Happy Monday! I hope your week has started off well! Two weeks ago, I traveled to Arizona (for the first time!) to work with one of my favorite boutiques AND spend some time with some of my blogger girlfriends. The trip initially was planned for my sweet friend Karlie– she is pregnant and we all wanted to get together to celebrate her before this sweet little girl is born. Coincidentally, one of my favorite boutiques, Closet Candy Boutique, is based out of Scottsdale and they asked me to come a few days early to work with them on upcoming content. I was so excited to visit Arizona for the first time!
Although I was excited for some warmer weather and sunshine, I will be 100% honest- I didn’t necessarily think that I would love Arizona. I am a Tennessee girl who is used to green grass and lots of trees, so the thought of everything looking like a dry desert doesn’t really appeal to me. Oh my gosh- was I wrong! I absolutely loved Scottsdale and think it is one of the prettiest cities I have been to! There is so much to do, especially if you like hiking/being active, and I think that would be make for such a fun girls getaway or romantic vacation! Below I included some information about our trip!
Accommodations
During the first half of the trip we stayed at The Scott Resort and it was absolutely breathtaking! The lobby is unlike any other resort I have been to and their pool area is stunning! They even have a restaurant/bar called The Canal Club– get the avocado toast for breakfast and the Cobb salad for lunch/dinner, it is unreal!
During the second half of the trip, we stayed at Karlie’s house- she is based out of Seattle, but her in-laws have a house in Scottsdale and were so kind to let us stay there. If you are interested in staying in a house more than a hotel/resort, I highly recommend utilized VRBO or Airbnb.
Activities
Hike at Pinnacle Peak– This is a 3.5 mile roundtrip hike that leads you around the peak at the top. This was such a fun way to spend the morning, but I will admit that it was a bit crowded on the trails! As far as level of difficulty, I would say this was pretty easy- there were some steep sections, but overall it was a easy hike!
Pool Day the The Scott Resort– While we stayed at the resort, we spent some time at the pool- which is gorgeous! They also have a few cabanas that you can rent (*also makes for great Instagram photo ops haha!).
Baby Shower for Karlie at Farm & Craft: We planned a surprise baby shower for Karlie and it was so much fun! She had absolutely no idea- we just told her we were all going to brunch together and when we arrived they had set up the cutest table for us! It was such a special moment to share with her!
During the second half of the trip with my girlfriends, we really just hung around the house and spent time together! Most of us really wanted to relax and opted to hang at the house by the pool!
Restaurants
If there is one thing we did a lot of- it was go out to eat haha! Everywhere we went was delicious, but here are some of my favorites:
The Canal Club: located inside The Scott Resort, this restaurant and bar served up some yummy food and drinks! The avocado toast was amazing for breakfast and the Cobb salad was basically the best salad I ever had! The girls I was with also raved about the tea the hotel served in the lobby- I am not a tea person, but they said it was delicious!
Isabella’s Kitchen: we went here for dinner on the first night and it has the best sunset views! I loved that we were able to sit out on the patio and relax! We had the chips/salsa/guac as an app and I got the crispy chicken sandwich which was delish! Oh, and the jalapeño paloma was divine!
Diego Pop’s: this Mexican restaurant is located in Old Town Scottsdale (loved this area) and had such a fun vibe! We went to dinner with about 20 people this night and it was so fun! Highly recommend the brussels sprout nachos (sounds weird, but so good!) and the steak tacos! PS- the jalopeno margarita was delicious too!
The Mission: another Mexican restaurant- what do ya know!? Haha! This restaurant was more upscale than Diego Pop’s and features modern latin cuisine. To be honest, I think this was my least favorite meal while in AZ, but I personally am not into ‘fancy’ foods. Highly recommend the guacamole as an app- they make it fresh next to your table and it was delicious! I ordered the skirt steak tacos (I know, two night in a row!) and literally three bite-size tacos came out- I mean they were tiny! Fancy restaurants are always like like though- I just kept eating and chips and guac! Oh, of course the cucumber jalapeño margarita was delicious- I had about three!
Farm & Craft: this is where we had Karlie’s baby shower and it was the best location- such a fun spot! Okay, first of all- look at these fun drinks! We were all literally obsessed! These are the spicy melons- but I didn’t think they were spicy at all! We also saw some girls with massive grapefruit drinks too! I split the avocado hummus and bacon & bacon brussels with one of the other gals and it was really good! Many of the girls ordered the chilled raw pad thai and they said it was delish!
Morning Joint (MoJo): went here twice for breakfast/coffee! So good! Both days I got the iced vanilla latte and it was so. dang. good. I mean…I would fly back right now for ones of those! I also ordered the hitchhiker sandwich with avocado both mornings and loved it! A lot of the other girls got the acai bowls and loved them!
I hope you all enjoyed this travel guide and please let me know if you have tried any of these places! If you are planning a trip to Scottsdale soon, I cannot recommend these places enough! As always, thank you for reading and sharing! -A
Hey girl!! So happy to hear you visited my hometown! I live in Scottsdale and it really is such a cool city. I love it here. You hit so many of my fav spots! Diego pops, canal club (just recently discovered this place!) and farm and craft! I definitely want to check out Isabella’s and morning joint! Thanks for the blog – so glad you loved it out here!!
It was seriously so much fun and I cannot wait to come back!