Our Spring Break Travels started with three days in Scottsdale, Arizona. We visited my parents and spent time relaxing and exploring the area. Highlights from the trip include a day visit to Old Scottsdale, shopping and fun at Cave Creek Frontier Town, and an educational afternoon at OdySea in the Desert aquarium. Between the fun we ate at delicious restaurants and just enjoyed time with the family. Follow along with the fun, photos, video and travel blog below.
Travel From Orlando, FL to Scottsdale, AZ | Travel Day | March 15th
With both of the kids in school full time, family vacation time becomes quite limiting. The Spring Break holiday for the schools normally aligns with Hunter’s birthday. This allows us to parlay our trips into birthdayfest/family vacations. In 2017 we visited Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort to celebrate Hunter’s 10th birthday. This year, we planned a trip out West to see Grandma Jean and Papa Don in Arizona. Following our time in Arizona, we booked a stay in Anaheim, CA, to visit the Disneyland Resort.
I worked from home allowing me to shift my work day to get things situated before our travels. A little backstory here. At the end of 2017 we had a dishwasher leak causing water damage throughout the middle of our kitchen. After months of working with the insurance company and finding a contractor we were finally ready to replace hardwood floors. We planned the construction work over spring break to avoid the dust and noise. We felt this was the best plan to avoid the noise and dust caused by the work. However this required us to remove all furniture throughout the majority of it downstairs to prepare for the project. The furniture moves took most of the week to get situated. We were glad to be moving the final pieces before leaving for the airport.
With the project work around the house completed, Emily picked up the boys from school. Emily’s dad Colonel was kind enough to drop us off at the airport. We navigated the airport terminal with minimal difficulty. It sure was nice to have the TSA kick off our vacation in their normal happy way! We were relieved to make it through the terminal and onto our direct flight to Phoenix, Arizona.
Arrival in Phoenix Arizona
The plane ride was rather enjoyable as we sat behind Buddy the Elf (quite possibly the most jovial airplane passenger to ever fly the friendly skies). They had live TV on the plane allowing me to watch some March Madness. The boys were able to get some sleep which was nice. The landing was smooth as we touched down in Phoenix, Arizona. Emily and Hunter went to retrieve our bags while Sawyer and I went to wait in the rental car line. The rental car line was far longer than I anticipated being that is was late in the evening. The advantage of the long wait was that Emily and Hunter were able to secure our bags and meet us in line.
The 30 minute ride to the remote rental car location took all the patience I had in me. There was a solid stream of bumper to bumper traffic for the first half of the trip. We used the kiosk to check-in to avoid having to talk with any one. It was comical watching us traverse the elevator and garage with our fleet of luggage. Upon our arrival in the garage we were greeted by a super friendly rental car employee. Looking at our situation he generously upgraded us to a Nissan Armada from our original RAV4. I think he took pity on us with all of the luggage we were pushing around. The boys were stoked about the built in DVD player and ample back seat space!
Final Destination… Scottsdale
The drive from Phoenix to Scottsdale was a bit less hectic than our drive to get the rental car. The trip to my parents’ house was roughly 30 minutes. Exiting HWY 101 in Scottsdale, Emily thought a 10 pm (1 am in our bodies) snack was in order. Jack in the Box happened to be the location that caught our eye. A sack of burgers and curly fries later we finished the drive and arrived.
Arriving at our destination we all breathed a sigh of relief. I unpacked the car while Emily and the boys visited with Grandma Jean and Papa Don. Bedtime came around midnight Arizona time (3 am FL time). Good thing relaxation is on the agenda tomorrow!
Old Scottsdale | Day One | March 16th
I don’t know what it is with travel and jet lag but the body is slow to adjust to a new time zone. Both Emily and I were up bright and early at 6 am. I don’t believe that Emily was even aware that the clock had a 6 am. After she sprung out of bed and started unpacking, I had to check her I.D. to make sure it was actually her. She generously got all of our stuff unpacked and settled so we could enjoy the rest of our Scottsdale visit.
