Okay, so I am writing about Scottsdale/Phoenix, Arizona but Take it Easy by The Eagles may be my favorite song ever so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
Back in April my cousin Nick married his girlfriend, Lauren, of over ten years! They both live in Scottsdale, Arizona so we flew out for the weekend to be a part of their wedding. My cousin and uncle live in Arizona, and the rest of my family lives in L.A. as one can tell from my previous posts, so this was not my first trip to AZ. With all of my family living on the West Coast, and my parents owning property in Arizona I became enthralled with the idea of buying a condo and moving to Arizona. I am still fighting the impulsion to do so. A majority of my trip was spent having an absolute blast being a part of their wedding (my sister and I were bridesmaids) but I will do my best to write about some other fun things to do when visiting Arizona, because like I mentioned I have been there several times before. I will also give some information on the amazing hotels we stayed in, courtesy of my family, obviously not my doing.
FLIGHTS
For some reason I can never score a flight to Arizona that isn’t insanely expensive, this is part of the reason I do not visit as often as I would like to. Even checking for the cheapest available flights on my go-to skyscanner, the least expensive flight I could find is in January for 4 days, and it comes to 130$. Thank you Spirit Airlines. Not bad in comparison to the usual $200+ flights I see from Chicago to Arizona, I may have to book this in the near future…. I am not going to say how much we spent on flights to Arizona this past April but I assure you it was over 200.
HOTELS: disclaimer: I usually write about budget travel, however, my family covered expenses so nothing about these hotels is budget-friendly I am afraid. BUT they are some really amazing hotels!
The Canyon Suites at the Marriott Phoenician: I absolutely adored this hotel. There were seven swimming pools and a big lobby with a bar that my entire family and I had the chance to hangout at – which was my favorite. I have a loud, Greek, very FUN family so I liked that they had enough room for all of us to sit and drink and crack inappropriate jokes about the bidet in my one cousins room. If you attempt to book a room a month in advance it’s about 500$ a night. Uhm, ouch. That’s a bit much compared to my usual 10-15$ a night hostel rooms….
The Marriott Camelback: This hotel was adorable and a lot more Arizona-esque (definitely not a word, but what the hell, I can’t think of a word for what I am trying to describe). This hotel had where all of the rooms were outside basically, instead of going into your traditional hotel and searching the halls for your room you wandered around outside which was super difficult late at night after drinking but it was also nice at the same time? This place is a bit cheaper, a month in advance, at about 300$ a night. What a deal.
The Royal Palms: This is the hotel my cousin and his wife chose for their reception so we had booked a room there in case we had too much to drink. This hotel is absolutely stunning. If money isn’t an option and you’re considering hotels, definitely consider this one.
WHAT TO DO/SEE
Hike Camelback Mountain: We all know that I am not the most outdoorsy chick around, and I also hate heights so this hike will be a no from me dog. My sister however who is much more athletic and fearless went on the hike and said it is a fucking hike. If you love buying lululemon and taking instagrams of how nature-y you are then here is your chance girl, you get those insta likes.
The Grand Canyon – duh. I mean it isn’t in Scottsdale, you’re going to have to drive there. I have not visited the Grand Canyon since I was a little girl; I promised my uncle I would visit and we will go there soon, so readers – stay on my ass about this one.
Visit Old Town Scottsdale: There is a bunch of shopping and bars and just cute shops to kill time in. It’s full of Wild West souvenirs for your friends back home.
Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center: I love animals and I have not had the chance to visit but this place sounds cool. They have leopards, mountain lions, bears and more.
Rawhide Wild West Town: OKAY so last I visited this I was really young but I remember it being hilarious. It’s an “old West” type town/attraction. They have a show and buildings and everyone in the town is acting. It was cute.
SOME WEDDING INFO
Like I previously wrote – we were there for my cousins wedding so we spent a majority of our time with family and doing wedding things and I cannot emphasize how much fun I had. I do hope to visit Arizona and my family soon but with school and working two jobs we will see how that works out.
FOOD
The only place we ate that was not wedding related was:
THE MISSION: They made table-side guacamole and the tacos were phenomenal.
I know this wasn’t my traditional blog post but I just felt like posting SOMETHING and I love Arizona even tho it’s partially just because I love visiting my family there. I tried guys, okay!?
Runaway Blond 