Arizona...The Whole Thing

Well, I hope you enjoyed my day-by-day breakdown of our week in California. I'm undecided about doing the posts that way...they seemed to get a little too long, and the one or two people who read this may be shaking their head in agreement right now; but at the same time, personally, I'm glad to have the details to look back on later.

Anyway, we didn't have internet access while we were in Arizona. There is a couple that are members at the golf course I work at, the May's, and they have a house in Arizona that they go to all winter, and they let us stay there for the week. So, because they're away all summer, they have the internet and TV services disconnected. I was hoping to post about Arizona as soon as I got home, but I've been back to work (at the golf course and I also started coaching already this past week), so I've been busy and am just getting around to it today (and it's already Thursday!). So, I don't think I would be able to remember enough to post day-by-day, so I've decided to just select a few of the key 'events' and write a few paragraphs about each.

El Encanta
Monday was our first full day in Arizona and we didn't even leave the house until dinner! I told Curt early in the day that I wanted to eat at a Mexican restaurant while we were in Arizona (they just seem more authentic there, so I thought I would be experiencing the 'real deal')...now, for those of you who don't know me, I am a bit of a picky eater. I usually order chicken when we go out to eat...chicken fingers, chicken burgers, chicken penne pasta, etc. I'm pretty boring, and am NOT good at trying new foods; so, for me to suggest Mexican was pretty big. Anyway, we were given a list of restaurant recommendations from another BQ couple who winter in Arizona, so we randomly picked a Mexican one from the list, and off we went. And I'm so glad we did, it was a great spot! It was a spot we would have ignored if it hadn't been on 'the list'...it just didn't look that great from the outside. The food was great (I had fajitas...yes, they were chicken fajitas...I can only be so brave) and the atmosphere was cool too.

Golf
We played three rounds of golf while we were in Arizona. We played Rancho Manana on Tuesday, Dove Valley Creek on Wednesday and The Boulders on Thursday.

We always played early (before 8:30am) so that we were off the course before it got too hot. That allowed us to actually enjoy our time on the course, rather then having it feel like work.

The Boulders was definitely our favourite, and by far the nicest, of the three. We were told by our friends at BQ that playing at The Boulders would give us a little taste of the life styles of the rich and famous, and they weren't far off. The course was in great condition, it had beautiful views, and it was challenging but fair (I shot 94, my best score of the trip). The temperature on Thursday was probably the coolest of the three days too, so that probably helped. We ended up having a single player join us, a guy named Jeron (pronounced 'your-own') from Seattle, and he was really nice and easy to play with.

Rancho Manana was our second favourite - the front nine was tough, and Curt and I both had our issues, but we both enjoyed the back nine a lot more.

And finally, Dove Valley Creek - we played this one mainly because of the convenience of it...it was less then five minutes from the house. The front and back nine here were pretty different - the front nine was straight, relatively flat, and kind of boring whereas the back nine had a lot of doglegs and more variation from hole to hole. The course was in decent shape, but it was probably showing the effects of the summer heat the most out of the three.

Shopping
We went shopping a few times throughout the week. Early in the week, we found a pretty good outlet mall not too far from where we staying, so we spent a few hours there. We came away with some good finds, but overall, the mall wasn't as good as the ones in Orlando or Myrtle Beach. There were quite a few empty stores in the mall, I guess a sign of the economy in the States.

We also went by an outlet mall in Sedona later in the week, but it was really small and a total letdown...we didn't even stop.

One afternoon we made a trip to a few golf stores, but didn't find any good deals. We're always surprised, and disappointed, that we can't find good golf deals in places that have so many golf courses.

Sedona/Slide Rock State Park
On Friday we went to Sedona - a town about an hour and a half from Scottsdale. We had heard a lot of good things about Sedona, and chose to go there for the day because of it's location, and to save the Grand Canyon for another trip, when we could take more time there.

Sedona is known as 'Red Rock Country' because of, well, the red rock in the area. I was a little unsure about making the drive, thinking 'it's only red rock, will it be worth driving an hour and a half?'. Well, it was definitely worth it, and I will highly recommend it to anyone going to the area. I can't really describe what we saw, but everything was beautiful.

There are a number of famous rock formations, and apparently people come by the busload to see them. A local told us that these rock sites have great energy, and visitors will come just to meditate and be energized at the rocks. Sounds a little crazy to me, but whatever. The rock formations also have hiking trails, so you can go to the top, but we didn't do any hiking. We saw 'Cathedral Rock' and 'Bell Rock', and both were beautiful.

Just outside the village of Sedona is a place called 'Chapel of the Holy Cross'. This is another spot totally worth visiting. It's a Roman Catholic Church built right into the rocks on the side of a mountain. It offered some amazing views!

Slide Rock State Park was definitely my favourite part of this day trip. Just north of Sedona, in Oak Creek Canyon, this park sits on property that was once an apple farm. There is about half a mile of creek that you can swim and wade in, as well as the famous slide. The Slide is an 80-foot slide that is worn into sandstone...aka, a natural water slide! The water was FREEZING...but I couldn't miss out on the opportunity to slide, and I'm so glad I went for it! My butt got a little scraped up after going down a few times, and it hurt to sit down for the rest of the day, but it was still worth it :)

Buffalo Chip Saloon
On Friday evening, after spending the day in Sedona, we decided to go to the Buffalo Chip Saloon for dinner. This was another restaurant that had been recommended by BQ members, and it was a great spot!

When we arrived, the parking lot was full (always a good sign) and there seemed to be a lot of activity out behind the restaurant. So, we made our way outback and asked an employee what was going on, and we were told that the restaurant was hosting a professional bull riding competition that night! Ha, crazy right! Curt and I were totally excited though.

So, we went ahead and had dinner and then went back out to the 'stadium' area to watch the bull riding. So fun! We probably saw about 30 cowboys ride, and only two of them lasted 8 seconds...so apparently it's as hard as it looks! We didn't see anyone get stomped on or anything, but we did see a bull fall on a cowboys leg! Ouch! And they didn't even have any medics...the guy waited until the bull was out of the ring, was helped out and onto a chair, and then just waited it out I guess...no one even checked his leg?!?! I also couldn't get over the clowns in the ring...what a CRAZY job that is!!!

Perhaps the best part of this story is the fact that it was our five year anniversary! So, spending the day in Sedona was great, and it was nice to go out for dinner...but, Curt asked a few times, 'Did you ever think we would spend our anniversary watching bull riding?'...ummmm, that would be a NO! But it was great, and will certainly be memorable.


It worked out well to have this week follow the week in California, especially for Curt because he was pretty busy with the wedding in California. We had a good combination of activity and relaxation while in Arizona, which was perfect.

Overall, our week was amazing and Curt and I loved the area. I think we decided that if we were ever in a position to have a winter place, we would want it to be in this area. And in the meantime, we're hoping to go back soon (maybe again next year sometime) to see some of the stuff we missed this time.