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Travel
Never considered a midsummer weekend in Phoenix or Scottsdale? There are advantages.
WHAT IS IT between Scottsdale and San Diego?” asks the guy behind the desk of Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort & Spa. The two cities famously swap residents during different seasons each year. But the more relevant question right now is “What am I doing in Scottsdale when it’s 110 degrees outside?”
A fair query. But what’s not to like about dependable summer sun, dramatically discounted off-season prices, no snowbirds and fewer tourists to elbow? Arizonans don’t enjoy extreme heat any more than the rest of us. So they’ve adapted accordingly and invented some interesting ways of beating the heat.
Area golf courses no longer serve as a cruel tease in the summertime, at least not the Westin Kierland’s. The course is the first in the world to utilize air conditioning on golf carts. A hose running behind the seat aims chilly air on the back of your neck when you or the passenger sit down, then switches off when you get out——thanks to, shall we say, posterior-activation technology. It isn’t enough to make me trade my rental car for this cart, but it makes four midday hours spent chasing a ball around a lush course a lot easier.
Nearly hidden off a quiet, unlit road, Sanctuary has mind-blowing scenery all around. It’s just five minutes from the lights and action of swanky, new-money Scottsdale. Not to get too Hollywood, but the place had me at “hello.” My one-bedroom mountain-vista suite was recently redone in a mid-century modern style. Views of the valley, Camelback and other nearby mountains surround my room. Only the faint sound of air conditioners on overdrive interrupts the peaceful evening from my balcony.
A high-end spa and incredibly helpful staff everywhere don’t hurt, either. So polished is this place that I find myself poolside eating a mahimahi sandwich——in the desert. Slow your roll and take a look at the modern, high-class Elements restaurant and bar. If you’re really enjoying the evening, take your drink outside and relax by the patio fire. (If Sanctuary can bring peace to famous guest Britney Spears——in between bouts of craziness——imagine what it can do for you.)
For the young and the young at heart, Scottsdale offers a night out at clubs near Old Town. There’s the Pussy Cat Lounge, part of adult-film star Jenna Jameson’s business empire. And music, dancing and a bit of debauchery await at Jackrabbit Supper Club, Myst, Axis/Radius and E4. Survey the crowd and you’ll swear Scottsdale houses some sort of life-size Barbie and Ken doll factory.
ARCHITECTURE BUFFS shouldn’t miss Frank Lloyd Wright’s historic Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix. While the stunning design is somewhat tame by his eccentric-genius standards, his interpretation of an American-style lodge for the desert is inspiring. My room was nicely appointed with a giant flat-screen TV, an equally large bathroom with a showerhead that helps remind me of monsoon season in Thailand, impeccable room service and a porch from which I enjoy the evening heat and the scent of the Biltmore’s Friday-night bonfire, around which guests can make s’mores.
The views and landscaped areas are breathtaking. The resort’s water slide, along with a Saturday-night poolside movie program, is great for kids. Weekly cigar-rolling sessions entertain smoking aficionados. And Wright’s, the signature restaurant, serves top-notch American dishes made with the freshest organic ingredients.
To get an idea of what the area was like long before the resorts, the money and everything else arrived, take a nighttime tour with Desert Storm Hummers. A beautiful, clear moon and more stars than you can imagine are only the beginning. Our guide, Mike, hands us night-vision equipment and passes around an infrared scope as we explore the night. In addition to jumping out of the vehicle and showing us every critter he finds, Mike is a knowledgeable naturalist who educates our small group on the night sky’s constellations, edible cacti and fascinating desert know-how.
If nothing else, I left the Phoenix/Scottsdale hub with the new knowledge that, according to desert expert Mike, John Wayne would surely have died had he actually cut down a saguaro cactus for water and nutrients, by way of the worst stomachache ever (never mind the modern-day legality of killing this protected plant). Instead, the jumping cholla is this rugged desert’s best option for desperate survival——if its thousands of barbed, toxic spines don’t get to you first.
If You Go
Arizona’s off-season is June to September; prices are roughly a third of normal rates. Rooms at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa (800-950-2575; arizonabiltmore.com) range $149- $950, the latter for a two-bedroom villa suite. At Sanctuary (480-948-2100; sanctuaryoncamelback.com), rates range from $185 to $285 through Labor Day. Desert Storm Hummer Tours (480-922-0020; dshummer.com) run day and night, charging adults $125, children $100. The golf course at the Westin Kierland (480-922-9283; kierlandresort.com) has summer rates of $85 daily, $50 after 2 p.m. and $40 after 4.
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