Topic Wiki

Trip Reports


2014 - Mgarfin's 2014 trip to Arizona-Delta glitch
2014 - VacationLover's Sedona and the Grand Canyon TR
2015 - PBaruch's Dreams of Flight - Hummingbirds and Arizona
2016 - Pbaruch's Motorhome Adventures in Utah and Arizona
2016 - drewsky9's Arizona Trip Report
2016 - MahRabuMasecha's Vegas Zion Page Grand Canyon Sedona TR
2016 - ShlockDoc's Midwest Roadtrip - Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming
2017 - Davidmal's Phoenix & Scottsdale for 5 Hours
2018 - Ikelunious99's Arizona Trip Report

Utah has it's own master thread and wiki at https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=15858.0

Activities


Phoenix

Arizona Cardinals (NFL Football)
Arizona Coyotes (NHL Hockey)
Arizona Diamondbacks (MLB Baseball)
Phoenix Suns (NBA Basketball)

Camelback Mountain
Desert Botanical Garden
Encanto Park
Goldfield Ghost Town
Japanese Friendship Garden
Lost Dutchman State Park
Nordstrom Last Chance - one of the few in the world.
Octance Raceway- Extremely fast Go-Karting
Scottsdale Old Town

Arizona Science Center (Indoor)
Museum of Musical Instruments (Indoor)
Queen Creek Olive Mill (Olive farm and mill, with Olive 101 'factory' tour)
Arizona Boardwalk (entertainment complex, with aquarium, butterfly conservatory, etc. www.azboardwalk.com)
Children’s Museum of Phoenix (for kids under age 10, they claim to be top 3 Children's Museum in the country).

Sedona, AZ
Stunning red rock formations and scenery viewable throughout the small city with unique views along the many hiking trails (including Devil's bridge, West Fork Trail, and Sugar Loaf Loop)
Off road jeep tours (e.g. Pink Jeep Tours)
eclectic outdoor shopping
Slide rock state park: Natural water slide in creek (just north of Sedona)


Grand Canyon National Park (South Rim)
There are two trails from the south rim that go down into the canyon (and all the way to the canyon floor, which is a strenuous multi-day hike). You can experience a taste of it, by turning around at any point.
  • South Kaibab Trail - One of the top rated trails for the GC (trail descends into the canyon, uphill climb on return)
  • Bright Angel Trail - Also one of the top rated trails for GC (trail descends into the canyon, uphill climb on return)
There are also trails along the south rim (called Rim Trails) that don't descend into the canyon, and are relatively flat. These offer views of the canyon and are dotted with various scenic viewpoints. Some areas of the rim trail are paved others are not. These may be more suitable those with young children or those fear of hiking near the edge of the canyon cliffs. The National park shuttle buses also transport passengers to various points within the park, along the south rim.
A PDF map of grand canyon national park south rim is at https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/upload/sr-pocket-map.pdf
Grand Canyon National Park Lodges

Nearby attractions outside the National Park include:
  • Skywalk
  • Bearizona Wildlife Park - Williams, AZ

Page AZ
Lake Powell (popular lake for boating, with kayak, motor boat, pontoon boat, houseboat rentals, Jetski, boat tours, and swimming). Lake and surrounding canyon walls are uniquely scenic together (it's actually a huge artificial reservoir surrounded by canyon walls, resulting from the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam
Carl Hayden Visitor Center at the Glen Canyon Dam (Free museum about the Glen Canyon Dam)
Horseshoe bend (popular scenic overlook of a 180 degree bend in the Colorado river)
Antelope Canyon (beautiful slot canyons with stunning photography opportunity, controlled by Native Americans with entrance fees and guided tour, advance reservations are needed. Fees were recently increased to $60-$100/pp)

Tucson

Saguaro National Park

Kosher Restaurants

See the following for up to date info:
--http://www.kosherphoenix.org/index.php/kosher-food-in-phoenix/restaurants/
--https://www.ahavastorah.org/restaurants.html 


Phoenix

Cafe Chenar
LaBella Pizzeria and Restaurant
Manhattan Pizza & Subs
Samarkand Restaurant Glatt Kosher

Scottsdale

Fresh Mint
Kitchen 18
Milk+ Honey Espresso Bar & Eatery

Groceries


Imperial Market & Deli

Shuls


Ohr Hatorah Congregation- Located in Phoenix Map
Chabad Jewish Center of North Phoenix Map
Ahavas Torah:The Scottsdale Torah Center Map


Chabad of Flagstaff AZ (Kosher meals available), Minyanim in the summer and chol hamoed (1 hour south of the Grand Canyon National Park)

« Last edited by Yr18 on October 02, 2023, 08:46:50 AM »

Author Topic: Arizona Master Thread  (Read 381553 times)

Offline DP7

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #680 on: March 16, 2017, 05:32:08 AM »
Must do: Pink jeep tour of Broken Arrow Rd. from Sedona.

Did this on Monday. If you're driving to the tour give yourself some extra time. Traffic backs up pretty badly as you approach the area and parking can take a few minutes. Almost missed my tour.

