6 Days in Scottsdale (2/6)

I had told my brother-in-law G… that we could hike Piestewa Pike either Friday or Sunday early morning. Early to avoid the heat and crowds. Last time we were in AZ together we had hiked Camelback Mountain but that is a longer hike and we didn’t have the time. We had agreed that I would pick him up at 6:30, his hotel was only a few miles west on the north side of Camelback. When I woke up though I saw a message asking if we could start at 6:00 instead as he had a conference call to join. It was no problem as I was awake, but it cut out my planned time to get coffee on the way so I had to settle for hotel room marginal brew. I chugged it quickly while giving Alex the resort property tour I had promised them. We were excited to see there was poolside ping-pong and cornhole available…..

When I got to The Sanctuary resort I noticed two people near the parking lot drinking coffee and looking in the distance, I realized they were waiting for the sun to crest over the distant peaks and I got a quick photo (time stamp says 5:59:58 am). The first of many “Tequila” sunrises.

It was only a 10-minute drive West to the Piestewa Peak recreation area. A few years ago they added a much larger parking lot, restrooms, and water fountains, very nice.

When my friend Mark and I climbed here two days after Ironman Arizona in November 2022 we arrived just before dawn and saw people’s headlamps on the mountain. Superfit locals will run up and down the trail in well under an hour, I think “extremely difficult” is on a scale for tourists and urban non-athletes.

I had told myself I would NOT take too many photos on the hike as it was my 4th or 5th time but it was hard not to take a few (too many). There had been air quality alerts the days of my trip and the smog obscured the distant peaks. The adorable squirrel posed for a photo and then when I chittered to him he came closer and stood on his hind legs (like the squirrels where Alex lives) but I had nothing to share with him. Another guy on the trail reached into his pack and offered the squirrel a piece of banana!

It took us only 48 minutes to summit (even with photo and water breaks) and we made it back to the car in exactly 90 minutes.

Everywhere in Scottsdale, there were beautiful blooms on the plants and cacti. It had been a very rainy winter and the summer 120-degree days had not yet arrived to desicate everything. The tall bush with the orange flowers had several VERY noisy hummingbirds buzzing around but they were too fast and small to catch with the iPhone.

This lizard was only a few inches long and scampered away before I could get close enough for a better photo.

After dropping G back at The Sanctuary, Alex and I had breakfast outdoors, very relaxing. As I had just hiked I enjoyed the buffet option.

My sister, L… and G were going for pick me up at noon to head into Old Town Scottsdale as L had never walked it. Alex wanted to do some “thrifting” and I assumed they would use an Uber or at most have me drive them but they wanted to join them (saying they valued my opinion!).

I had only been to Goodwill stores to drop stuff off in the past. This one was much nicer than I expected. In addition to my opinion I was also useful as a photographer of each item for Alex to review and as a dressing rack 😉

I was disappointed that one item that caught my eye (would have been so great for Dead cover band shows) was a kids size … 🙁

As we had a few extra minutes Alex said a key thing was to look through the T-shirts for interesting ones. We got this one for G….

We got back to our hotel just in time for me to get picked up by L and G. It was only a 2 mile drive south to Old Town Scottsdale which had lots of touristy western clothing and art but also some nice fine arts and crafts. I bought a bolo tie at the official Navajo Nation shop. There was an ancient Native American singing in the shop and the cashier had a “born on the Rez” t-shirt.

We didn’t spend long in Old Town as we had arranged to meet up with some relatives back at The Sanctuary at 1:30 but did grab a nice iced coffee from a local shop… not Starbucks 🙂

I had stayed at The Sanctuary on Camelback decades ago when my cousin L got married there to A. We were now in AZ again for the Bar Mitzvah of their younger son, Caleb. I always remember their wedding anniversary as it is the ides of March. Caleb can always remember that his Bar Mitzvah was on 4/20, 🍃!

Long ago when I stayed at The Sanctuary the infinity pool had a clear view of the valley north but they enlarged the spa building and now it blocks the view from the edge of the pool but still a good view from the restaurant/bar.

My cousin J joined us for lunch (I just had Diet Coke as we had a 4:30 pm dinner ahead). We had hoped my aunt and uncle would also join us but it was a little close to the dinner event and probably smart of them to rest up.

I have a very small family. I have only one sister. Both my mom and dad had only one sibling. My dad’s brother Lenny (and his wife Harriet) had two daughters, L and J, who are my only first cousins. my mom’s brother is gay and he and his lifelong partner never had children. My sister has 2 sons and my cousin L has 2 sons but J has no children. My cousins told Alex (my only child) they will need to keep their generation in touch! Caleb and Blake are a few years younger than Alex and Lisa’s sons a few years older than Alex.

I headed back to my hotel and although I had enough time to sneak in a quick swim, both pools were so crowded I didn’t feel like swimming serpentine to avoid collisions.

Alex and I headed north for a family/close friends meal before Caleb had his Shabbat (Friday night) service responsibilities at the Temple.

I had told Alex they could skip the Shabbat service but I had planned to attend. But I was very tired between the long day of activities and the time difference.

Evidence of my exhaustion was that I did not take any photos other than these 2 of the food! It was a Sicilian place specializing in a variety of meatballs and thoughtfully there were chicken meatballs (delish!) for non-mammal eaters like myself.

We hung around for a half hour after the immediate family headed to Temple early to get ready but I was too exhausted to go so Alex and I drove back to the hotel instead to try to get some time-zone adjusted sleep before the busy Bar Mitzvah Saturday.