This is the second installment of our Arizona AAA Five-Diamond Resort Tour. It is also our third installment as The Phoenician Resort also has a boutique resort within a resort called The Canyon Suites, which is also a AAA Five-Diamond Winner.
Scottsdale, Arizona’s Phoenician Resort sits on 250 picturesque acres at the base of Camelback Mountain, and features 643 accommodations ranging from newly renovated guestrooms, suites, casitas, and even a choice of four presidential suites.
There are nine swimming pools, ten dining options, 11 tennis courts, a 22,000 square-foot spa (The Centre for Well-Being), retail boutiques, a USGA Championship golf club, a $25 million art collection to tour, and countless other incredible amenities to make for a most memorable experience.
And, for the most discriminating of travelers, there is also The Canyon Suites, which is a boutique resort within a resort. That’s where we want to stay for our next visit!
We started our stay-cation having lunch with The Phoenician’s marketing director, Denise Seomin, at the resort’s brand new Relish Burger Bistro. Located in the resort’s golf clubhouse, this casual eatery features 12 signature burgers highlighted by the “Five Diamond” burger. This baby consisted of a bun-less (Knife & Fork Style) Kobe beef burger, sautéed crab meat, bernaise sauce, with a sunny side up egg plopped right on top!
This was unquestionably the best burger I have ever had. In fact, we were back for seconds the next day!
After a very nice visit with Denise, and a marvelous lunch, we made a beeline for our private pool cabana to spend the rest of the day. What a wonderful way to lounge at the pool. Our cabana featured a couch, a small table/eating area, a telephone, wireless Internet, a refrigerator stocked with water, sodas, and Red Bull, and a fresh fruit basket. And if this weren’t enough, we even enjoyed freshly baked cookies, and a little care package with lip balm and sun screen. Everything we needed to relax and enjoy the pool was thoughtfully provided.
After many carefree hours of pool lounging, we headed to our room to clean up for our 7:00 reservations at the resort’s AAA Four-Diamond Il Terrazzo restaurant. It was fabulous, but I will give you all the details in a separate post.
The next day, before we checked out, we rose early to enjoy the spa (The Centre for Well-Being). Carol greatly enjoyed a shea butter wrap, while I put in an hour on the elliptical machine, and then enjoyed a wonderful eucalyptus steam bath. What a way to start your day!
After cleaning up, we headed back to the resort’s main building to tour their $25 million art collection. Just like you would find at the nation’s best art museums, The Phoenician has created a free audio tour, complete with a specially designed headset, that will take you on a 45 minute journey through the resort’s art collection. Since moving to Arizona, I have become a big fan of Allan Houser, and the resort has a number of his sculptures.
The Phoenician is a fabulous resort. The staff went out of their way to make our experience memorable, we were constantly pleased with little touches that demonstrated a desire to create experience, and we definitely look forward to another stay with our friends at The Phoenician.
We can confidently proclaim that this AAA Five-Diamond resort is well worth your great consideration.
I (David) only have one regret. I forgot to sample their home-made gelato, and I also missed out on their famous chocolate, dark cherry sour-dough bread from their new Grape & Grain retail outlet.
Oh! Major Bummer!
Disclosure: our remarkable stay-cation was provided by The Phoenician. Thanks!
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I took this a few years ago in Washington D.C, at the Vietnam War Memorial.
When you stand in front of this massive memorial, and witness the solemn manners of those left behind, you gain a deeper appreciation for the sacrifice of those slain.
Today I am thankful for the freedoms that I enjoy, but very mindful of the infinite price that was paid by those who stood in harm’s way.
One lucky person is going to win a free copy of Sedona: The Most Uniquely Beautiful Site on Earth.
“SEDONA: The most uniquely beautiful site on Earth” is an all-color, 128-page, 9″ x 11 ½ ” hardcover book with a laminated dust jacket and a sewn cover with foil-stamped title on the front and spine. This extremely popular book essentially is a photographic essay featuring 112 of photographer Tom Johnson’s most beautiful pictures of Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon and the surrounding area. These photographs are complemented by the descriptive, informative text of Hoyt Johnson, founder of 16-year-old, nationally circulated Sedona Magazine. The book is composed of six chapters titled The Red Rocks, The Canyon, The Rim, The Wilderness, The Ruins and The Plateau. This artful presentation of Sedona’s spectacular natural beauty, is a “must” for people throughout the world who have experienced an exhilarating romance with this unique site. It is both a prized souvenir and a cherished, decorative item for beautiful residences”
Here’s how the drawing will work:
Enter your name and email address below.
Tell your friends and family about The Roaming Boomers, and specifically this drawing in your Facebook, Twitter, or even your own blog. You might say something like: Win a beautiful Sedona coffee table book over at The Roaming Boomers: https://ow.ly/1QnGY (Facebook and Twitter users can simply copy & paste the red text)
The drawing will be held on Friday, June 4th, 2010.
