Red Roof Tucson North

Help with planning 9 days in the Tuscon area

by galefamily

Hi
I am traveling with my 11 year old son, who has respiratory issues but is doing ok, to the Tucson area from Feb 11-Feb 15, and on the 15 we will be joined by the rest of our family. Hubby, daughter 15 and son 9.

We were in beautiful Tuscon two years ago and did some of the stuff but didn't do everyting by far. We did Sabino Canyon( like four times b/c we heard it was good for respiratory issues--i love that place and think it's like a piece of Eden here on earth) Dessert Museum (which we loved just aren't sure if we should repeat) Mt Lemmon, the two national parks east and west (the name escapes me Saguaro?) almost made it down to Nogales but turned around b/c we were worried about the fumes from the cars and the general pollution for my son, Reid park Zoo (also loved it)explored the University area a bit.
We also went to Scottsdale to some trolly line set-up.
So you can see we didn't do alot.
We would like to do more this time but choose well

Could you perhaps give us some ideas about the following
1- What to do when I am on my own with my son? We will do Sabino, the butterfly exhibit at the B. Gardens so far.
What about horseback riding for someone who is nervous about it--it is good for his lungs so I want him to do this at least a couple of times while we are there.

2- What should we do as a family? We were thinking of getting in Pima for the boys while the girls go for a moderate spa experience--massage and nails. What is a good value--best service for least amount of money?
Kartchier Caverns State Park ( but heard mixed reviews about this)
Tombstone--area is it worth doing this for a day? how does old tucson studios fit in with this? Do both? Only one.
should we do the dessert museum again? will the kids find it too repetitive?

3- We will leave Tucson either on the 20 or 21st and try to fit in a Grand Canyon experience. We are leaving AZ on Feb 23. We could stay less time in Tucson to get a nice experience of AZ north of Phoenix. We want to do some GC experience, Sedona, Painted Dessert

Please advise as to how to construct our trip so that we can also have down time but also see new things and not to be missed sites.

Thanks alot for the help I already received to a previous post and to the help I will no doubt receive for this one. This is an awesome site with people who really love Tucson and it's nice to be in contact with all of you.

Atarah