My Trip to Arizona

Background

Last week (2/13 to 2/21), I had the opportunity to explore somewhere I’ve never been, Arizona. More specifically, I visited Phoenix, Sedona, and Scottsdale which are all beautiful cities. I flew out on the 5:30 AM flight out of BNA (Nashville, TN) and landed in PHX (Phoenix, AZ) around 8:30 AM to meet my girlfriend at the airport. After a 20-minute ride, we arrived at our hotel, the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge.

The hotel is beautiful. Driving into the main roundabout was an amazing sight and never got old throughout the trip. After settling down, the vacation officially began.

Saturday, February 13th - Frontier Town

The trip started with exploring the hotel. We walked around our wing, the main floors, and outside to explore the pool area. We stopped by Stonegrill, one of the on-site dining places to put our names in as we walked around. We got brunch at Stonegrill, where we both got brunch burgers and potatoes…a very filling way to start the day. Afterwards, we explored more of the hotel, stopped by the concierge to learn more about the area, and went back to the hotel room to figure out the rest of our day. We visited the tennis court/pickleball area to reserve a Sunday morning pickleball slot. Then, we decided to head to Cave Creek, more specifically, Frontier Town. Once there we walked around and quickly learned it was bit too late to visit all of the shops so we moved to figuring out dinner times (pro-tip: go Frontier Town before 5:00 PM).

For dinner, we ended up at Stumblina’s Cantina which was across the street from Frontier Town. We sat outside while we still had some sun, ordered some nachos, and I got a local beer. Turns out there was also live music which was great. That plus ordering a couple more beers really helped with how cold it got sitting on the patio. After a long day starting with our early flights, we got a ride back to the hotel to call it a day.

Sunday, February 14th - Exploring the Hotel

The next day we started with the pickleball reservation. Don’t tell Sarah but she’s one hell of a pickleball player. I’m ashamed to say that I got swept 17-0 that morning. We got back to the hotel room, got changed, and dropped by the pool area to check out the oh-so-amazing lazy river. It was still a bit chilly in AZ (mid 50s to 60s) but the heated waters made a big difference. We didn’t get the best spot in the sun so a some of the poolside time was spent wrapped in towels on a reclining chair. After the pool, we got cleaned up and ready for the big day…Valentine’s Day (aka our anniversary) dinner. We reserved this a couple of weeks in advance for a place called Tutti Santi in the Glendale area. Boy it was busy, even for an 8:00 PM reservation. We split a bottle of zinfandel as it was the sweetest red wine they had, chowed on some garlic bread and salads before the meal, devoured our entrees (I got chicken parm), and topped it off with dessert (tiramisu for me). Such a hearty meal knocked us out once we got back to the hotel as we slept in anticipation for the events of the next day.

Monday, February 15th - Camelback

Monday started with a somewhat early rise to head to Camelback Mountain. We found out the Cholla Trail was closed so we decided to hike the Echo Valley Trail instead. I’m not sure if that was a good thing or not, but the Echo Valley Trail is no joke. Parts of it seemed to go straight up and I took so many breaks yet not enough. If you find yourself headed this way, pack lots of water, maybe some gloves too, and prepare yourself. That hiked absolutely killed me, and it was a blessing once we got back to the hotel room. Once back, we ordered a pepperoni pizza and a chicken bacon ranch sandwich from Modern Market Eatery.

Tuesday, February 16th - Work Day

Tuesday, as was planned before the trip, we both worked full days. I got caught up with work things, ate my leftovers from Sunday, and calmed my nerves for Wednesday (which you’ll see why). We chose to “stay-in” for dinner which meant we ate at Twenty6 which is one of the hotel dining options, this time in the lobby-ish area. We shared a charcuterie board that was sub-par, I got a cider and a mule, and I chowed down on a NY strip to end the day.

Wednesday, February 17th - Meeting the Extended Family

Wednesday was a big day. Sarah has extended family in the area and we decided to meet up with them for dinner and to hangout after work. The day started like the day prior, full working days. Once 4:00 PM hit, we were in the car with her family chatting about what we’ve done and what we plan to do. Once at her family’s house, we talked more prior to dinner. Here, I met Sarah’s mom’s cousin, his parents, his wife, their two kids, and the parents. To say I was nervous was an understatement. Dinner was at the country club were we got fried chicken, as it was the Wednesday special. It was delicious. The country club, her family’s place, and her family were all wonderful. The night went well and we got an amazing view of the sunset while at dinner. After dinner we said our goodbyes, got dropped off at the hotel, and crashed for another working day.

Thursday, February 18th - Work Day

Working on eastern time hours while being located in a mountain time zone is both a blessing and a curse. I started work around 6:30 to 7:00 AM (add 2 for EST) but got to end around 3:00 to 4:00 PM. Again, blessing and a curse. Thursday was another full working day. After work, and after hearing the recommendations from her family the night before, we walked to dinner at the shopping complex located just outside of our hotel. We ended up at a place called the Thirsty Lion Gastropub which was great! I ordered fish and chips to make up for the missed Ash Wednesday and topped it off with an Arizona Flight. Another uneventful day due to the long day of work. A big win, however, was securing the rental car we planned on using the next day.

