Monday, May 4, 2015

A Week in Arizona

I spent a week in Arizona last month, mainly for a work trip, and I arrived early to spend a weekend with my Sissy in Phoenix.  She spoiled me rotten, especially the foodie side of me.


To start, she took me to Short Leash, a food truck that still operates and now has a brick-and-mortar location downtown.  We started with the beer-battered fried pickles and the corn dog bites.  The corn dog bites were HUGE!  Some had jalapeƱo and some didn't, with a really great cornbread batter on the outside.  Amazing.  For my main dish, I had the Polka Dot Casserole, which was hot dog and mac 'n' cheese in a bowl.  I think I meant to order something with the naan bread around the dog, but this was delicious nonetheless!


Short Leash Sit...Stay on Urbanspoon

For dinner that night, we headed to Pomo Pizzeria Napoletana, which served up true and approved Napoletana pizza.  We had bruschetta, pizza, and a few types of dessert.  The bruschetta was amazing because you could tell they bake their own bread, and the tomatoes and cheese were on par.  My favorite pizza was the Toto Sapore, with pancetta, salame, and prosciutto.  Seriously so good!

Pomo Pizzeria Napoletana on Urbanspoon

As another treat, Amy took me to a local chain of artisan ice cream stores that have really made waves: Sweet Republic.  I had a scoop of the Salted Butter Caramel, and it was wonderful.  Not as good as Jeni's (I think she uses more butter!) but really wonderful.

Sweet Republic on Urbanspoon

For one of our lunches, we hit up dark and dive-y Dick's Hideaway, and the photos do not do it justice.  The food here is so good, it's truly a hidden and unassuming gem.  My breakfast burrito was the size of my head.  It's seriously dark inside, which is strange when it's bright and sunny outside so much in Arizona, but I highly recommend it.

Dick's Hideaway on Urbanspoon




Eating wasn't the only thing we did, though.  We went to Sweet Salvage, a monthly 4-day shopping event where you can find unique and vintage items.  It was like a hipster version of American Pickers or something.


We also spent a couple of hours at the Musical Instrument Museum, which wasn't nearly enough time.  This museum has instruments from throughout history and for almost every country and region of the world.  You wear an audio guide that uses some kind of near-field technology to activate as you walk close to an exhibit.  It was incredible!  I would definitely go back so that I can spend a few more hours going country-by-country.


After saying goodbye to Sissy, it was off to the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass for a week of work.  The resort was expansive, and I like the conference facilities and pools.  The water slide was a little slow-moving and its pool shallow, but I enjoyed it nonetheless!  The weather was really beautiful, with a great dry heat.


We also had a team event at Rawhide Western Town, a sort of Wild West-meets-cheesy-Epcot kind of attraction.  The food was good (and in huge portions) and there were photo ops and things to do throughout the town, like ride a mechanical bull, put yourself in a fake jail, interact with various character actors, and visit the petting zoo.


My trip to Arizona was wonderful.  I can't believe it had been two years since my last visit!  The resort had great trails, which I took advantage of one morning for a truly blissful run.  I took the photo below, which pretty much summed up how beautiful Arizona is...  I can't wait to go back!



Oh, and P.S. of course this happened too...




2 comments:

  1. Awww I used to go to Rawhide all the time as a kid when visiting family! Love that place - we took Sadie when we were in AZ last May. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think it was a little weird for a work function, but kind of cool. There were some models doing a photo shoot, and it was right by our hotel. A couple of people got scraped up doing the mechanical bull, but the food was on point and there was WAY too much. They gave us giant plates the size of a platter.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...