I'm not sure how Elements works, but Photoshop/Lightroom automatically uses Adobe Camera RAW to import RAW images... i.e. you don't have download it separately (except for updates).
I agree with Adam's suggestion to check out Lightroom. I (and many pro photographers) use it to manage the thousands of raw photos that you can accumulate after each shot - it makes editing and rendering large batches of photos very easy.
Both Photoshop and Lightroom are available for download from Adobe's website as full unencumbered trial versions for 30 days:
http://www.adobe.com/go/tryphotoshop/
http://www.adobe.com/go/trylightroom/