My husband and I decided to leave the dreary weather of Ohio behind for a few days and head to Phoenix, Arizona. We've never been there before and I know very little of Arizona except there's a desert, hot air balloons, some big cactus and the sun.
Before going anywhere, I usually shop for my next vacation on TripAdvisor reading reviews of locations and activities. I found myself reading about the Boulders Spa and Resort and decided that's where we would stay. The resort is situated around a golf course and I was told the area is 1300 acres with the resort on about 33. There is landscaped areas and some wild areas that was really nice to walk through. A lot of the plants were blooming making it an even more memorable experience. The resort area was full of rabbits, lizards and birds to watch and enjoy as well. I have to admit, I thought the staff did a remarkable job. Everyone was pleasant and efficient and treated their guests very, very well.
The resort uses golf carts so the paths are wide enough for them. You could call/text the front desk and ask to be picked up and driven to the spa or the restaurant on the other side of the resort and a golf cart would come get you and wisk you away. I admit I kinda wanted my own golf cart to zoom around in.
We also happened to see a blue heron snacking on a koi from one of the small lakes around the golf course.
During out stay, I booked a hot air balloon flight and some ATVing in the Sonoran Desert. Unfortunately, it was pretty windy all week so our hot air balloon trip got cancelled but better safe than sorry but our off road adventure went forward. We drove about 40 minutes from the resort for our off road trip in the Sonoran Desert. We have never done this before so it was definitely an experience. I drove a UTV that reminded me of a tall sported up Jeep. It sat 4 people but it was just me and hubby. Our guide Katie got us fitted with face socks, helmets and goggles and took me around their practice track and it totally blew the picture of what I had in my mind of what off roading was going to be like. I have this picture in my head of a mostly dusty track with some steep areas and that's about it. Well, there might have been about 10 feet of the trail like that but it was mostly rocks, boulders and very deep ruts along with the steep parts. I guess that was the only thing I got right.
Anyway, after my drive on the practice track, another guide, Chase, joined us and off we went for our 4 hour drive into the desert. We stopped after an hour or so, which I was sure I had been driving for at least two hours, and Chase explained some of the geology of the area. I could see quartz was everywhere laying on the track so I at least knew about some of it. Chase also explained the desert was in a super bloom since there were little yellow flowers on bottlebrush and purple lupine flowers everywhere we went. Apparently there had been enough rain that everything was blooming which made it really nice to see. After traveling around again, we stopped at an old building that was along a old stagecoach route. It was in really good condition given it was used in the late 1800's and you could walk around and find pieces of pottery still laying around that pre-dated the building by several hundred years. Sorry no picture. Apparently our brains were still rattling around and we didn't think to take any.
Next, we stopped and climbed to the top of high area where a large stone structure had served the native Indians as a look out area. You could see for miles in all directions and the down in the river basin below. We did find more pottery shards in the area but no wild donkey. Our guide Chase also found both varieties of horned lizard and let us eat the inside of a cholla cactus. We had a great time on our off road tour but our brains were definitely rattled but it was a different experience and I'm sure we would do it again.
We also got to see a lot of different wildlife during our trip including rabbits, lizards, birds and butterflies. The resort had a lot of wildlife no doubt due to the ponds on the golf course. There were a lot of Gambel's Quail, both males and females running about. They also came right up to us when we were sitting at the table on our little porch area. We also saw the Greater Roadrunner which was definitely fun to see if slightly traumatic. I first saw it just off our porch area eating a chipmunk and later that day it killed a morning dove chick that was in a nest above our porch then it promptly left. We assume it came back later for it. The resort also had a healthy population of Great-tailed Grackles. The males calls were quite loud and I dubbed him the "Arizona Rooster" for our stay. Unfortunately, all my pictures of them came out blurry. I'm not sure about the lizard we saw but it might be the desert spiny lizard.
We also went to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve Gateway Trail in Scottsdale and hiked around for a few hours. There was a nice nature trail with signs about the plants, animals and weather in the desert. Another trail was nothing but rocks that you had to watch where you planted your feet or you'd risk twisting an ankle.
On one of our free days, we went to Butterfly Wonderland located in Scottsdale, AZ. I enjoy seeing different types of butterflies and according to them they have 3,000 butterflies in the largest conservatory in the country. They work with butterfly farms in Costa Rica and southeast Asia and chrysalis are shipped to them for hatching. We started by watching a short film about the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly in 3D then we went into their emergence gallery where you could see the butterflies and month emerge from their chrysalis. Then we went into the conservatory with all the butterflies and month is a rain forest type atmosphere.
