Summer Fun in Scottsdale!

Scottsdale is a desert paradise...and in the summer it can bake you to a crisp. But you can be prepared. With careful planning and scheduling we were able to take trips to Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Heard Museum and Arizona Science Center, as well as Fleischer Art Museum, Botanical Gardens and some great shopping areas.

Quick Tips:

Plan your trips EARLY in the day. Always look for shade when parking the car (even if it means you have to walk a few extra steps). Never, but never, leave home without a filled water bottle. Taking along a small cooler with ice and cold drinks comes in very handy. You will need sunglasses and something to cover your head. No wonder those early settlers got lost in the desert! Just a short walk up the block in nooontime heat was enough to knock the wind out of my sails for the rest of the day. The trick is to plan activities for early morning and evening, leaving in the middle of the day for indoor or "siesta" type activities. At the pool-choose a lounge in the shade; the sun will move but you will continue to get full benefit from the "misters" which periodically spray you with a fine mist of cooling water. Heavenly!

Best Way To Get Around:

A car (with air conditioning) is absolutely mandatory in this location (it is too far from everything and too hot to walk ANYWHERE!). However, plan your trips well in advance and leave early to beat traffic and heat. We arrived at some flea markets at 6:30 am. and finished shopping by 9:00! Even though museums opened at 10 we arrived early, parked in shade and enjoyed leisurely breakfast in shade.

Best Things Nearby:
Pool, art museums, Scottsdale (Old Town), museums in Phoenix, Sedona, Grand Canyon, Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, Southwestern restaurants.

Best Things About the Resort:
Since our unit in AC is a studio, we were thrilled with the spaciousness of the one bedroom offered here! Since there were just two of us, it was more than roomy, had whirlpool tub in bedroom (romantic), two fireplaces (one in bedroom, one in living room) -- as if we needed it in August! Ample size kitchen with all amenities, including small washer and dryer. The outside pool complex (with waterfall, jacuzzi and misting areas) was my favorite part.

Resort Experience:
The Sheraton Desert Oasis is actually just that . . . a true oasis in the middle of a sweltering desert! While summer is certainly the "off" season for this resort, we were visiting family, so were able to take advantage of the terrific amenities during an otherwise unpopular time.

You must have a car, but once you are there, you may not want to leave! The elegance and luxury of the accomodations and pool area, combined with the beauty of Arizona and friendliness of the people, convinced us we should plan to come again!

(The only problem we encountered was that our smoke alarm kept going off late at night for no reason . . . several maintenance people checked it immediately, but no cause was ever found.)

• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Very Good
• Amenities: Very Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Very Good
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Very Good

For a true "Scottsdale" experience, you must make a visit to the Old Town Tortilla Factory. Besides great food at reasonable prices the place has atmosphere galore and there has got to be a room suited to your dining tastes. The Factory certainly lives up to its name as being one of the best of the Southwest. From its outdoor patio (complete with misters in the summer and plenty of outdoor heaters in the winter) to the world famous tequila bar, there is room for all. The menu includes selections incorporating local, native and typical Southwestern ingredients, featured in new and unusual combinations. We started our experience with 3 salsas (roasted tomato,house and roasted habanero) with tortilla chips in the tequila bar while we pondered the menu. The salsas delivered just the right degree of spice and promoted our sipping on cool and delicious strawberry margaritas (from a huge selection). When our table was ready we moved to the outdoor patio and I ordered a cool and refreshingingly light Tortilla Soup with a nice broth and topped with avocado and toasted tortilla strips. My husband always orders a salad and this one was a winner with organic field greens, jicama, mandarin oranges and tossed with a honey balsamic pico de gallo. For my main course I picked a halibut served over eggplant empanazado with sauteed peppers and chopped olives had somewhat of a Mediterranean accent. The halibut was nice and fresh and very flavorful, grilled to perfection. The filet of beef and marinated shrimp hubbie chose was okay-particularly the beef-but the shrimp was nothing to write home about. (I would never expect good shrimp in the middle of the desert.) It was served with mushrooms, onions, Southwestern slaw and shoestring fries. The dessert selection was impressive, but I had decided to have another margarita (this one was strawberry-kiwi), and we split a vanilla custard with raspberries and cream in a kahlua-flavored tortilla shell. Yum.

This is a very hig-tech, futuristic science center with lots of lights, glitter and flash. It can hold its own against any Science Center I have seen in the U.S., including Philadelphia's famous Franklin Institute. A very comprehensive and easy-to-follow tour booklet allowed us to see a maximum of exhibits in a minimum of time. Allow extra time for planetarium (well worth the extra price) and movies.

The admission is free to anyone who has proof of tribal membership or is a paid member of the museum.

The various Southwestern Native American cultures are presented as individual and diverse civilizations, each with its own language, foods, economy, customs,etc...The lives of these indigenous people is very much connected to the land and what the land produces. The underlying philosophy of respect for land and each other is woven through the exhibits. There are videos,interactive exhibits, dioramas, a myriad of fascinating exhibits which present the various cultures in depth. You can spend hours/days in this museum! Allow enough time to appreciate it in its entirety.

The gift shop here is an absolute MUST to find one-of-a kind Native American treasures, music, books, etc... Native American guides from the various tribes are on hand to answer questions and provide detailed, sensitive answers to questions (and to provide help with making some of the take-home crafts constructed in the interactive exhibits). My niece and I struggled for 15 minutes at a bead-stringing exhibit, following the directions but failing to master the intricate design. We watched in dumbstruck amazement as a little Navajo girl, younger than age 5, stepped up to the exhibit and assembled the pattern in about 25 seconds. She looked at us with obvious pride in her accomplishment. We encountered this scenario several times during the visit and found that the Native American visitors-especially children-were more than happy to give us hands-on demonstrations of these crafts. While they are intitially shy and kind of nonverbal, if you communicate nonverbally and with smiles, they will respond.

Another fascinating experince happened while we were sitting outside on a bench in the courtyard. A Native American woman (possibly Navajo)) was making a call on her cell phone to her mother back home on the reservation. She was telling her mother that grandpa would have to take the tent poles back...they were the wrong size. She had evidently come to the museum, sought information and found answers to her questions. She was able to then relay the information back to the tribe via the modern communication! The museum has loads of examples like this where the old and the new show how they can live together and contribute to each other successfully.