Today I'm recapping Kenny's and my recent trip to Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona! We traveled to Arizona for 8123 Fest which is a music festival put on my my favorite band, The Maine. They are local to Phoenix so that's why the fest is held there. We went to the last one back in 2019 and after a few postponements due to COVID, we finally made it back to the desert again!
Also recommend (also vegetarian friendly):
What we did:
- Concerts in downtown Phoenix (Arizona Federal Theater, Margaret T. Hance Park)
- Shopped (Old Town Scottsdale, Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall, Downtown Phoenix Farmer's Market)
- DJ show at the Van Buren
- Desert Botanical Garden
- Hole-in-the-Rock hike
- Phoenix Suns game
I absolutely love the Phoenix area, and I highly recommend visiting Arizona at this time of year because the weather is beautiful. I hope you enjoy my recommendations if you're traveling to the Phoenix area soon!
Thursday
After dinner, we headed back to our hotel and Kenny ended up requesting a new room (thank god I have an assertive husband because I never would have had the courage to do that!) There was nothing "wrong" with our room, but it was on a low floor directly next to the elevator and across the street from a club. They told us they could switch our room the next day, and I'm really glad we ended up moving because our original room was really noisy at night with the traffic to and from the elevator, and random drunk dudes yelling in the parking lot outside the window. 😂 Our new room was on a higher level and perfectly quiet!
Friday
On Friday we woke up relatively early because we hadn't adjusted to the time change yet, so Kenny grabbed breakfast at the hotel while I got ready for the day. We didn't have any set plans until the evening, so we ended up walking around Scottsdale during the day and doing some shopping. They have tons of boutiques and stores in Old Town, as well as a super nice mall. I stopped somewhere for coffee and I don't remember the name of the place we went, but honestly I didn't recommend it anyway because the workers were kind of rude, which was crazy because everyone else we've interacted with in Phoenix has been so friendly!
After we wore ourselves out watching around, we got a late lunch at one of our favorite spots from the last time we were in Scottsdale - Farm & Craft! I forgot about this until just now, but before Farm & Craft we tried to stop at a new place I had heard about, but could not FOR THE LIFE OF US find it! I entered it on Google maps and we could see where it was, but couldn't get to it! It was actually ridiculous and we felt so dumb, but I'm glad we ended up at Farm & Craft because we love it there and probably enjoyed it more than we would have the other place anyway.
Kenny got the farro mac and cheese which we had last time and is soooo yummy, and I got the wild mushroom flatbread which was phenomenal. I also got "the cure" cocktail which was basically a spiked green juice. We sat outside and it was so lovely! We actually sat outside almost everywhere we ate during our whole trip, and that's one of my favorite things about visiting Arizona in the winter!
After lunch, we called a ride into Phoenix to the 8123 pop-up shop to pick up our festival wristbands. The ticket package I bought were for a pre-show on Friday, the festival Saturday, and an after party Saturday night. After grabbing our wristbands (and some merch!) at the pop-up shop, we headed down the road to the Arizona Federal Theater for the pre-show.
The Maine performed along with two other bands called Breakup Shoes and The Technicolors, and it was super fun! They also brought a few members of A Rocket To The Moon to play a song, which was so fun and nostalgic - my friend Emma and I LOVED them in high school before they stopped performing. Kenny and I really enjoyed the venue, and we got pit wristbands so we could stand right up front. My feet friggin HURT by the end of the night though, the photo above was from me sitting on the floor waiting for The Maine's set. 😂
The only bad part of the night was that I left my phone in the bathroom, but THANKFULLY some pure angelic soul turned it in to lost and found, so they have some major good karma coming their way.
After the pre-show it was pretty late, so we caught a ride back to our hotel to go to bed!
Saturday
If you know anything about Kenny, then you know he's a diet soda connoisseur. On Saturday morning we had brunch plans, but Kenny's first priority was getting a good ole gas station fountain drink, so we walked to the nearest gas station for some of the world's finest fountain diet Coke before heading to brunch.
We had brunch at The Coronado, which we also went to last time we were in Phoenix but has moved to a new location. It's a 100% plant-based restaurant and everything is so yummy!
Kenny and I both got the breakfast burrito with avocado, and we split a side of red potato hash and everything was delicious. Kenny also got a blackberry Italian soda with oat milk and he said it was just as good as traditional Italian sodas he's had!
After brunch, we headed downtown to go to 8123 Fest. It began early in the
afternoon, but the first show I wanted to see was around 5:00 and the
fest didn't allow reentry, so we walked around downtown for a while to
kill some time. Downtown Phoenix is so much fun, there are so many
restaurants and shops to peruse!
Once we entered the fest grounds, we walked around and checked everything out, and took some photos.
They had a bunch of fun backdrops for pics! Lots of peace signs were thrown. 😂
We stopped by the bar so that I could grab some honey lemonade "Sticky" hard cider which was a special collaboration between The Maine and a local cidery for the fest! It was super fresh and I was excited to get to try it because they sold out for good before the end of the night.
