Quick Trip Report

Hi All. My family and I (5 kids, 2 adults)have just returned from spending one week in Arizona (march 14-21), and after all the great advice I received from TA, I thought I%26#39;d report back. In a word, it was glorious! I have developed a love affair with Arizona. We spent 4 days in Sedona (one day at the GC) at the Best Western Aroya Roble and then 3 days at the Westin Kierland in Scottsdale. I used this forum for all reataurant and tourist recommendations and you were bang on, every single time! Sedona is simply magnificent-no other way to describe it. The Best Western is very well located and did the trick beautifully. Not posh, but then we were never in our rooms anyway. it was clean, comfortable and has an indoor and outdoor pool for the kids. We took a Pink Jeep Tour (Broken Arrow), and I have to say that my kids are still talking about it. That was the highlight of their time in Sedona.

For restaurants, we ate dinners at Cucina Rustica, Elote Cafe, Oaxaca and Cowboy Club. All excellent, with no exceptions. We also tried the Coffe Pot for breakfast one morning (BF is included at BWAR) and we all thought it was great.

On to Scottsdale. Westin Kierland is great. I travel alot on busniess and am used to a very high standard of service. I have never had better service than I did at the Westin. Lot%26#39;s of little touches that made it great. It wasn%26#39;t cheap (especially after converting back to Canadian dollars-ouch!)but very enjoyable. The other great thing about the Westin is that we walked across the street to many great restaurants and upscale shopping at the Kierland Commons. Very beautiful, even if you%26#39;re mostly window shopping. The weather was superb all week. The only real dissapointmet was our meal at Forte Cafe in old town Scottsdale. Horrendous service to the point where several guests were complaining. My kids were starved by the time the meals arrived (1.5 hours later) and it was just very average quality. The owner came over and apologized several times, but that didn%26#39;t stop her from adding the mandatory 20% gratuity to the bill. Fairly outrageous for such poor service. Anyway, lots of great other restaurants in town, so I%26#39;d avoid Forte Cafe if possible.

One bad experience in a whole week- I%26#39;d say we did very well. Friendly people, spectacular weather (10 degrees above normal everywhere we went) and magnificent geography. Thanks again to everyone for all the great advice. We%26#39;ll be back!!

Quick Trip Report

Thanks for the TR. Not surprised that you enjoyed yourselves so much. You followed all the good advice that you got here. The only chance you took was at Oaxaca. That place is convenient to BWAR and Uptown, but the food and service is dicey. I don%26#39;t know anyone who%26#39;s been there twice.

We%26#39;ll look forward to your return.

Quick Trip Report

Yes, we knew we were probably taking a chance on Oaxaca, but that was the night we got back from GC and everywhere else was full. Anyway, food and service were both great. Thx again, especially to you and Kate for all the great advice.