When the New York travel restrictions lightened up a little bit, I decided to plan a trip to Arizona and get some warm weather in. It was early November and already much colder than I’d like it to be in New York!

I wanted to do as much as possible in my week there, so I sat down and created my jam-packed Arizona itinerary. Quite honestly, 7 days in Arizona is not nearly enough, but you can do so much in that time! This time around, I decided to skip a bunch of hikes since it would be a solo trip. Something didn’t feel right about hiking alone, especially since I am the clumsiest person on the planet. Ask Doug how many times I fell when we did our Hunter Mountain hike over the summer LOL.

My hope is that you can read through my itinerary and my story and gain inspiration of what you can add to your Arizona journey! I divided my itinerary up to avoid overwhelming you with my stories and all of the information I have to share. Here’s how it goes:

-Part 1: Phoenix (this post)
-Part 2: Phoenix > Flagstaff > Grand Canyon National Park (Click here to read the next part)
-Part 3: Flagstaff > Sedona > Phoenix (Click here to read part III)     

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Part I: 3 Days in Phoenix

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Day 1: New York City to Phoenix

 

I took an early flight out of New York (shout out to my dad for being a champ and driving me to the airport at 6AM). I wanted to get as much time in the sun and heat as possible, so the earlier the better in my opinion. I flew out of JFK International Airport in Queens, NY, and I was so impressed by how well the staff and even the patrons were responding to new COVID regulations. Every person I saw in the airport had their masks on, and I saw countless employees walking around cleaning the common areas, such as the seats at each gate. The seats at the gate had stickers on every other seat requesting that seat be kept empty to help with social distancing.

Even on the flight everything was very relaxed and no hassle. I was flying with Delta, and was so impressed with the procedures they had in place and how seamless the flight went. Early on, on the flight, the flight attendants came around and handed out little goody-bags to each of us. In the bag there was a personal packet of Purell hand sanitizer, a mini water bottle, a mini pack of cheez-its, and a package of Biscoff cookies. This replaced the carts coming around for snacks, but I prefer this honestly. I never get two snacks on a flight! 

I landed in Phoenix around 1PM, and my stomach was howling. I did my best to ignore it since I still had to pick up my rental car and check into the Airbnb. That airplane Biscoff cookie (my personal favorite snack) would hold me over a little bit longer I think! I have a friend from high school, Mike, who moved out to Phoenix a couple years back, so I texted him to see if he would be interested in grabbing a bite once I was settled in. He said yes, so now I had something to look forward to on top of just being in Arizona.

He wouldn’t be ready for a bit, so I decided to grab a smoothie and just drive around Phoenix a bit and take in the sites. I absolutely loved all of the cacti everywhere. It is SO different from what I was use to seeing since I had never really been to a desert location before (other than Aruba, but honestly, we didn’t do too much exploring there!)

It was finally time to eat, so I went and grabbed Mike and we ventured to Old Town Scottsdale for the night. We settled on having BBQ and made our way to Bootleggers. The place had the perfect western aesthetic. Wood lined everywhere around the place and a smoky scent floated throughout the restaurant. We started with the Kitchen Sink Guacamole, which had pomegranate seeds in it. Such a unique touch, but it complimented the guacamole SO well. I ordered myself a sour ale and a messy, open faced BBQ sandwich, and everything just hit the spot. The sandwich came with house made potato chips, and they brought the entire meal together. It was just what I needed.

After we were stuffed from dinner, we took a walk around Scottsdale peeking in all of the small shops around the area. It was late, so they were all closed, but hey, window-shopping can be just as fun as real shopping and your wallet isn’t mad at you after! We made it back to the car and called it a night since I had to be up early in the morning. 

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Day 2: Phoenix

 

I used the opportunity of being 100% remote at work and decided to work from Arizona for half of the week instead of taking off the full 5 days, which I came to regret in the moment because really who wants to work while they’re out of town! The good thing is that I work on NY time and my body was still on NY time, so it was easy for me to wake up and start my day! (7AM Phoenix time, 9AM NYC time) It also worked out that my workday would end around 3PM Phoenix time, which still gave me ample exploring time in the afternoon and evening.

After a boring workday filled with numbers and spreadsheets it was time for me to check some items off of my to-do list. I texted Mike to see what he was up to and we decided to go to the Desert Botanical Garden, which is an absolute must do in Phoenix! It is a beautiful, serene place where you’re surrounded by all different types of plants and cacti. Unfortunately, because of COVID, there were a few areas that were closed, but there was still plenty for us to see. We went around dusk, so we got to watch the sunset from in the Botanical Garden, and let me tell you; the Arizona sky during sunset is something hard to describe with words, but trust me here. Absolutely breathtaking.

We finished walking around the Garden and my stomach began to beg for attention. Time to eat! This time we decided on Mexican and made our way to Barrio Queen, in Scottsdale (again). The restaurant was vibrant and filled with music, smiling staff, and bright colors to match the traditional Mexican décor. The walls of the bar area were bright blue and covered with sugar skulls. From the moment we walked in, I knew I was going to love this place. I ordered a Ginger Fever margarita to start… and then two more. They were THAT delicious. The drink was sweet yet bitter, and everything I wanted in a margarita. There were even pieces of fresh pineapple. For dinner I ordered my favorite Mexican dish, enchiladas. I couldn’t decide on a sauce, so I ordered the trio mole enchiladas, and I kid you not, they were perfect. I ate every last bite, which never happens especially after I demolish the chips and salsa before even ordering dinner. They were packed with flavor, cooked to perfection, and each sauce got better with each bite.

After a few margaritas and an overstuffed stomach, we decided to walk around Scottsdale again. We wandered over away from the shops this time and walked along the canal. At one point of it, there was a colorful display of what looked like little boats. I started noticing that everything about Arizona was filled with color form the sky to the street art, to the restaurants.

To end the night, we went back to Mike’s house and made a fire so we could enjoy the perfect Phoenix night, cool but warm, serene but filled with energy. I couldn’t believe I had to call it an early night again and get some sleep for an early day of work ahead.

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Day 3: Phoenix

 

One more workday in the books! I had a crazy day, just my luck, so I worked a little later than I had planned. It was around 3:30-4PM Phoenix time when I started getting myself freshened up and ready to explore some more.

I decided to have a more relaxing night and just check out all of the street art that Phoenix has to offer. I went to Downtown Phoenix and found an overwhelming amount of street art and murals to stare at. There were your basic wings on one of the walls, but what really caught my attention were the incredibly detailed portraits and images of all different animals along the walls. Everywhere you turned you saw something new and each and every piece of art was obviously done with patience and intensity. The level of detail that was shown was mesmerizing in itself. You could see each piece of hair was painted one stroke at a time making each one extremely realistic. I took a bunch of photos and hurried around to see as many as I could before meeting Mike for dinner.

After filling up my camera role with all of the street art and murals, it was around sunset time, so I drove along Route 51 and watched the sky change from cotton candy pink and blue to a fiery orange and yellow. There was an intense haze over the mountains that added a sense of heat to the sunset that you could feel even from within the car. Purely magical.

Dinnertime had arrived, and Mike and I decided on Cold Beer & Cheeseburgers, which is a local chain in the area. This was my kind of place. The inside had an open concept with a HUGE bar with every beer you could think of on tap (I mean Cold Beer is their name). There was a fenced in patio area off of the back of the bar, which is where we sat. We got really lucky and got seated next to the most adorable puppy in the entire universe. His name was Dexter and he wanted nothing but love and attention from everyone, which I was more than willing to give! We ordered some sandwiches and a few different beers as I enjoyed my last night in Phoenix [for a few days].