day trips. . .Phoenix
 

please recommend driving day trips outside of Phoenix. . .children 8yr and 13yr. Also restaurants with good food ...good view...what is Ed's like these days. Any suggestions for Native American culture for the kids?

I always recommend this - the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Their web site is http://arboretum.ag.arizona.edu/
My kids actually liked it there - it is a BEAUTIFUL and easy place to take a hike in the real desert. (The trails are easier and shorter than real hiking trails around there which can be pretty tough.) The cactus, flowers and birds were great. They saw a scorpion (that was a big hit) and there were signs about rattle snakes but, of course, we didn't see any. It really is perfectly safe. I always make it a point to bring my kids to some natural area almost no matter where we are. Maybe my love for the outdoors will rub off on them. Who knows.

Be sure to check out any and all National Monuments. They are wonderful.

While it's not a particualrly pretty drive, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum on the north side of Tucson (which makes it about 1 1/2 hrs from Phoenix) is one of my very favorite places to visit. It's more of an zoo/botanical garden, very well done. "Next door" is Saguaro National Monument, which has some short hiking trails to petroglyphs, and a visitor's center that shows a good short film on the significance of saguaro cacti and the desert to the Tohono O'Odham Indian tribe. Enjoy!

Check out the Heard Museum for Native American culture. They have several hands on displays. Other day trips, Sedona, Tonto Natural Bridge.

It is a fairly easy day trip to see Montezuma's Castle, Tuzigoot (both Native American ruins) and Jerome (a ghost town that is undergoing a bit of a revival). You could even get a bit of the Sedona area in, with a longer day.