We spent the morning sitting around the house as the boys got to spend time with their grandparents. Grandma Jean, who should be the spokesperson for the Ninja smoothie maker, made some delicious breakfast smoothies. A perfect way to ease into the day and get our energy up for our afternoon. Emily wanted to capture her Scottsdale morning outfit picture before we left. She says she can’t help it that they have a perfectly Instagrammable wall right outside the casita where we sleep. Our destination for the day was a traditional one for our visits, a drive to Old Scottsdale. Old Scottsdale is a historic part of town with lots of tourist shops and restaurants. This place has Emily written all over it!
The trip to Old Scottsdale is about 25 minutes and Hunter was excited for the drive! Hunter has expressed a new love/fascination with fancy cars in recent years. Not exactly sure where this comes from as nobody in the family shares his passion, but he is definitely obsessed. On the drive to Old Scottsdale he was blown away by some of the cars that we saw. From Rolls Royce to Tesla, and everywhere in between, he hit his car bingo coverall on the drive over.
Shopping | Old Scottsdale
We arrived at Old Scottsdale around mid-morning, when the crowds and heat weren’t unbearable. We took a stroll around the familiar shopping area where we had visited before (most recently on our visit to Scottsdale in 2016). Before we began the shopping portion of the visit we had to get our traditional photos. The first photo was with the boys in front of the oversized Old Scottsdale cowboy. A hundred shutter clicks later we moved to the wagon wheel bench photo stop. After we had adequately photographed the boys we were allowed to continue on our tourist shopping tour.
Most of the shops were lined with the same merchandise garbage, which the boys absolutely loved. After a few stores we moved to a beautiful grassy area near the historical center. Here we found these colorful spinning ride contraptions. Each one allowed space for people to sit in while someone else would spin them around (see video at the end of this post). Sawyer absolutely loved getting twirled around as fast as possible. Just the sight almost made me lose my lunch (which we hadn’t even eaten yet)!
The Mission – Lunch | Old Scottsdale
It didn’t take me long to realize that we were hungry and ready for lunch. Emily booked a reservation at The Mission, a nearby Mexican restaurant, a short walk from where we were. They serve upscale Mexican cuisine with a table-side guacamole offering. Emily had been talking about The Mission guacamole for a couple years, since having it the last time we were here. Her mouth has been watering since we arrived at Old Scottsdale.
Our lunch at The Mission absolutely hit the spot providing the necessary fuel for more shopping. We worked our way through a few additional stores on our way back to the car. The boys picked up a couple of much needed rubber band guns. Not sure their grandparents realized how many rubber bands would be distributed around their house. We wrapped up our Old Scottsdale shopping and made the scenic drive back to the house.
Afternoon Chill Time & Family Photos
After a busy morning and a short night of sleep, Emily and I were wiped out. Grandma and Papa were kind enough to let us take a nap while they hung out with the boys. We snuck off to the casita, for a peaceful afternoon nap. We could have slept all afternoon but our afternoon photo session required our attention.
Emily really wanted to get some fun family photos with a desert backdrop. Prior to leaving she contacted a photographer and set up a session. We dressed in our carefully selected outfits and headed out. We arrived at a remote parking lot, in the middle of nowhere. Hoping this wasn’t our last car ride, we were greeted by a super friendly photographer. We followed her down a well worn path into the thick of the desert. She was great with the boys who got a kick out of all of her jokes. It was overall a fun experience and we got some good family photos.
Grayhawk – Dinner
We followed up our photo session by meeting Grandma Jean and Papa Don at the Grayhawk Golf Club for Dinner at Phil’s Grill. We sat outside and enjoyed some delicious food in the slightly chilly evening. Luckily they placed us near a heat lamp that provided just enough heat to make sitting outside bearable.
We followed up dinner by returning to the house, and watching a little NCAA Basketball Tournament before retiring for the evening. It was the perfect start to our Spring Break vacation with a bit of exploration and plenty of time to relax.