Friday, February 19th - Sedona

I woke up a bit early to make a Friday-morning meeting so I wouldn’t fall too behind at work and then quickly packed to meet the owner of our rental car. We used the Turo app (@Turo sponsor me) to find a car that was simple, not terribly expensive, and could be delivered to the hotel. The overall experience with the app was positive and I’m looking forward to using the app to rent out sweet cars in the future. Friday was an eventful day but it consisted of lots and lots and lots of steps. Did I mention it was a day full of steps?

The drive from Phoenix to Sedona took just over an hour and a half and we arrived at Cathedral Rock at around 11:00 AM-ish. Cathedral Rock was one of the weirdest trails I’ve done. It had a very define path, then it quickly turned into smooth stones you had to crab walk to get up-and-down. At the top, you find yourself in between massive stones and looking at an amazing view. In the picture below you can see where we are relative to where the trail ends up at (the in between the two peaks in the back).

After Cathedral Rock, we took a short drive to the Chapel of the Holy Cross which is a church built right into the mountain side. It is beautiful. The architecture, the location, the view, everything. I’ve made it a goal to collect a post card from each place I travel to and I decided to get my post card here.

We then decided to skip stopping for lunch and drove about 30 minutes to the Mescal Trailhead where you can hike to Devil’s Bridge. This is where Friday turned from great to terrible to great to terrible. We went the wrong way. Like the complete wrong way. We completed the Mescal Trail, which took maybe 2-3 hours and learned that the official trailhead was across the street. The Mescal Trail was great, don’t get me wrong, but we were dying and frustrated at our mistake. After doubling back to go the correct way, we ran into someone who noted that it would be sundown by the time we returned. To us that meant we had to go, and go fast. We took the correct path to Devil’s Bridge which made the mistakes quickly worth it. Not only that, but it was also late enough in the day where it wasn’t insanely busy or crowded at the top. We made it and the view was stunning. The air, given the elevation felt crisp and clean, much more than anywhere else I’ve felt.

Then came the worst part of Friday, beating sundown. We took our pictures, admired the view, and then decided to trek back to the car as we still had to drive back to Phoenix. We thought we were going the right way, which didn’t turn out right and we ended up somewhat lost. Not good. We found someone else who made the same mistake as us (shoutout Maggie from Buffalo) and we decided to trek on the path we took as it was one, a path, and two, either led to a trailhead or a landmark so we couldn’t go wrong. We found mountain bikers along the way who told us the correct way and said we accidentally found ourselves on a 4-mile path! They helped us get our bearings and mentioned we were maybe halfway to the main road, and so we continued on. Taking minimal breaks to check the map when we got service, we hiked for what seemed like ages. Eventually, tens of thousands of steps later, we found ourselves on the main road in one piece just as it was starting to get dark. We walked along the road and finally made it back to the car. We ended up stopping for some quesadillas before driving back to Phoenix, returning the car to the host, and crashing for the night. Friday’s step count was about 35,000 give or take.

Saturday, February 20th - Hot Air, Art, and Birrias

Saturday was an early rise. We scheduled a sunrise hot air balloon ride which meant the shuttle was picking us up from the hotel at 5:45 AM. This meant being dead from the previous day’s excursions whilst looking alive for a bucket list item. We met the other passengers on the way there, mainly a couple escaping the cold of Minnesota, and got to see the sunrise, in a hot air balloon, in the clear Arizona sky. It was breathtaking and something I’d definitely do again despite the cost. If you ever get the chance to go, Hot Air Expeditions is a great hosting company and I can’t recommend them enough.

We got back to the hotel, rested, chilled by the pool, and then caught a ride to Fashion Square in Scottsdale. Here we grabbed a quick bite before my surprise for Sarah, which I planned mid-trip. Inside Fashion Square is an immersive art gallery called Wonderspaces Arizona. It wasn’t terribly expensive and well worth it. There were unique pieces we ended up staying an hour and a half despite there not being as many exhibits as you’d expect. The fact that was immersive was super cool. For an example, one of the exhibits was a two VR films while another was a robot that drew you.

To end the day, we got a recommendation from Sarah’s friend to get some fresh tortillas and thus set out on our way to Old Town Scottsdale to grab a bite. We tried stopping at a place but it turned out to be a 2.5 to 3 hour wait! No thanks. A short walk away was Barrio Queen, which proved to be the best meal of the trip. We got a couple house margs, shared some chips and salsa, and I got quesabirrias tacos. Mannnnn, those were good. Really kicked my love for them to the point where I can stop thinking about them and plan to get them back in Nashville.

Sunday, February 21st - Checking Out

The trip ended a too quick with us having early flights on Sunday. We checked out of the hotel, caught a ride back to PHX, said our sad goodbyes to one another and went our separate ways to our flight gates. I ended up landing back at BNA around 2:00 PM in the afternoon and then went right back to reality.