Offline David1

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #681 on: March 16, 2017, 10:55:36 AM »
Did this on Monday. If you're driving to the tour give yourself some extra time. Traffic backs up pretty badly as you approach the area and parking can take a few minutes. Almost missed my tour.
Ok thanks for the heads up!

Offline SSLPhD

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #682 on: March 16, 2017, 06:21:40 PM »
Ok thanks for the heads up!
When we were searching for parking, Pink Jeep directed us toward a lot that was on the side street across from them, a couple blocks up.  No charge to park, no time limit, short walk.
44/50, 46/63

Offline David1

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #683 on: March 17, 2017, 11:29:41 AM »
When we were searching for parking, Pink Jeep directed us toward a lot that was on the side street across from them, a couple blocks up.  No charge to park, no time limit, short walk.
Perfect Thanks!

Offline David1

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #684 on: March 28, 2017, 01:21:27 PM »
Wanted to give some points from my trip:
Firstly, the Biltmore is a gorgeous place to stay. We had a suite and the room was pretty big.
Ate at segals oasis our first night there. Food was pretty good, people were so friendly and enjoyed.
Second day ate at Milk + Honey pizza store in the jcc, we were pretty hungry after a morning hike on Phoenix Mountain, food was ok nothing special. For dinner we ate at 613 Grill. It's a pretty new place, they said they're open about a month now. They we so so nice. Didn't realize everything closes at 9, so I began calling all the restaurants to see which one was still open. They took our order after 9 and stayed open for us. Really nice people and really good food. Their poppers are so good!  Highly recommend 613 Grill!! The next day we ate at la bellas pizzeria. Also really good pizza and super nice. The guy gave us more food to try and added some extra slices to our order. Really enjoyed this place. The guy at the restaurant told us he also owns Kitchen 18 so after another hike we headed over there for dinner. The portions were huge, we were only able to eat half the meal. So we took the rest back for the flight home. Overall the people at all the restaurants were really nice and pleasant
Reading about everyones shopping experience at Last Chance I knew I had to stop by and see for myself. Figuring it's probably better to go early I headed over there at 10am when they open. When we got there there were tons of people waiting in front of the store for them to open. It was like Black Friday times 10. Everyone rushed the store and grabbed anything they could find. Stuff was really cheap and I was able to get some nice stuff. But be prepared to spend a lot of time there and encounter a lot of people. But worth checking out if you have time.
Overal phoenix is a really nice place to visit and people are really nice everywhere we went.
Thanks for wiki on this forum and for all the peoples help

 
« Last Edit: March 28, 2017, 01:24:55 PM by David1 »

Offline lifetimedeals

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #685 on: March 28, 2017, 06:30:48 PM »
Wanted to give some points from my trip:
Firstly, the Biltmore is a gorgeous place to stay. We had a suite and the room was pretty big.
Ate at segals oasis our first night there. Food was pretty good, people were so friendly and enjoyed.
Second day ate at Milk + Honey pizza store in the jcc, we were pretty hungry after a morning hike on Phoenix Mountain, food was ok nothing special. For dinner we ate at 613 Grill. It's a pretty new place, they said they're open about a month now. They we so so nice. Didn't realize everything closes at 9, so I began calling all the restaurants to see which one was still open. They took our order after 9 and stayed open for us. Really nice people and really good food. Their poppers are so good!  Highly recommend 613 Grill!! The next day we ate at la bellas pizzeria. Also really good pizza and super nice. The guy gave us more food to try and added some extra slices to our order. Really enjoyed this place. The guy at the restaurant told us he also owns Kitchen 18 so after another hike we headed over there for dinner. The portions were huge, we were only able to eat half the meal. So we took the rest back for the flight home. Overall the people at all the restaurants were really nice and pleasant
Reading about everyones shopping experience at Last Chance I knew I had to stop by and see for myself. Figuring it's probably better to go early I headed over there at 10am when they open. When we got there there were tons of people waiting in front of the store for them to open. It was like Black Friday times 10. Everyone rushed the store and grabbed anything they could find. Stuff was really cheap and I was able to get some nice stuff. But be prepared to spend a lot of time there and encounter a lot of people. But worth checking out if you have time.
Overal phoenix is a really nice place to visit and people are really nice everywhere we went.
Thanks for wiki on this forum and for all the peoples help
Any specific reason you chose this property over spg properties? The rooms look dated. How much time did you need driving up to GC and back? Was there traffic? Did you do the pink jeep tours? Worth it?

Offline damaxer91

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #686 on: March 29, 2017, 12:49:56 PM »
Any of the kosher places in PHX on Seamless etc?

Offline ejb123

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #687 on: March 29, 2017, 04:45:16 PM »
Any specific reason you chose this property over spg properties? The rooms look dated. How much time did you need driving up to GC and back? Was there traffic? Did you do the pink jeep tours? Worth it?

We stayed with our family in the villas at the Biltmore last June. They were all recently renovated and featured kitchens - which helped for food purposes. Great rooms. We had a fantastic time.

