We belong to this group of resorts. Since our membership allows us to use the facilities (exercise room, pool, spa) for free and gives us a 20% on meals, we thought we’d check it out. We came here twice during our time in Tucson. Besides being an ILX resort, it’s one of the Varsity Clubs of America, catering to ASU alumni and events for ASU Wildcats in training. The resort also houses the largest off-campus collection of Pac-10 memorabilia in the state. If you’re as zero of a sports nut as I am, you’ll be saying, “What’s that?” Well, it stands for Pacific-10, and is in partnership with Fox Sports Net television to promote sports, what else? Their trademark is Conference of Champions®, and they are into conferencing, marketing, merchandising, and handling special events. There are paintings of people engaged in sports all over the high walls of the lobby.
Their exercise room was small, with two treadmills, two cross trainer machines, and some resistance equipment but very few free weights. One of the cross trainers was squeaking annoyingly, but got my heart rate up to the desired level (160) pretty quickly. Bob didn’t spend too much time in the exercise room because his back was bothering him, so spent more time outdoors in the spa and pool. There is also a steam room, but neither of us used it.
We had an excellent combo pizza at Joey’s although the service wasn’t exactly with a smile. Maybe she was having a bad day. We ended up enjoying our pizza with a glass of beer outside on the shaded patio overlooking the pool area. One area in which we were very pleased was information given to us by the manager. When he learned we were planning our first trip to San Carlos, Mexico, he gave us lots of very helpful information and maps of Nogales, San Carlos, and Sonora state. In addition to the amenities described above, Varsity Club has conference facilities, a cactus garden, library, putting green, and billiards.
Although we didn’t stay there overnight, as members, we have floor plans of the suites available. “Gold” is a two-bedroom, two-bathroom, 975-square-foot suite with separate living room, kitchenette, and dining area. “Silver” has one bedroom, one bath, a vanity area, kitchenette and dining, in addition to a patio in its 660 square feet. The “Copper” studio, at 500 square feet, contains a combined living/sleeping area with couch, chair and coffee table at one end, kitchenette with dining area, and bathroom with shower. “Gold” and “Silver” bathrooms all have bath/shower combinations.