Taking the Kids: The Sonoran desert in Arizona

on Mar 12, 2015

-- VISIT A UNIQUE MUSEUM. I'm a big fan of the Greater Phoenix's newest museum, the Musical Instrument Museum, the first museum in the world dedicated to the celebration of global instruments. Its exhibits include music-making devices from 200 countries and territories. Kids will love the Experience Room where you can touch and play exotic instruments. The Hall of Flame Fire Museum features the world's largest collection of fire-fighting equipment.

-- TIME TRAVEL BACK to the "Old West" at Rawhide Western Town and Steakhouse, which offers tons of family-style entertainment for any age, including stagecoach rides, country music bands, cowboy gunfights, burro and camel rides, a petting zoo, over 20 specialty stores and more

-- SEE THE BLOOMING CACTI at the Desert Botanical Garden, the world's finest collection of arid-land plants from deserts around the world.

-- HIT THE SPA. You have plenty to choose from and many treatments (think desert mud body wraps inspired by Native American traditions. Locals say hot stone massage was invented here. How about the Turquoise Wrap at the Golden Door Spa at the Boulders? I spent an indulgent time at the Camelback Inn Spa in Scottsdale overlooking Camelback Mountain. (Here's what I wrote about that experience.)

-- PLAY GOLF. There are more than 200 courses, including eight affordable municipal courses. Take your young golfers to the city's Papago Golf Course where every hole has a good view of the famous red rocks.

-- SAMPLE LOCAL EATS at a food truck, especially on Fridays when the Phoenix Public Market Cafe’s parking lot turns into a food truck food court.

Have a taco for me -- and keep those new baseballs and markers handy for autographs.

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For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and follow @TakingtheKids on Twitter and Facebook; Check out Eileen's new nine-city Kids Guide series available from major booksellers and online.