Arid Scottsdale

I guess the highlights were visiting Sedona, Arizona and Tombstone, Arizona, but both cities were a long drive away from Scottsdale (about three hours each). I can't give you a highlight of Scottsdale at all.

Quick Tips:

Make friends on this trip, otherwise there will be absolutely nothing to do! If it wasn't for another couple we met on this trip, I would be bored out of my mind. I didn't want to drive another six hours to the Grand Canyon or another four hours to Nogales, Mexico.

Best Way To Get Around:

You must drive, and watch out for the construction sites because they are all over.

Best Things Nearby:
There is a championship golf course, ice skating rink (home of the Coyotes), Frank Lloyd Wright's house, and the Wild West show.

Best Things About the Resort:
The rooms were beautiful, and I especially liked the fireplaces in the living room and bedroom. Oh, and did I mention the jacuzzi in the bedroom? The furnishings were beautiful.

Resort Experience:
The resort was really beautiful with a gorgeous clubhouse. They have no activities except there was one night of Tex Mex BBQ that I was told was a lot of fun. The pool was really pretty too, with a really big whirlpool. We couldn't stay by the pool too much though because it was extremely windy when we visited.

There was construction going on when we visited so there was a lot of noise and we had a big problem with ants. They came to exterminate, but they left the garbage can, and all the ants that were in there returned. We had to put everything in the fridge or we would be infested again!

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

We didn't have reservations, so we had to wait about 15 minutes to be seated. This is a fun restaurant. They walked us through the kitchen first. You are served family style and the portions are tremendous. When you use the restrooms you can hear people arguing in Italian. This is a recording, and it is so funny. The food was delicious and plentiful, and we had a good time too! If you go on a Thursday night, you can walk around the corner to the Art Festival and browse the art galleries and speak to the artists.

My husband exploded when we visited the Botanical Gardens. I thought it would be interesting. He wanted to sit by the pool on our last full day of vacation. I wish I could tell you that it was good, but there are different species of cactus. It was a bare desert. It didn't help that my husband was real cranky. At least if the gardens were beautiful I might have been able to convince him how great this was, but I actually agreed with him. We spent about one hour there and immediately went to the pool!

My husband loved the movie Tombstone, so I knew that we had to visit there. This was one of the highlights of our trip. The ride from Scottsdale took about 3 hours one-way, which was horrible because there is nothing pretty to look at on this drive. Then all of a sudden, a big city, Tucson, just appears. Then there is desert again. But, I digress.

It was a lot of fun walking the same streets as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. There are signs posted that designate people that were shot in that spot! Then you can see a re-creation of the gunfight at the OK Corral right in the real OK Corral. The first fight is inconsequential, but the actual re-creation was great. We visited the newspaper and the saloons, and then visited Boot Hill Cemetery, where all the famous outlaws were killed.

When we drove back to Scottsdale, we had to stop at a roadblock. The border police searched our car looking for illegal immigrants. That was an interesting incident. We stopped off at Tucson for dinner, just to cut the long ride in half. Of course, when I returned home, I watched the movie Tombstone and appreciated it more.

Sedona was very pretty, which is a distinct difference from the other cities I had visited in Arizona. The mountains are gorgeous and there are various points on the mountains that are designated as harmonic convergence spots. I couldn't climb that high, so I guess I didn't reach nirvana, but it was so beautiful.

Then if you go into town you can go shopping! There are also Jeep tours that you can go on. My friend got married at the Oak Creek, which was so peaceful and beautiful. We visited in mid-April, and surprisingly it was warm that day. We were advised that it is usually chilly until late May, so we were lucky. I definitely recommend Sedona. This was the highlight of the trip.

Montezuma Castle is not a castle. It is a housing labirynth that was built into a mountain by the primitive native people of Arizona. We visited here on the way to Sedona, and the stop was worthwhile. It was very interesting to see how these people adapted and created a society centuries ago. I think we drove about an hour from Scottsdale.

I thought this would be interesting. My husband studied Frank Lloyd Wright in college and always talked about him. I have heard that Mr. Wright was a great architect, but his house was boring to death. It seems minimal. Anyway, it was a little interesting to hear about his life and the things he did for his students. The house is on a hill in the middle of the ugly desert.

The only good thing was that it was only 10 minutes away from the timeshare. Remember, my husband studied this architect and he was bored to death.

Old Town is nice. There is public parking there, too, so don't worry about parking on the street. There are many restaurants and bars here. There are Native American stores, art galleries, jewelry stores, and a park. Sometimes there is entertainment in the park. There is a theater that has live performances, too. I enjoyed walking around here, but I was so surprised that the shops close at 6pm, even on a Saturday night. I'm from NYC, and our stores hardly ever close at all. Old Town Scottsdale is very similar to the old town in Albuquerque.

Jerome, Arizona, is advertised as a ghost town. Since we were in Sedona, we decided to drive another half hour to Jerome to check it out. I have no idea why they call it a ghost town, because there are loads of shops that are open. We went to the museum there. It was once a mining town, so those people left. There was shopping there, but you can't compare it to Sedona. The highlight of this trip was that a roadrunner ran in front of our car. I had never seen a roadrunner before. It looks exactly like the roadrunner from the cartoon, except it is much, much smaller. I was so happy to see it. This bird is the state bird of Arizona and it is on a lot of postcards, but to see it in person was great. Don't worry, Wile E. Coyote was nowhere to be seen!