Sally Boone from West Virginia is the winner. Congratulations Sally, and thanks for being a fan/subscriber of The Roaming Boomers.
As The Roaming Boomers website continues to evolve, and as we persevere in our quest to find our voice in the very crowded travel industry, we continually remind ourselves of our mission:
“To provide discriminating (a person with refined taste or good judgment) baby boomers a trusted travel resource to determine what to do, where to eat, and where to stay when they travel.”
Further, our intention is to actually take you there with our videos, photography, and textual recounting of our experiences. In so doing, we hope that we might build a life-long relationship with you and your friends/family through our website’s social media tools like Facebook and Twitter.
Carol with the Sedona Chamber's Heather Hermen (left), and our waiter at Sedona's Heartline Cafe
Carol and I have been very busy forging relationships with industry partners like Heather Hermen with the Sedona Chamber of Commerce/Tourism Bureau. It is relationships of this nature that will help us to bring you cool stuff. And we all know that cool stuff is…well…cool!
As we were nearing Sedona, Arizona from highway 179, we were immediately greatly pleased to see that all the road construction has yielded one of the most beautiful city gateways we have ever encountered.
As you near the city’s famed red rocks, the highway splits into divergent one-way thoroughfares that provide a great many scenic view stops. Furthermore, all traffic lights have been replaced with traffic circles, and the streets are now lined with beautiful landscaping and red rock sidewalks. It’s stunning!
Clearly the City of Sedona has been very hard at work to live up to its billing as the #1 Most Beautiful Place in America (USA Today Travel).
Unfortunately, the weather (strong winds/cloudy skies) prevented us from doing a couple things that we had planned to shared with you. But, fortunately, we live only 90 minutes down the road from Sedona and will be back soon. The strong wind kept us from a kayak trip on the Verde River, and the cloudy skies kept me from showing you my most favorite place to photograph the town of Sedona.
To me, its nearly a crime to shoot photographs in Sedona with cloudy skies. Those majestic red rocks simple beam in the morning’s early light, and if the skies happen to be overcast, the incredible light is gone. Ah…the life of a picky photographer.
Nonetheless, we do have some incredible things to share with you:
We spent three nights in Sedona on this particular journey, and as I mentioned above, our “what to do” section is pretty light. We promise to fix that in another journey “up the hill” to Sedona in the very near future.
I suppose one of the best ways to describe Sedona, Arizona’s Adobe Grand Villas might be to use the words from one of their competitor properties when we were planning our trip:
“We can’t compete with Adobe Grand Villas. Their property is amazing, and even Olivia Newton John stays there when she comes to town.”
I was a little taken back when I heard a competing property manager say this, but it also confirmed our resolve to go check this place out.
The minute you walk through the front gate, you will be transported into a place of wonder perhaps not unlike Alice in Wonderland. The gardens are amazing, filled with captivating sculptures, and everywhere the eye can focus is a statement from the property’s creator that this is going to be not just a stay, but an experience.
I knew this was going to be a cool place when I noticed that the front door of the lobby was in fact a working water sculpture. When we walked in the front door, the decor (I shudder to even call it that) was filled with wonder. There were molasses cookies, candies, and delicious lemon-aide to refresh us as we completed the brief check-in process.
We were then whisked away to our own corner of this wonderland where we were first greeted by an amazing front door, er…work of art. We walked inside to find the smell of fresh baking bread, a romantic table set up with a welcome placard set prominently in view.
Immediately, the custom-built bed captivated our attention, quickly followed by the incredible stonework in the fireplace. Our host taught us how to get at our bread when it finished baking, and taught us the workings of the in-room entertainment system.
She then walked us into the bathroom. This bathroom was larger than most hotel rooms! It was huge!
The sinks were a work of art. The shower! How to describe the shower? The entrance to the shower was another labor of artistic love, and the shower itself was a waterfall! No shower head, but you showered in a waterfall!
At the other end of this incredible bathroom, was a two-person jetted bath with another fireplace all designed to create the perfect atmosphere for romance. The entertainment system also piped music through separate speakers into this space.
The food at Adobe Grand Villas was superb, and if you like, they have a personal on-site chef, Michael Merilli, to further compliment your experience.
Oh…and if all this wasn’t enough….this was the view outside our window!
I hope you get the picture.
You must visit Sedona, Arizona, and when you do, you must spend some time at Adobe Grand Villas!
Disclosure: this wonderful lodging experience was provided by the kind folks at Adobe Grand Villas.
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The Roaming Boomers
This is the second installment of our Arizona AAA Five-Diamond Resort Tour. It is also our third installment as The Phoenician Resort also has a boutique resort within a resort called The Canyon Suites, which is also a AAA Five-Diamond Winner.
