We decided to take a long weekend and explore some parts of Arizona that we never visited before.

Everyone is raving about Scottsdale are (near Phoenix), so we decided to check out the Royal Palms resort that is at the base of the Camelback mountain.

It is a great place to to run, walk and hike. It is very safe and conveniently located to many restaurants and shopping.

The Royal Palms is built from a very old Spanish home/mansion which is turned into a hotel. It is settled amongst all the mansions and (I call them) castle that are nestled in the slopes. They look like they at 10,000 – 20,000 square foot homes selling for $3M.

We had a lot of exploring the area…and I must say that it is the largest collection of expensive stores and restaurants I have seen in any city, The lady at Nordstrom said that the Scottsdale Mall Nordstrom is the busiest and largest in the United States,

We also went south to check out some of the National Parks.

One fun and easily accessible was Picacho Peak.

It is full of flora and fauna. The crows are HUGE here.

It is very hot and you need to pack lots of sun screen and water in addition to wearing good clothing to avoid all the scratchy cacti and bushes.

It is not crowded, but I do recommend good hiking shoes as it is very rocky, somewhat technical (even though it looks easy) and some people may choose to buy gloves at the the small Ranger store at the entrance.

and…after a hot hike, what is the favorite rest stop for most locals? Eeeges! Everyone recommends the icees/shaved ice drinks to cool down 🙂

In case you missed it, here is the major site we visited on this trip which is unique to Arizona at the world actually!