Let me start by saying that aside from wanting to see alllll the places and experience things that I need to leave home to see, I do love Minnesota. I am proud to be from the Bold North. I love having four seasons (or as Minnesotans would say, two seasons-winter and construction). Fall in MN is UNBEATABLE. Summertime on the lakes is great, despite the bugs. A White Christmas is, I kid you not, straight out of a Hallmark movie. All that being said, there are two times a year that I am desperate to get out of this state. The first is end of January/beginning of February when the holiday season is over and I am sick to death of wearing six layers to leave the house and would give just about anything for sunshine and a body of water that isn’t so frozen that I am putting a small house on it. The other is early November, when Daylights Savings time occurs (aka it’s dark when I go to work and dark when I leave work) and it’s hunting season. Hunting season is actually pretty darn cool if that’s what you’re into (95% of Minnesota’s population). But if you don’t hunt and that’s what all your friends are doing, it’s a great time for a getaway. So that’s when I planned month 5 of my travel challenge, a long weekend in Arizona, where the weather is the same so often that you’ll think you’re in the Twilight Zone.
Matt and I hopped on a Delta flight in the early morning hours of November 6th, 2021. Having gained two hours because of the time difference between Minnesota and Arizona that time of year, we arrived at our hotel by 10:00AM AZ time, where we were greeted by awesome desk staff who allowed us to check in early while also warning us that it may not be warm enough to swim in their pool because the temperatures weren’t quite supposed to hit triple digits. For two Northerners, 90’s and sunny sounded just fine and all we had planned for our first day there was to lay by the pool and relax. We decided we’d better get situated and eat something first though, so we set out on foot looking for an early lunch. We decided to try a restaurant that we hoped we could get some authentic Mexican food called Los Taquitos. It tasted more like Chipotle they had some delish homemade margaritas though and we got to sit outside in the sunshine in short sleeves, so nobody was complaining. On our walk back we swung into Lowe’s of all places to stock up on snacks and pick up a pair of sunglasses because Matt had forgotten to bring any to the sunniest place on earth. We also wanted to purchase some drinks to enjoy by the pool, but did not walk past a liquor store, so we decided to try an app that I had never used before called Drizzly (basically Uber Eats for liquor). If you’re ever in a similar situation, I’d 10/10 recommend Drizzly. It was SO easy to find just what we wanted and have it delivered rather than trying to walk around a foreign city or Uber to a liquor store. Fully equipped with snacks and beverages, we spent all afternoon and early evening by the pool. When we thought we needed some real food again, we decided to check out the hotel bar/restaurant where we shared a salad and potato wedges (gotta have some carbs). We chatted with some other travelers at the bar, many of whom were there on business rather than pleasure. The man on my left was Russian and kind of a dick in the funny way when you don’t REALLY have to interact with him beyond a random chat at the bar. He bought us a round of tequila shots and the bartender, who was THE best by the way, doctored mine up with caramelized honey and lime(another 10/10 recommend, especially if you don’t love tequila). It was the longest day in the best kind of way!
After having spent a glorious day relaxing in the sunshine, we decided to spend days 2 and 3 in Arizona exploring. One of many things that AZ is known for is it’s hiking, so when in Rome… Having not rented a vehicle for this trip, we decided on a hike within the city of Pheonix, South Mountain Park and Reserve. Upon arrival, the park looked apocalyptic, so much so that I thought about hailing down our Uber driver before he got out of the parking lot. I’m not sure if it was Covid, the time of day, or simply not the most popular hiking destination, but there were VERY few people around, the visitor center was completely deserted, and in one portion of the parking lot there were military tanks, machine guns, and personnel (we later learned there was a training) that really gave it an eerie vibe. Luckily, we did pass one couple on foot that was able to point us in the right direction, because the maps were VERY faded and cell service was sketchy. But we were on the right path! Hiking 6.5 miles total, we passed many cacti and had a fantastic view the entire hike. Hiking in MN, there is tree coverage all over the areas in which you’d hike. It felt completely different being able to see our final destination the entire walk. At the top of the mountain, known as Dobbin’s Lookout, was a spectacular view of mountains as far as the eye could see, along with an entire view of the city of Pheonix below. On our trek back down, there was a side trail (an additional 0.25 miles) that led to a “Mystery Castle.” You had to take a “tour” to get in, but it was cheap and we were desperate for water, which we had run out of hours earlier, so we checked it out. Riddled with history it was actually pretty dang interesting. My favorite story was that of a very old piano/organ on display that belonged to a gal who later became known as the Chocolate Widow. The story goes that she would marry men in the mining industry and when she grew tired of them, she would poison them with a chocolate cake and blame it on a chemical that they were often exposed to in their profession. Exhausted, both physically from the day of hiking in the AZ heat and mentally after learning all the fun facts at the Mystery Castle, we headed back to the hotel for the evening. We ended the day with a little time relaxing at the pool again and also enjoyed some dinner at our hotel bar/restaurant where we got the tea about the party that ensued the night before (after we had gone to sleep) from our favorite hipster bartender.
Our plan for the third and final day in AZ was to go kayaking in Mesa and then check out the town of Scottsdale. It was a lengthy Uber ride to Mesa, but the driver on the way to the lake made it fly by. He told us about how he was originally from Buffalo, New York and how he had wanted to escape the cold of winter but that living in a place where the sun is always shining and it’s about 80 degrees feels like living the same day over and over and over again. He also taught us a lot about the nature in AZ (at least the Pheonix area) and how much of it is brought in or man-made, including many of the lakes. When we arrived at Saguro Lake we learned that sure enough, it was a man-made lake. It was also encased in mountains as far as the eye could see, so man-made or not, it was quite the view! We spent hours exploring the cold water by kayak before heading into Scottsdale for the evening. We had gotten multiple recommendations from multiple people, both travelers and locals, during our trip thus far on places to go in Scottsdale. Having skipped lunch we were both pretty hangry, so our first stop was at Bootleggers Smokehouse where we shared a plate of nachos with smoked brisket that were So. Dang. Good! Hula’s Modern Tiki Bar was a recommended stop so we each had one yummy Hawaiin drink there. We heard the Rusty Spur Saloon often housed live music, which they did indeed, but it was so busy we could barely step a foot through the door let alone get a table. So, we moseyed in and out of shops until stumbling upon a couple establishments that we found intriguing. We had one beverage at a hole in the wall place called Old Town Tavern, where we chatted with two older gentleman that reminded Matt of his dad and buddy back home. My FAVORITE stop was at Boondocks, an indoor/outdoor bar with a midwestern theme that sported flags of the Vikings, Lions, and Packers. There was an outdoor projector, larger than I’d ever seen, playing Monday night football. Drinks were cheap and they had some dang good apps. It was home away from home (but better since it was 70 and daylight still during Monday night football). Our final stop for the evening (and trip, as we would leave the next morning), was at Old Town Tortilla Factory, where we split some chips and salsa. The salsa was underwhelming, but the snack came with homemade tortillas and green chile butter, which was an amazing snack to finish off the night!