The first set we saw was 3OH!3 - YES they're still a band and I was such a huge fan in high school! I first saw them at Warped Tour in 2009 - time flies! Their set was seriously SO fun and I wish it had been longer. I'd definitely go to a dedicated show of theirs. After 3OH!3, there were two or three more sets before The Maine went on. I was planning on walking around some more but Kenny convinced me that we should stay near the stage because we had a good position in the crowd, and I'm glad we did.
The Maine's set was obviously amazing (they ARE my favorite, after all), and once it was over we headed to the after party at the Van Buren, which was a short-ish walk from the park where the festival was held. By some stroke of meteorological misfortune, it started RAINING while we were heading over to the after party (in the desert?!), We had to wait in line outside the venue while everyone got their IDs and vaccine cards checked, so we were pretty soaked and miserable by the time we got inside. 😂 After a vodka limeade, a Red Bull, and some French fries though, we were back in good spirits.
The after party was an absolute BLAST - they had DJ sets from some local DJs who often host "emo night" parties, plus some of the bands from 8123 Fest showed up for guest DJ sets. Kenny and I didn't know how long we would last, but we ended up shutting the joint down and didn't head back to the hotel until after 3:00am. 5:00am East Coast time, woof! It was SO much fun, and I'm so glad we didn't let the rain ruin our time!
Sunday
On Sunday morning, we took our SWEET time getting ready and getting out, and spent some time wandering around Old Town Scottsdale for a while in the morning. Kenny needed some sunglasses so we stopped into a few shops to find some. He also picked up some Phoenix Suns gear, and we picked out an Arizona refrigerator magnet (on our honeymoon, we started collecting magnets from the places we travel together!)
I decided that I wanted to grab some brunch - you can never eat brunch too many times on vacation, and luckily there are plenty of spots in the Phoenix area that serve brunch all week long. We headed to Prep & Pastry which ended up being one of my very favorite places we ate, I had such a hard time choosing what to order! I got a Bloody Mary because our waitress told me that it was award-winning, and I can see why - it was phenomenal! It came with a coffee stout beer back on the side as a "palate cleanser" and I NEVER drink beer, but I actually liked it and it paired really nicely with the Bloody Mary. Dang, I want one now...
Kenny got the Prep breakfast sammie sans-bacon, and I got the guac toast which was some of the best I've ever had - so flavorful, and served on homemade sourdough!
After brunch, we headed to the Desert Botanical Garden. I wanted to go last time we were in Phoenix but we didn't have time, so I'm really glad we went this time! Being from the East Coast, I find the topography, flora, and fauna of Arizona so beautiful and fascinating (read: citrus trees!) so I was excited to visit the botanical garden! One thing I'll say is I found the ticket prices to visit the garden to be pretty steep - they vary between $30 and $40 per adult depending on when you visit (we paid $40). You can get a ticket for daytime or nighttime, and I think that the daytime tickets are more worth your money - if you get a nighttime ticket, I recommend arriving before the sun sets to get the full experience.
What's unique about the Desert Botanical Garden is that they have Dale Chihuly glass sculptures installed throughout the grounds. I didn't get good photos of many of them, but they looked so striking juxtaposed against the earth tones and desert foliage! One thing I wonder is how do they keep them clean?? They seemed so shiny and vibrant, but I'm sure they get dusty in the wind and weather.
The mountains surrounding Phoenix are, you guessed it, the Phoenix Mountains, ha! They're so beautiful, and so different than the rolling, tree-covered Blue Ridge Mountains!
You can really get up close and personal with the cacti, it would be easy to accidentally get pricked if you're not paying attention (and I'm sure it happens!) 😂
Had to get our shots there. 😎
One thing I didn't expect to see at the botanical garden was so much wildlife! We saw a hummingbird, a rabbit, and a ground squirrel which looked like a combination of a prarie dog and a chipmunk - so cute! Most exciting to me, though, was seeing a little group of quails! I've never seen a quail in real life before, and they were SO cute! I got a pretty good video of them heading down one of the paths, and sent it to my mom immediately. 😂
After the botanical gardens, we headed 5 minutes down the road to a short hike to an overlook called "Hole-in-the-Rock." It's literally a big hole in a rock that you can sit in and catch some views! We found out about it from a Lyft driver who mentioned it, and I'm so glad we did because I really wanted to do a hike during our trip, but I don't know if we would've had time to do a "real" hike. The above photo is from the beginning of the trail, which is just over a quarter mile long. (And YES that white dot on top is a person... A person with a death wish if you're asking me.)
This is the view from the back of the rock, and that little hole is where you enter from. It's relatively small compared to the opening from the front, but not a tight squeeze by any means.
This photo was from the top of the rock, right before you get to the hole (and yes, I'm just as uncomfortable about my repeated use of the word "hole" as you are). It's not a difficult climb, but I'm moderately afraid of heights so I was still super cautious the whole time. There was a group of girls (sorority?) in little black dressess and stilettos up there doing a photo shoot, so if they survived then I think most people would be fine up there. 😂 There were also plenty of kids and dogs that made it out alive! (To be clear, there was no one we saw who DIDN'T make it out alive.)
This is from right inside the entrance! There are stairs carved into the rock right behind us to make it easier to get in and out.
