Taking it easy in Scottsdale

by
June 29th, 2009

My wife and I enjoyed a five day vacation to the warm (if not hot) climes of the Phoenix area, in part to celebrate a birthday. Many of our other trips are about exploring the places we visit, but this one was about hunkering down, catching some sun and taking it easy.

Most of our trip was spent relaxing at our hotel, the Fairmont Scottsdale, which was friendly, luxurious and imminently comfortable. The staff were great to us! We spent a good part of 2 days at the Willow Stream spa, which offers a full range of services, plus a rooftop pool, several hot tubs and a cafe. It was great being able to enjoy hot weather in the middle of February!

I played some golf at the neighboring TPC Scottsdale Stadium Course and we rented a car for a day to visit downtown Scottsdale, the arts and shopping districts, driving around the city of Phoenix, and check out some local attractions, including Taliesin West (a famous structure designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). Phoenix really surprised me at how comfortable it is overall—the climate is just like Calgary in the summertime: 25-28°C during the day, and 10-12°C at night.

The parts of the city that we visited were clean and pleasant. The city is laid out in ways that make sense (though it is sprawling, much like Calgary). The people we encountered were all friendly, and we saw a lot of Canadians… We’d definitely go back again!