We had a great time in Arizona and really appreciated the scenery, plants, and bird song. We also learned a bit about the history and unique environment of the desert.
Before going anywhere, I usually shop for my next vacation on TripAdvisor reading reviews of locations and activities. I found myself reading about the Boulders Spa and Resort and decided that's where we would stay. The resort is situated around a golf course and I was told the area is 1300 acres with the resort on about 33. There is landscaped areas and some wild areas that was really nice to walk through. A lot of the plants were blooming making it an even more memorable experience. The resort area was full of rabbits, lizards and birds to watch and enjoy as well. I have to admit, I thought the staff did a remarkable job. Everyone was pleasant and efficient and treated their guests very, very well.
The resort uses golf carts so the paths are wide enough for them. You could call/text the front desk and ask to be picked up and driven to the spa or the restaurant on the other side of the resort and a golf cart would come get you and wisk you away. I admit I kinda wanted my own golf cart to zoom around in.
We also happened to see a blue heron snacking on a koi from one of the small lakes around the golf course.
During out stay, I booked a hot air balloon flight and some ATVing in the Sonoran Desert. Unfortunately, it was pretty windy all week so our hot air balloon trip got cancelled but better safe than sorry but our off road adventure went forward. We drove about 40 minutes from the resort for our off road trip in the Sonoran Desert. We have never done this before so it was definitely an experience. I drove a UTV that reminded me of a tall sported up Jeep. It sat 4 people but it was just me and hubby. Our guide Katie got us fitted with face socks, helmets and goggles and took me around their practice track and it totally blew the picture of what I had in my mind of what off roading was going to be like. I have this picture in my head of a mostly dusty track with some steep areas and that's about it. Well, there might have been about 10 feet of the trail like that but it was mostly rocks, boulders and very deep ruts along with the steep parts. I guess that was the only thing I got right.
Anyway, after my drive on the practice track, another guide, Chase, joined us and off we went for our 4 hour drive into the desert. We stopped after an hour or so, which I was sure I had been driving for at least two hours, and Chase explained some of the geology of the area. I could see quartz was everywhere laying on the track so I at least knew about some of it. Chase also explained the desert was in a super bloom since there were little yellow flowers on bottlebrush and purple lupine flowers everywhere we went. Apparently there had been enough rain that everything was blooming which made it really nice to see. After traveling around again, we stopped at an old building that was along a old stagecoach route. It was in really good condition given it was used in the late 1800's and you could walk around and find pieces of pottery still laying around that pre-dated the building by several hundred years. Sorry no picture. Apparently our brains were still rattling around and we didn't think to take any.
Next, we stopped and climbed to the top of high area where a large stone structure had served the native Indians as a look out area. You could see for miles in all directions and the down in the river basin below. We did find more pottery shards in the area but no wild donkey. Our guide Chase also found both varieties of horned lizard and let us eat the inside of a cholla cactus. We had a great time on our off road tour but our brains were definitely rattled but it was a different experience and I'm sure we would do it again.
We also got to see a lot of different wildlife during our trip including rabbits, lizards, birds and butterflies. The resort had a lot of wildlife no doubt due to the ponds on the golf course. There were a lot of Gambel's Quail, both males and females running about. They also came right up to us when we were sitting at the table on our little porch area. We also saw the Greater Roadrunner which was definitely fun to see if slightly traumatic. I first saw it just off our porch area eating a chipmunk and later that day it killed a morning dove chick that was in a nest above our porch then it promptly left. We assume it came back later for it. The resort also had a healthy population of Great-tailed Grackles. The males calls were quite loud and I dubbed him the "Arizona Rooster" for our stay. Unfortunately, all my pictures of them came out blurry. I'm not sure about the lizard we saw but it might be the desert spiny lizard.
We also went to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve Gateway Trail in Scottsdale and hiked around for a few hours. There was a nice nature trail with signs about the plants, animals and weather in the desert. Another trail was nothing but rocks that you had to watch where you planted your feet or you'd risk twisting an ankle.
On one of our free days, we went to Butterfly Wonderland located in Scottsdale, AZ. I enjoy seeing different types of butterflies and according to them they have 3,000 butterflies in the largest conservatory in the country. They work with butterfly farms in Costa Rica and southeast Asia and chrysalis are shipped to them for hatching. We started by watching a short film about the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly in 3D then we went into their emergence gallery where you could see the butterflies and month emerge from their chrysalis. Then we went into the conservatory with all the butterflies and month is a rain forest type atmosphere.
We had a great time in Arizona and really appreciated the scenery, plants, and bird song. We also learned a bit about the history and unique environment of the desert.
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