Arizona road trip: Day 8: Tucscon to Phoenix

Last day of our spring break road trip...

Budget:

• Breakfast: free at hotel
• Arizona Sonora Desert Museum: $39
• Lunch at museum: $36.57
• Dinner at Original Chop Shop in Scottsdale: $37.69
• Ice cream at Petersen's in Scottsdale: $15.21
• Best Western Plus Sundial Resort: Free (We're member of the Best Western Rewards program and used our points to pay for our final night.)

Day's total: $128.47
Trip total: $1709.30 (We met our goal!)

Highlights from our day:

1) Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson

This world-class museum is a zoo, botanical garden and natural history museum all presented in one outdoor campus that sits amidst a desert landscape dotted with saguaro.

We headed out along the one-mile trail, with desert plants labeled all along the way.

During an animal talk we made friends with a barn owl and learn that these birds have keen hearing that allows them to hear a mouse scurrying under eight inches of snow.

The kids favorite exhibit is a re-creation of Kartchner Caverns with winding tunnels that you can crawl through.

If my daughter were a bat, her ears would be this big.

 

A beautiful collection of rocks and minerals.

A hands-on exhibit allows the kids to excavate for dinosaur bones.

We break for lunch in the museum restaurant with healthy options such as fresh green salads and kids meals that include cheese pizza and animal cookies.

2) Best Western Plus Sundial Resort, Scottsdale
Location! Location! Location! This hotel sits in the middle of the Scottsdale action. Restaurants, shops and Old Town are all within walking distance but before adventuring out into town, we spend some time at the pool.

After a swim, it's time for a little R&R in the poolside cabana.

3) Old Town Scottsdale
After a swim, we walk from our hotel into Old Town Scottsdale. It's a balmy 75 degrees and people are dining outside and browsing the art galleries and souvenir shops selling dream catchers and kachina dolls.

We grab dinner at a restaurant called Original Chop Shop where the menu features kale salads and veggie hummus sandwiches. The kids have eaten a lot of burgers and pizza the past few days and we're determined to get them to eat something green. They decide on a chicken pita stuffed with lots of lettuce.

After our green dinner, we feel like we deserve a treat. After all, it's the end of our trip. We've met our budget. It's time to celebrate! We get cones at Petersen's, an old-school soda fountain where you can pull up a stool at a white marble counter top and order a malt.