St. Patty’s Day – Cave Creek | Day Two | March 17th
Our second night in Arizona provided a much more complete night of sleep for the Hayes clan. Emily and I woke up refreshed and ready to take on St. Patty’s Day. Emily had so much energy she put her walking clothes on and encouraged us to take a walk. it did help that the destination was a grocery story with a Starbucks. The advantage to having the Starbucks inside the grocery store is that Emily got to enjoy one of her favorite traveling hobbies, exploring grocery stores around the US. Not sure where it comes from but she has an obsession with spending time in locations that sell food?
She got her morning beverage and was off to check out the store. I was finally able to pull her away from the produce aisle so we could make our way back to the house. We walked a different route home to explore more of the neighborhood nature. We took some fun cactus photos and were on the lookout for quail as we navigated the desert sidewalks.
Tonto Bar & Grill – Lunch | Cave Creek
After a bit of morning relaxation we were ready for the main event of our second day in Arizona, Cave Creek. We started with a 30-ish minute drive to our lunch destination of Tonto Bar and Grill. We ate here on our last visit and absolutely loved the food and atmosphere. They seated us in roughly the same spot, on the back porch overlooking the golf course. It was shaping up to be a beautiful Arizona day.
We started the meal off right with the Three Sisters Guacamole. The sharable dish came with salsa, amazing fry bread, and fresh corn and flour chips (photo above). It was so good I was almost ready to order another one for my lunch. Our meal was perfection as we enjoyed the atmosphere and conversation. The funniest part of the lunch was Hunter and his bottomless unsweet tea. Our waiter, who was absolutely on top of the refills, kept refilling Hunter’s glass. Hunter thought he was in a drinking competition trying to keep up with his refills. He almost got upset when he couldn’t drink another drop.
Cave Creek Frontier Town – Shopping & Gun Show
After eating past our fill at Tonto Bar and Grill, it was on to Frontier Town in Cave Creek. Frontier Town is a shopping area with fun tourist merchandise, themed to the old west. Lucky for us, today we not only got to shop, but we had the entertainment as well. When we arrived we saw a number of visitors dressed in cowboy attire. We quickly discovered these were actors about to start an old west gun fight performance. They were slightly unpolished but did a good job entertaining the crowd. We were ready to not be hearing gun shots ringing our ears.
As we were exploring Frontier Town, Emily spotted an old horse drawn stage coach parked on the street. We walked over to inquire about how much a ride was and where it went. Fifty bucks later we crammed the six of us into the stage coach to tour Cave Creek (see video at the end of the post). We enjoyed the ride but gained an appreciation for modern travel. As we made the circle back to Frontier Town, we navigated through the cars and motorcycles arriving for the rodeo.
Back to the House – Swimming Dinner | Scottsdale
Back at Cave Creek Frontier Town, we finished up at the last few stores. We were all a little worn out and ready to be off our feet. The boys were looking forward to getting back to the house to do some swimming. The perfect activity to burn off some afternoon energy for the boys as we soaked in the afternoon Arizona sun.
We decided to keep the chill vibes into the evening and have dinner at the house. Emily and Grandma Jean headed out to Fry’s to pick up the fixin’s. Hunter got fried chicken and the rest of had picky snacks of vegetables, crackers, cheese, and peppers as our dinner. It was the perfect dinner as we relaxed outside and enjoyed the weather.
After dinner we watched as Grandma Jean opened the belated birthday gifts we brought. Since we live across the country from each other, it is nice when you can celebrate in person. We finished the evening off with roasting marshmallows on the backyard fire pit. To celebrate Hunter’s birthday later in the week, we put a candle in his marshmallows and sang happy birthday. The marshmallows and s’mores were a delicious ending to our day of fun cuisine.
We retired inside to watch some of the NCAA Tournament. A sudden sports fan, Hunter yelled at the TV, cheering on the teams in his bracket. We were ready to call it a night after a full day exploring Cave Creek Frontier Town!