Offline Denverite

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #688 on: March 31, 2017, 05:36:34 PM »
Any of the kosher places in PHX on Seamless etc?

For delivery?  Fresh Mint is on Eat 24.

Offline SrulyP

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #689 on: April 04, 2017, 04:09:58 PM »
Was thinking of an AZ with my wife this summer. Is that crazy (ie. way to hot) and what is the nicest points resort in the phoenix area?

Offline mb1

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #690 on: April 04, 2017, 04:13:49 PM »
Was thinking of an AZ with my wife this summer. Is that crazy (ie. way to hot) and what is the nicest points resort in the phoenix area?
check the prices before you use points as summer is off season

Offline PBaruch

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #691 on: April 04, 2017, 04:20:21 PM »
Phoenix is very very hot in the summer as you can gather from my trip report:

http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=64756.0

However, Flagstaff and the area by the Grand Canyon is nice and cool.  It depends what part of Arizona you want to go to. 
What do you do after your dreams come true?

Offline kivabb

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #692 on: April 04, 2017, 04:46:06 PM »
I as well was planning on making Arizona the second half of trip with family in summer. I am hoping to leave LA Sunday morning and fly out of PHX Thursday night.

Travelling with wife and my whole crew (kids 3-17). Intimidated by the heat in Phoenix with little ones for more then 1 day.

Plan A:
•   Drive Sunday morning towards Bryce, (maybe stopping along the way in Zion), and sleeping somewhere close to Bryce
•   Do early Monday morning hike in Bryce, and then drive to South Rim and try to catch some of the vistas and sunset. Sleep in Grand Canyon Area
•   Tuesday morning maybe take hike with older ones a few miles down GC.  Drive towards Sedona, and spend night in Sedona
•   Wednesday morning do Pink Jeep tours and maybe do some hike in Sedona. Either spend the night again in Sedona or sleep in Phoenix
•   Thursday do day activity (Maybe Out of Africa) in Phoenix.
Plan B:
•   Save Bryce Canyon for another trip (which who knows if it will happen) and spread the others out which would save me 5 hours of driving and make trip more relaxed overall. I'm not exactly sure what I would do a second day in GC, Sedona, (or PHX with that heat). Although my wife would probably prefer Plan A even if we did less. The week before I would hope to spend 3 days in Yosemite so that would be more "relaxed" week versus this week.

Feedback would be appreciated.


Offline SSLPhD

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #693 on: April 04, 2017, 08:57:27 PM »
I as well was planning on making Arizona the second half of trip with family in summer. I am hoping to leave LA Sunday morning and fly out of PHX Thursday night.

•   Drive Sunday morning towards Bryce, (maybe stopping along the way in Zion), and sleeping somewhere close to Bryce   

Plan B:
•   Save Bryce Canyon for another trip (which who knows if it will happen) and spread the others out which would save me 5 hours of driving and make trip more relaxed overall. I'm not exactly sure what I would do a second day in GC, Sedona, (or PHX with that heat). Although my wife would probably prefer Plan A even if we did less. The week before I would hope to spend 3 days in Yosemite so that would be more "relaxed" week versus this week.

Feedback would be appreciated.
LA to Bryce is like 9 hours, plus pit stops.  I'd do Plan B.  Other things to do:  Wupatki/Walnut Canyon/Sunset Crater/Meteor Crater/Petrified Forest.  Maybe Hoover Dam on the way over?

Re: CA part of your trip, have you considered a day in Sequoia NP?
44/50, 46/63

Offline damaxer91

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #694 on: April 21, 2017, 01:53:45 PM »
Any of the kosher places in PHX on Seamless etc?

To answer my own question, almost all of the kosher establishments in PHX are on Postmates and a couple have special deals when ordering via the app

La Bella Pizza was fantastic! 

Offline gubevo18

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #695 on: April 22, 2017, 09:56:21 PM »
To answer my own question, almost all of the kosher establishments in PHX are on Postmates and a couple have special deals when ordering via the app

La Bella Pizza was fantastic!
I ordered directly from la bella to my hotel.

Offline damaxer91

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #696 on: April 23, 2017, 11:27:19 AM »
I ordered directly from la bella to my hotel.

We called and they didnt want to deliver to Scottsdale. I guess they were very busy before Pesach

Offline zagguru

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #697 on: April 24, 2017, 06:33:56 AM »
whats the current consensus on the best resort in phoenix?
looking currently at the waldorf biltmore vs Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort. or perhaps any other ones that are top notch

Offline gubevo18

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #698 on: April 24, 2017, 09:50:37 AM »
We called and they didnt want to deliver to Scottsdale. I guess they were very busy before Pesach
Yeah probably the case. I was at the sheraton villas and they delivered there without issue

Offline damaxer91

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Re: Arizona Master Thread
« Reply #699 on: April 24, 2017, 11:21:38 AM »
whats the current consensus on the best resort in phoenix?
looking currently at the waldorf biltmore vs Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort. or perhaps any other ones that are top notch

Prob the Four Seasons