Coming Up: The Arizona Renaissance Festival
Assuming nice weather, we have a date set to visit the Arizona Renaissance Festival. It should be colorful and fun!
c
Assuming nice weather, we have a date set to visit the Arizona Renaissance Festival. It should be colorful and fun!
As the Boomers are roaming around Arizona, another feature of our travel/adventure website will be to unearth incredible places for you to stay.
When we consider what incredible might mean, it doesn’t get much better than staying right on the south rim of the Grand Canyon in the El Tovar Hotel.
When we made our 10 day “Eat Across America” journey three years ago, which was also our move from Michigan to Arizona, we made our last stop at the famous El Tovar Hotel.
I splurged for a deluxe suite, and that night we walked out our private patio door, sat in lounge chairs with a piping hot cup of coffee (it was November and 40º outside), and enjoyed an incredible sunset looking out at the Grand Canyon. It doesn’t get much better than that!
After the sun had set, we gussied up a bit, and enjoyed a nice meal in the El Tovar Dining Room.
We can’t wait to get this site launched so that we might hit the road and share more current stories with you.
Stay tuned!
Note: photograph from my friend Al_HikesAZ on Flickr.
As we roam around the state of Arizona, one of our missions will be to provide you with insider information about great, as well as fun places to eat.
Tortilla Flats definitely falls into the “fun” category.
Tortilla Flats is a historic stagecoach stop that is seemingly out in the middle of nowhere, with a total population of 6 people. However, it sits on the Apache Trail which makes it a wonderful place to stop for breakfast on your way across the Apache Trail, or a nice 1/2 trip out of the city of Phoenix.
When you walk into Tortilla Flats, you will immediately notice the walls papered with $1 bills, and you can belly up to the bar on real leather saddles while you enjoy your cackleberries (hen’s eggs) for breakfast, or perhaps a monstrous Bull Rider burger for lunch.
In either case, you will greatly enjoy your visit to Tortilla Flats, and the paved scenic road approaching this famous eatery will produce a great many oohs and aahs.
Another feature of our new website will be visiting areas outside of the Phoenix valley.
Arizona, with its arid climate, has many wonderful places of antiquity to visit that have been remarkably preserved.
A wonderful place to visit, and a short hop off the I-17 is Montezuma’s Castle.
From the National Park Service website:
“On December 8, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt celebrated the passage of the Antiquities Act by declaring four sites of historic and cultural significance as our nation’s first National Monuments. Among these was Montezuma Castle, which the President identified as a place “of the greatest ethnological value and scientific interest.” Although very few original artifacts remained in the structure due to intensive looting of the site, Roosevelt’s decision assured the continued protection of one of the best preserved prehistoric cliff dwellings in North America.
Montezuma Castle National Monument quickly became a destination for America’s first car-bound tourists. In 1933, “Castle A”, a 45-50 room, pueblo ruin was excavated, uncovering a wealth of artifacts and greatly enhanced our understanding of the Sinagua people who inhabited this riparian “oasis” along Beaver Creek for over 400 years.
Early visitors to the monument were allowed access to the structure by climbing a series of ladders up the side of the limestone cliffs. However, due to extensive damage to this valuable cultural landmark, public access of the ruins was discontinued in 1951.
Now, approximately 350,000 people a year gaze through the the windows of the past during a visit to Montezuma Castle. Even 600 years after their departure, the legacy of the Sinagua people continues to inspire the imaginations of this and future generations.”
We have many places that we are dying to tell you about. The places to visit, and the vistas to see are beyond imagination.
Stay tuned!
We made our first journey to Scottsdale, Arizona over 15 years ago, and our first impression of this beautiful valley was formed at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort.
Little did we know that a decade later we would sell our business, and move a few short miles down the street from this venerable resort. The memories of “Dive-in Movies” in the pool, fabulous restaurants, and of course 19 consecutive years worth of AAA Five-Diamond Awards make this resort a must stay place in our minds.
Rather than rely on memories of old, it is our intention to reacquaint ourselves with Fairmont’s Scottsdale Princess Resort, and report back to you with our own photographs, video, and notes of our experience.
In fact, we intend to visit as many of the great resorts in this valley as humanly possible, and report back to you where you should make your stay when you visit the Valley of the Sun.
It will be our mission to not merely acquaint you with various resorts, but to share with you our experiences of actually staying in them as a guest.
How fun is that!
Stay tuned.