Archive

Phoenix, AZ

  • Apple
    Outlet malls? uh oh... gonna have to bring along an extra piece of luggage so we can get everything back home! Ha!

    Justin... thanks for the Caduceus link. Will put that on our "To Do" list!
  • Uz2Bon36
    Just don't drive through Glendale. Seems that's where every PHX episode of "Cops" is filmed.
  • Apple
    The GF and I are back from a week in Arizona and we had a great time! Here's some of the stuff we did:
    Saturday: Fly CAK-ATL-PHX, pick up rental car and drive to Grand Canyon. 2 Nights at Best Western Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn. Nice hotel with good breakfast buffet. Located about 10 minutes from the canyon.
    Sunday: Spent day hiking/sightseeing South Rim of the canyon. An incredible sight!
    Monday: Drive to Sedona, do the SR179 scenic drive and take mini hikes through Red Rocks. Awesome scenery but traffic was terrible! Had lunch and did a beer flight at the Oak Creek Brewery in the Tiaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village. Very cool!
    Tuesday: Took leisurely drive over to Old Cottonwood and then up to Jerome and did some wine tasting at Caduceus Winery as Justin suggested. Justin didn't mention that Maynard Keenan from Tool and A Perfect Circle owns the winery! Pricey but good wine. In the afternoon we headed back to Old Cottonwood and went to 3 other wine tasting rooms that were part of our Tavern Hotel deal along with dinner at the Tavern Grille (Had prime rib and shrimp - yum!)
    Wednesday: Drove to Phoenix airport to pick up my daughter who flew in from San Diego. Then we went directly to the Dodgers/Padres spring training game. After the game we checked into our condo rental (VRBO) in Glendale 3 blocks from Westgate entertainment district. Perfect location, great accommodations… paid same price for 3 BR, 3 bath, full kitchen, 4 TVs, living room, garage, 2 pools/hot tubs gated condo as we would have paid for a decent 2 queen bed hotel room! VRBO is definitely the way to go!
    Thursday: Reds/Tribe spring game in afternoon then to Westgate for dinner. It was Biker week in Phoenix and there were literally thousands of Harleys at Westgate that night.
    Friday: Took another leisurely driving tour, this time southeast of Phoenix in the South Mountains/Superstition Mountain area. Also very cool! except hot too 97F! Dropped my daughter off at PHX for her 5pm flight then had dinner, watched NCAA and tried a few of the many beers at the Yard House. Had beers from all over… California, Arizona, Hawaii and decided the Alaska Amber was our favorite. We finished the evening alone together at the pool/hot tub back at the condo.
    Saturday: Slept in, packed and headed for the airport. Left PHX at 1pm and got back to CAK about 10:30p.

    Thanks again for all the suggestions from the OC! Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to do everything!

    What a great trip!
  • 4cards
    Apple;1717603 wrote:The GF and I are back from a week in Arizona and we had a great time! Here's some of the stuff we did:
    Saturday: Fly CAK-ATL-PHX, pick up rental car and drive to Grand Canyon. 2 Nights at Best Western Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn. Nice hotel with good breakfast buffet. Located about 10 minutes from the canyon.
    Sunday: Spent day hiking/sightseeing South Rim of the canyon. An incredible sight!
    Monday: Drive to Sedona, do the SR179 scenic drive and take mini hikes through Red Rocks. Awesome scenery but traffic was terrible! Had lunch and did a beer flight at the Oak Creek Brewery in the Tiaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village. Very cool!
    Tuesday: Took leisurely drive over to Old Cottonwood and then up to Jerome and did some wine tasting at Caduceus Winery as Justin suggested. Justin didn't mention that Maynard Keenan from Tool and A Perfect Circle owns the winery! Pricey but good wine. In the afternoon we headed back to Old Cottonwood and went to 3 other wine tasting rooms that were part of our Tavern Hotel deal along with dinner at the Tavern Grille (Had prime rib and shrimp - yum!)
    Wednesday: Drove to Phoenix airport to pick up my daughter who flew in from San Diego. Then we went directly to the Dodgers/Padres spring training game. After the game we checked into our condo rental (VRBO) in Glendale 3 blocks from Westgate entertainment district. Perfect location, great accommodations… paid same price for 3 BR, 3 bath, full kitchen, 4 TVs, living room, garage, 2 pools/hot tubs gated condo as we would have paid for a decent 2 queen bed hotel room! VRBO is definitely the way to go!
    Thursday: Reds/Tribe spring game in afternoon then to Westgate for dinner. It was Biker week in Phoenix and there were literally thousands of Harleys at Westgate that night.
    Friday: Took another leisurely driving tour, this time southeast of Phoenix in the South Mountains/Superstition Mountain area. Also very cool! except hot too 97F! Dropped my daughter off at PHX for her 5pm flight then had dinner, watched NCAA and tried a few of the many beers at the Yard House. Had beers from all over… California, Arizona, Hawaii and decided the Alaska Amber was our favorite. We finished the evening alone together at the pool/hot tub back at the condo.
    Saturday: Slept in, packed and headed for the airport. Left PHX at 1pm and got back to CAK about 10:30p.

    Thanks again for all the suggestions from the OC! Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to do everything!

    What a great trip!
    ...damm son, you did a hell of a lot in one wk. When the wife and I went to Sarasota we kayaked one day & then pretty much vegged out and did the beach or pool each day along with just a little sight seeing.
  • TedSheckler
    tl;dr
  • Apple
    4cards- It was like 4 separate vacations all rolled into one… with a few wineries and beer tastings along the way! Northern AZ is a higher elevation so it was colder there, but still pleasant for seeing the Grand Canyon. The mountains around Flagstaff still had snow on them so we decided not do Snow Bowl. Sedona and Red Rocks was much warmer and definitely a sight to see, but a ton of people there. Then Cottonwood/Jerome was like our mini wine tour vacation where we were able to park the car and walk to all of the Old Cottonwood wine tasting rooms. That was different than wineries in Ohio where you don't see as many tasting rooms away from the actual winery. Once we got to Phoenix it was Spring Training and hanging out with my daughter. (Reds crushed the Tribe!) And again, our condo was only a couple blocks/walking distance from all the night time entertainment we needed. We did a ton of stuff but it was also very relaxing.
  • Apple
    TedSheckler;1717610 wrote:tl;dr
    Figured that would come up. oh well.
  • sleeper
    tl'dr