OdySea in the Desert & Grayhawk | Day Three | March 18th
We greeted Scottsdale bright and early again on day three. Our bodies were slowly adjusting to the time change yet still not allowing us to sleep in. We enjoyed our walk to Starbucks so much the previous day that we made it two days in a row. We revisited Fry’s grocery store for Emily’s Starbucks drink. With a six hour drive to Disneyland the following day, we picked up a movie for the drive. The boys have become huge Marvel fans of late so we got Thor Ragnarok to play on the car’s DVD player.
We picked up a few breakfast items and strolled back to the house. The aroma of delicious bacon greeted us as we walked in the door. Grandma jean was making eggs, potatoes and toast for the morning feast. We purchased a bacon quiche that we added to the breakfast smorgasbord. Homemade breakfast was just what the doctor ordered! After breakfast we played around a bit in the backyard to enjoy the morning.
OdySea in the Desert | Scottsdale
After breakfast we cleaned ourselves up for our main activity. Grandma Jean and Papa Don suggested a newly built aquarium to check out. The Odysea in the Desert Aquarium was about a 20 minute drive from the house. We arrived in the late morning, got our tickets, and began exploring.
Entering the aquarium we realized that we weren’t alone, as the place was crawling with people. It was a really neat aquarium with penguins, lots of fish, turtles, and many other sea creatures. There were numerous sections with different tanks containing many fish species. The facility also had a neat interactive kids learning section where the boys got to make their own slime (see video below).
The last exhibit was a circular auditorium, similar to the Carousel of Progress at the Magic Kingdom (in reverse). Viewers would sit on seats in the center circle and the outer auditorium walls were different tanks. The seats would rotate allowing you to see different tanks and sea creatures. The tanks include fish, sea lions, sea turtles, and sharks. It reminded me a lot of Jurassic World.
The aquarium provided us our fill of sea creatures. However, we couldn’t escape the aquarium without a visit to the overpriced souvenir shop. Emily took the boys shopping while I explored the inner courtyard area. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Spider-Man and Wonder Woman playing games with the kids. I did a double-take because I wan’t sure if this was the “real” Spiderman, or some creepy imposter. Sawyer and I returned to say hello to his favorite superhero. He wasn’t exactly sure what to make of Spidey.
Back to the House – Afternoon Relaxation
With so many shoppers I was surprised we escaped the merchandise shop relatively unscathed. We returned to the house after having our fill of public spaces. We made quick work of packing our things when we arrived home. Emily was great at organizing our suitcases based on our multiple destinations.
We spent time relaxing outside and basking in the remainder of the days sun. With everyone dressed up we took a few family photos in the backyard. Hunger took over and we started making our plans for dinner. Since this was the official dinner celebrating Hunter’s birthday, he go to pick the location. Therefore he chose Grayhawk Golf Club which is literally outside the back door of my parents house.
We hopped in the car and drove the five minutes to Grayhawk Golf Club. The seated us right away at an inside booth table. Papa Don offered to take the boys outside to throw some bread to the fish. This allowed my Mom, Emily, and I to relax with our beverages. Papa Don and the boys returned just in time for our dinner. Emily had chicken tacos, Hunter had a turkey sandwich with bacon on a croissant, Sawyer had spaghetti, I had a chicken pot pie, and we shared an ice cream cookie for dessert with candle. We sang Happy Birthday to Hunter one more time and enjoyed our dessert.
We returned to the house to relax and watch a bit of NCAA Basketball. The last evening is always the most difficult because you know you have to say goodbye the next day. Stretching out the night as long as possible, we finally called it an evening. Although we were sad to have to leave tomorrow, we were excited for the second half of the trip in Disneyland.
Scottsdale Vacation Video – Cave Creek Frontier Town, Old Scottsdale
Be sure to check out all the action in our vacation video below! If you enjoy the video please give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel for more fun adventures in the future.
Photo Slideshow – Old Scottsdale, Cave Creek Frontier Town & More!
Many more photos from our adventures throughout Scottsdale, Cave Creek below. Arizona is such a beautiful please to capture images we got a little shutter happy. Enjoy!
