Roadtrip to Scottsdale

We took a last minute road trip to Scottsdale over the 4th of July holiday. We packed up the car and headed out on Tuesday afternoon, after naps. To break up the 6+ hour drive we stopped in Palm Springs the first night, where we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Suites Palm Springs in downtown Palm Springs. Loved that that all the rooms are suites so we didn't need to worry about being upgraded to get some extra space. Since we were only there for a very short amount of time we didn't get to do much exploring, but it seemed to be in a great location with lots of shopping and restaurants.

After our 11 month old alarm clock woke us bright and early the next morning, we had breakfast in the restaurant downstairs (included as a  Hyatt Diamond Status amenity for hotels that don't have a lounge) and headed for Scottsdale. Nothing like a free breakfast to start the morning off right!

Stopped for a quick picture with "Marin Mroe"  (Annie's pronunciation).  This was the 4th of July, by the way - Happy Birthday America!

Got a great rate at The Phoenician in Scottsdale, and booked through American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts Program through the Platinum card to take advantage of a "complimentary 3rd night" special. Since the Amex package also includes a free room upgrade (when available), and because we came during a low occupancy time, we got upgraded to an AMAZING and enormous suite.  We have had some nice upgrades over the years, but this one was right up there! Suite had a huge bedroom, living room, dining room and a giant balcony. Nice. Room 2040 in the main building. Had a doorbell and a TV in the bathroom mirror, aw yea.

Annie LOVED swimming in the pools at the resort - there were 11 in all. In total we think Annie spent at least 18 hours in the pool during our visit. Elizabeth got in on the fun, too!

And now onto one of best details of the trip... the food! First of all, we had $80 for breakfast every morning from the Amex package, as well as an additional $100 food credit for other meals. The best part was that we could use the breakfast credit on ROOM SERVICE, which is unheard of. And sadly, even though $80 seems like an extravagant amount of money to spend on breakfast, it's actually not too difficult! Especially once you add in all the service fees and taxes.  Picking up the phone and ordering breakfast in the morning may have been one of the highlights of my life thus far. And then having someone come and clean it all up afterwards?? Heaven.

To make things even better, kids 3 and under eat free at The Phoenician. Anything they want, whether it's off the kids menu, regular menu or special order. There were a ton of restaurants to choose from and there is an ice cream parlor inside the resort, where Annie got free ice cream all three days and we enjoyed 2 delicious root beer floats.

Sharing some ice cream

All in all it was a great and relaxing trip, even with a toddler and a baby! In large part because of the extra space - it's so nice to be able to have the girls nap and sleep peacefully while we can relax in another room and not sit silently in the dark worried we might breath too loud and wake them. 

It definitely was hot but it didn't bother us too much - as long as you were in the pool or the shade it was perfect, and after lunch we would come up to the room for ice cream and naps. Would highly recommend visiting places like this in the off season like we did.  Hope to make this an annual trip, would love to have some of you join us next time!

These girls love hotels!