Fri 08/29/08 - Mon 09/01/08
(public)
Destinations
Phoenix (08/29 - 08/29) , Flagstaff (08/30 - 08/30) , Sedona (08/30 - 08/30) , Tempe (09/01 - 09/01) , Grand Canyon (08/31 - 08/31)
Description
A look around Phoenix with a roadtrip from Phoenix to Sedona and the Grand Canyon.
5 Votes

Day 1 - Friday August 29, 2008

Day 1

Flight was too early for words - 6:15am. Which means wake up at 3:30am to get ready and head to the airport to get there around 5am. I've stayed up until 3:30am, but I don't think i've ever "woken up" at 3:30am....But in the end, it was a great thing we had the first flight. Our flight was delayed due to a Monsoon that went through the evening before. Note to everyone reading this: July - Sept is Monsoon season in AZ. Big rain, big winds, big danger for driving through the dark desert. In any case we landed and drove through Phoenix to Carefree - yea, the city is called Carefree. It really was a Carefree neighborhood. Lots of cactus, sand, and.....a Target. The resort was SO nice. Room was spacious and very clean. The hotel had a "dive in movie" with smores! Dive in movie refers to a movie playing by the pool - dive into the pool to watch a movie! It was really fun - especially because it was at night. AZ weather is great at night! The Dive in movie ended around 10pm, which was pefectly timed for the Monsoon to head in. 

Due to the Monsoon the previous night, we were unable to see many sites. We ended up at the Botanical Garden, which was short, sweet, and HOT.

Richardsons - remember to get the beef enchilada with green sauce!

Flight Delayed

The plane is delayed because phoenix had a monsoon yesterday and they closed down phx so that they could clean up the debris... Great... Let's hope we depart soon.

Should have slept in longer

We woke up late and were worried that we might not make the flight. So, we decided to go with the expensive option of parking at the airport. Bah... And now we're sitting here still waiting for the flight to depart. It was originally scheduled for a 6:15 am departure. I hope the weather gets better.

mobile 2 breakfast croissants, water, juice, & fruit cup = $30.07 geez
mobile just landed in phx. Weather is not too bad.
Epic Fail = Hertz self service express

Hertz self service express was definitely NOT express. Slowest interface ever. What's the point of this if it is this slow?

Much better than I had expected

Carefree resort and villa has a schedule of things to do and a nice comfy king sized bed.  The hotel is definitely a lot nicer than I had expected.  Plus I got a phenomenal deal on Priceline.

Great ambiance at Richardson's

We have the cool corner table at richardson's.

The menu

The menu shows a nice variety of New Mexican cuisine.

Our order

We ordered the blue, red, and white corn enchiladas which includes one each of chicken, cheese, and grilled shrimp with the green chile. I got the relleno plate and chose the smoked turkey and beef tenderloin.  I also opted for the red chile which is supposed to be spicier with some smokiness to it.

Enchiladas

The enchiladas were quite delicious. But it was very cheesy. Overall, I'd give them 4 stars for the food.

GCP

Their famous GCP (green chile potato). It costs $3 if you order it on the side.

Relleno Plate

The relleno plate with red chile sauce

Time to go

Adios Richardson's

Pizza Bianco on vacation

We found out when we called to make a reservation that pizzeria bianco was actually closed for their annual vacation between august 24th and September 15th. That's too bad... I really wanted to try their pizza.

Comments

Sep 05, 2008 at 09:46pm
Looks good
Sep 05, 2008 at 09:45pm
That looks pretty awesome.
Sep 03, 2008 at 11:11am
hmm no matter how trusting your tour guide may seem, never believe 100% of what he says. coyotes are NOT vegetarians!
Sep 02, 2008 at 05:02pm
And lets not forget Cowboy Club too.
Sep 02, 2008 at 03:13pm
awesome trip, I really want to check out Richardson's now!
Sep 01, 2008 at 12:57pm
And Coyotes are NOT vegetarians... The tour guide was way off... They are opportunistic omnivores, which means that they take advantage of a variety of resources found in their environments. Their food sources include small rodents, rabbits, deer, elk, moose, antelope, cattle, hogs, skunk, javelina, armadillo, opossum, birds, crustaceans, insects, lizards, prickly pear cactus, fruits, and grasses.
Sep 01, 2008 at 12:56pm
Javelina's... yea... We'll have to try it next time.
Aug 24, 2008 at 07:05pm
The Grand Canyon was the #1 Western Wonders of the World on the travel channel. And we're going to go check it out! Woot woot! http://www.caphotos.com/top_ten_west_wonders.html

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