The view from inside the hole was just beyond. 😍 Like, I almost
couldn't believe it. Kenny and I kept saying "How cool is this?? Can you believe how beautiful this is??"
As you can see, there were a lot of people up there with us, but it wasn't so many that we couldn't enjoy ourselves (kind of bordering on too many, though). There are plenty of decent places to sit, which is nice! Some people brought blankets which was a good idea.
We were up there just in time for sunset which we didn't plan, but it worked out perfectly. This was seriously maybe my favorite thing that we did during our trip, it just made me feel alive! I was so glad we found out about it - one of our Lyft drivers just briefly mentioned it when we were in the car with her, otherwise we probably wouldn't have known about it!
Right before we walked back down, we saw a gorgeous owl fly overhead! I didn't get a good enough look at it to be able to tell what kind it was, but I was so happy to see it, it just felt like a good sign. We did not want to leave, so we stayed up there a little longer than we should have and had to hike back down in the dark, but it wasn't too bad.
After visiting Hole-in-the-Rock, we had a bit of a criminal moment. I wanted to go back to the botanical garden after dark, but I was not about to pay another $80 to go back, so we kind of just... walked back in. 😂 Right past the ticket checkers like we knew what we were doing, and no one said anything, so... We did buy some things at the gift store though, so we still supported!
It was so cool to see the glass sculptures lit up at night, but it was also kind of spooky there after dark! The paths are almost maze-like, and if you're not keeping an eye on the directional signage it's hard to know where you'll end up, ha! They were serving wine and beer when we came back, and Kenny surprised me with a glass of cab after I had run to the bathroom, which was so sweet! We enjoyed taking our time revisiting each of the sculptures after dark, and it was even better sipping on some wine!
Like I mentioned above, I think you get more for your money visiting during the day. If you're just there for the Dale Chihuly exhibit then nighttime is fabulous, but if you're interested in seeing the flora and wildlife then the daytime is definitely better.
After the BEST day, we were super excited for our dinner plans - I made reservations at The Beverly and we were hyping ourselves up reading the menu because they have a fantastic selection of vegan and vegetarian options, as well as a ton of great cocktails.
We ended up not having the best experience there because our server was not great (and it was not busy while we were there) and they were out of the first few things that we tried to order, but the vibe was really cool and I got a really fun cocktail - "two in the pink." 😂 A lot of the menu items had funny names - the cocktails were particularly vulgar, but I loved it. They had a list of super fancy cocktails that were between $50 and $500, which I can barely even imagine!
We split the vegan wings, truffle fries, and roasted Brussels sprouts pictured above, and Kenny also got the "cock block," which I didn't get a picture of.
Monday
Kenny ordered the French toast, and I got the Cali Benedict, which was so good! I never order eggs Benedict since it traditionally contains meat, so it was a treat.
I also got a Bloody Mary that was average (especially after that phenomenal one at Prep & Pastry!), then a mimosa flight which was wonderful!
After brunch, we moseyed around Scottsdale a bit more and did some more shopping. There are tons of art galleries and jewelers in Scottsdale, so there's lots of fun window shopping to be done!
Kenny had gotten us tickets to a Suns basketball game that evening, so we changed clothes and stopped back at Farm & Craft for a little happy hour snack before heading downtown for the game.
We had to get the farro mac and cheese again, it's just so dang good! I also got the kombucha & gin which was great, but I tragically dropped it mere moments after this photo. 😂
After Farm & Craft, we caught a ride downtown to the Suns game!
We had nosebleed seats but they still had a great view of the game! I took this photo when we first came into the arena, and we spent a good amount of time just walking around and checking everything out.
I could kind of care less about basketball if I'm being honest, but I do enjoy watching it live! It's fast-paced, and there's plenty of fun entertainment during timeouts and breaks when you'd normally be sitting through commercials if you were watching the game on TV.
The Suns ended up winning, and it was a really great game! We would've had fun either way, but obviously it was even more fun to see the Suns win at home! They've filled the previously open position as my favorite basketball team. 😂
The energy after the win was so much fun! People were hanging out around the stadium after the game and there were street performers taking advantage of the crowds which we had fun watching for a few minutes.
We weren't ready to head back to the hotel quirw yet, so we walked around downtown for a little while before stopping at Copper Blues for a little post-game snack. We loved it there! We got fries and pretzels and they were both wonderful - they describe their menu as "bar food looked at with a chef's mentality." The atmosphere in there was so much fun (they had a DJ performing while we were there) and the staff were so sweet!
Tuesday
Tuesday we had our long journey home! Our first flight left around noon and we didn't get back home until midnight (we had a four-hour layover in Atlanta that contributed to the length of the trip), and we were so excited to get back to Roxy!
Kenny and I agreed that this felt like the perfect trip. We got to do fun, unique things each day and felt like we really made the most of our time. After every trip we've been on, I'm usually SO sad to leave and wishing we had a couple more days to spend, and while I wasn't HAPPY to leave Phoenix, I felt really satisfied with our trip and everything we got to do!
That about wraps up my Arizona trip recap! I miss it already, but I love having these posts to look back on trips that Kenny and I have taken and reminiscing. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you have a great weekend!
xoxx, Laura
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