Our 2010 winter trip to Scottsdale, AZ

Flying from St. Louis, we arrived at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix about 5 p.m. on Saturday, February 7.  Chuck and Joanne were waiting for us in the cell phone parking lot and picked us up at Door 4 within just a few minutes of our call to them telling them we were 'on the ground.'  Joanne had a delicious pot of soup waiting for us along with sandwiches and sides. She also had made a yummy spice cake with a peach topping...soooo good.

Sunday we were in for a real treat as Chuck and Joanne had made plans to take us to the Wrigley Mansion and Geordie's for Sunday Brunch Buffet.  Oh, you can't imagine the spread of delicious food that the numerous buffet tables offered.  The meal began with Mimosa's served at our table as we were seated in an elegant dining room overlooking the skyline of downtown Phoenix.

A little history of the Wrigley Mansion...The mansion was built between 1929-1932 in Phoenix as a 50th wedding anniversary present to Ada Wrigley by her husband, chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr.  It was the smallest of five homes that they owned. This cottage (?), consisted of 16,850 square feet and sits atop a mountain that overlooks the city.  Brunch at the Wrigley Mansion was certainly a great way to begin another wonderful visit to Scottsdale.

Besides the treat of being able to enjoy the mild Southwest weather in the midst of winter, getting to walk the canal everyday, and relaxing for ten wonderful days, our time in Scottsdale was also filled with lots of other fun times. A day trip to downtown Phoenix with Chuck and Joanne to visit and roam a beautiful outdoor Mall in a gentle rain and then lunch at The Great Big Fat Greek Restaurant made for a fun and relaxing afternoon. On another day, Fred, Joanne and I roamed around Old Scottsdale for a couple hours and then treated ourselves to a tasty, cool sundae at the Sugar Shack Ice Cream shop.  Another day we drove to Phoenix to the Turf Paradise Horse Race Track to take in an afternoon of horse racing. For Fred and me, it was the first time we'd ever been to a horse race and we found it to be quite exciting and fun. Too bad none of our bets made us big winners!  Another fun day was spent on a little trip to Carefree and Cave Creek, AZ were we roamed through the wares of the Town Dump store and then lunched across the street at an outdoor BBQ restaurant.  If you haven't guessed, one of the things we always look forward to is eating out in Scottsdale.  This year we discovered a great little sports bar in Old Scottsdale called The Lodge that we greatly enjoyed one evening.  And on Valentine's Day we went to Oregano's for dinner.  Love that place!!!

And, before we knew it, our time in Scottsdale and our daily walks in the sunshine among the cacti and Palm trees was drawing to a close for another year. As we grabbed our bags and headed back to Sky Harbor our heads were swimming with all the wonderful memories that the past 10 days had held.  Soon we were boarding our plane and within four hours we were landing back in St. Louis and it was back to the reality of getting through the remaining months of winter in southern Illinois.  Bah-humbug.

Here's a slide show of our vacation in pictures.  Hope you enjoy!