Jeff and I had the very best time on our little getaway. We've been married for almost 9 years and this is the FIRST time we have been able to actually have more than a few hours to ourselves, so it was such a treat for us. Jeff's mom and Aunt Kim flew in to watch the girls and we are so grateful for that.
Scottsdale has always been on my list of places to visit, and when we were thinking about where to go, we decided that it was the perfect choice. We were able to snag super cheap airline tickets and it was off season there (since it's summer in Arizona = HOT!), so the room accommodations were priced low and it wasn't busy. We certainly didn't mind the heat at all, we were coming from Texas where it has been high 90's. The Arizona heat was much drier than we are used to, so the heat didn't bother us at all.
Rise and Shine! Jeff's mom dropped us off at the airport at 6am. Our flight left at 7:10 am but ended up getting delayed a few minutes. We drank Starbucks and attempted a selfie, which I quickly realized we are not good at. I guess selfies are for a younger generation - half the time our heads are cut off and they are always blurry.
We landed at 7:45 am in Arizona! Arizona, which is just a time zone away, doesn't participate in daylight savings time - so we actually gained two extra hours! We grabbed a taxi to our resort and within minutes of driving I was in LOVE. The Valley is beyond gorgeous and Jeff and I both are fond of the Spanish style architecture, so we were really excited.
We stayed at the Omni Resort & Spa at Montelucia and it did not disappoint. It was simple beautiful and the views of Camelback Mountain were breathtaking. We were able to check in early and were settled in our room and ready to start the day by 9am! Here are a few pictures of the resort- some I took off the Internet and others I took myself:
Jeff and I brewed some coffee and walked around the resort and then decided to get breakfast at one of the restaurants on site, called Prado. This restaurant quickly became one of my favorite restaurants that I've ever been too. We ate breakfast here each day we were on our little getaway and had a nice dinner there on Saturday night. The food was amazing. This is the outside patio seating at the restaurant:
I knew I wanted to hike Camelback Mountain while we were in Scottsdale, but we didn't plan it out so well. After breakfast we headed over to one of the two trails on Camelback Mountain and I got more than what I bargained for. Had we not went at 12 in the afternoon and had I not just downed 3 cups of coffee, and if the sun was not directly above my head, I have no doubt I could have handled the hike just fine. But I only got .66 miles up and knew I had to turn around. I was struggling. Jeff could have easily done it, even in those conditions, but I just couldn't. When the Park Ranger told us that there were only 5 people on the trail and usually there were over a thousand, I didn't feel so bad.
Granted, we didn't make it to the top - but even from where we were at, the views were amazing. I wanted to send for my bags and move right then and there!
We went back to the resort, showered up and headed to Fashion Square.
We walked around and then took a trolley to Old Town Scottsdale.
We stopped at the Rusty Spur Saloon. You walk through the swinging wooden doors and are embraced with a bunch of Old Western decor. They have live music and it's a fun vibe. We wrote our name on a dollar bill and hung it up. Each December, they take them down, and donate the money to a local Children's Hospital.
The
Rusty Spur Saloon is the oldest of Scottsdale bars, now celebrating
over 60 years in business. It was Scottsdale’s first ever saloon. The
building is an officially registered historic landmark that used to be
the Farmers’ Bank of Scottsdale. Now the money’s gone and the vault’s
filled with liquor - See more at:
http://rustyspursaloon.com/#sthash.C9Soxx3j.dpufn.
The
Rusty Spur Saloon is the oldest of Scottsdale bars, now celebrating
over 60 years in business. It was Scottsdale’s first ever saloon. The
building is an officially registered historic landmark that used to be
the Farmers’ Bank of Scottsdale - See more at:
http://rustyspursaloon.com/#sthash.RbzA9e9B.dpuf
The
Rusty Spur Saloon is the oldest of Scottsdale bars, now celebrating
over 60 years in business. It was Scottsdale’s first ever saloon. The
building is an officially registered historic landmark that used to be
the Farmers’ Bank of Scottsdale - See more at:
http://rustyspursaloon.com/#sthash.RbzA9e9B.dpuf
We walked around Old Town and then grabbed some dinner.
Saturday was a relaxing day. We slept in and strolled over to breakfast late in the morning. We hung out by the pool and I read some books and just soaked up the quiet and relaxing moments.
That afternoon we headed to the spa at the resort and each had a massage.
After our massages, we had lunch on the rooftop terrace.
We decided to lay out at the pool some more and then headed back to our room to get ready for dinner. While I was getting ready I noticed it was becoming extremely windy and the next thing I knew, we were getting alerts on our phone.
We ran over to dinner despite the dust blowing all over! It was neat to experience, Jeff has seen them many of times when he was in Iraq.
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner that night!
The next morning we went to the pool again and packed our bags for our late check out. We kept the bags locked up at the hotel while we went to Scottsdale again. We had some lunch, walked around, and enjoyed out last few hours before taking the red eye flight home.
We absolutely loved Scottsdale and had the best time together. It was so nice to have a little getaway!!
