Adiós Tejas

Before leaving Texas, I stopped in El Paso to visit my high school/college friend, Courtney. She’s been doing big things in the news world and I was finally able to see her go live in the studio! Courtney was reporting on The Pope coming into town the following day.

That’s right… THE POPE. Roads were closing, schools were shut down and cops were everywhere. All I could do was laugh at the irony and hope traffic wasn’t too treacherous when I left in the morning.

Less than 24 hrs in Scottsdale

The next day, I was a little concerned. I still hadn’t heard back from the person I was supposed to stay with in Scottsdale and was playing my accommodations by ear. I headed to a local Mexican Restaurant recommended by my friend AJ, Barrio Queen, and ordered some tacos and beer. This place is known for having the best tacos in Arizona. They have so many different tacos to choose from! My favorite were the Al Pastor and Carne Asada, Chorizo Azul.

That’s when I met my new friend, Amanda, at the bar. She was in town from Minnesota and being the social butterflies we are, we chatted then headed to another bar.

My friend back in Houston had mentioned her friend just opened a bar in Scottsdale, Scapegoat, so we walked there to check it out. This cute and trendy spot is the perfect place to grab a beer and bite to eat in Old Town Scottsdale. The owners, Sarah and Nick, are super awesome and full of recommendations.

From there, Nick recommended we hit up Goldwater Brewery and who were we to argue? I started with their somewhat fruity, but popular beer, Desert Rose.

Still unsure where I was sleeping that night, I knew I had to figure something out. After searching, I found I could either get a room for $250+ or stay in a hostel in Phoenix.

Amanda kindly offered to let me stay in her suite at the Marriott and I quickly accepted. Many people would call me crazy for staying with a stranger but I trusted her. That’s the beautiful thing about traveling. Amanda has traveled the world, backpacked South America and she’s a wanderer just like me. In her words, “I know I would appreciate if someone would do this for me”.

And man did we have fun that night…

We headed to Brat Haus, which is known for it’s delicious pretzels, brats and variety of beer. After trying a few international beers, we were ready to take our night to the next level. We took a golf cart taxi over to a more “poppin” part of town. Golf Cart Taxi’s are a popular form of transportation in Scottsdale. Driver’s typically have no base fare and work solely for tips.

We made more girlfriends at Bottled Blonde, where we proceeded to dance the night away.

We ended our night at El Hefe with some crazy Vegas vibes. Confetti was flying, fog machines were fogging and the booze was flowing!

If you’re looking for a great spot to go dancing (or pick up chicks), this block of bars is it.

We had a taxi take us to Joe’s New York Pizza which is open until 4 AM for all you late night pizza lovers!

The next morning, I woke up in Amanda’s Suite, called a golf cart taxi for a ride to my car then hit the road for San Diego!

 

-COMING SOON-

SAN DIEGO CRUISIN’

SKI WEEK ASPEN