Phoenix

Back in the valley of the sun. Took a leisurely drive out and had lunch at Pizza A Metro. I really enjoy their pizza and split that with gnocchi and carbonara pastas with friends. Afterwards, stopped at Urban Cookies for their chocolate chip cookies.

Checked into the Hilton Scottsdale Villas and Resort and spent the afternoon in the villas pool. The hotel has two areas, one is the main hotel with hotel rooms and another is an area of townhouse style buildings. This area is where the villas are located. Each building had five units and I was able to check in online for the large villa. I would recommend for families to stay since they are all two bedroom two bath units.

Hilton Scottsdale Villa Living Room

Hilton Scottsdale Villa King Bedroom

Hilton Scottsdale Villa Doubles Bedroom
 
For dinner, explored the downtown area and ate at The District. I normally don't venture to hotel restaurants to eat but SPG offered a promotion to earn points and discount. It was also restaurant week and I opted for the $33 prix fixe dinner which included a cocktail. I enjoyed the menu of seasonal soup, short rib, and caramel Oreo bar with my ginger cocktail. Overall, a very tasty meal.

The next day, grabbed brunch at Richardson's. It has become a favorite for one of my companions because the carne adovado was that good. This time, shared an appetizer of roasted garlic and it was very good. I would definitely order that only if you had a group to share it with.

Richardson's Garlic Appetizer
After brunch, went to the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort and Spa to get a spa treatment. I was given Spa Finder gift cards and they are not valid at many resort spa facilities. The JW were one of the few and I was able to see another resort on this trip. I ended up not liking the library silence at the spa pool and was able to finagle my way in to the main pool. There was a DJ and food service which made the environment more enjoyable. The spa treatment and facilities were nice but I don't know if I would come back.

Checked into the Doubletree Tempe and went out to eat at Four Peaks Brewery. The hotel is a little dated and the air conditioning units are loud. Despite the shortcomings, the staff does a really good job and it overcomes some of the inconveniences. It also helped that the rates were super cheap. The food at Four Peaks was great (chicken fried burger) and they had a good selection of beer on tap. Definitely would come back for both food and drink. Not a common combination for pubs/breweries.

Four Peaks Fried Chicken Sandwich
Before heading for home, grabbed brunch at Biscuits. As the name implies, they do biscuits and well. The champion pancake was also very tasty. On the way home, grabbed a ice coffee boba from Bosa Donuts at 3519 W. Glendale Road, Phoenix, AZ 85051. Rated well on yelp for the boba drinks, I was not impressed. I did like the doughnuts.

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