccomend parts of downtown Scottsdale they've got rows and rows of shops that have unique and great things to buy. As well as a great art district, you can watch peolpe making glass sculptures blowing them with they're mouths and its really interesting, there is a place called teh sugar bowl thats down there, right along scottsdale rd near both those area's of shops. You can email me if you have any questions or want to know anything else! Hope you have fun! =]]