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Vacation planning help for a homebody: Phoenix Arizona



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DVOM




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 6:52 am
Hello girls!

After much deliberation (not too expensive, not too far, no Zika locations) we have settled on a vacation destination... Phoenix Arizona!!! We have 4.5 lovely days in May: landing on a Wednesday afternoon, staying till Sunday night. It's not a ton of time, and I'm tempted to run around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to see EVERYTHING, but I don't know that that's smart. I definitly want to get to the Grand Canyon, which looks like a 3.5 hour drive north of Phoenix. I'd also happily travel to some old mining towns like Tombstone and Bisbee, but they are a 3.5 hours drive south. Google searches and a guide book from the library showed parks that have ancient castle ruins of indigenous people! We love nature. We love old historic locations. We love antique shopping (though not necessarily buying due to limited funds!). My head is going to explode with all the cool stuff I want to do. I need help!

So... Do you live in Arizona? Have you visited Arizona? What are the most lovely, romantic, amazing things to do and see? We can see that there are some kosher restaurants in Phoenix. Any savvy restaurant-critic-Ima want to make a recommendation? We also want to know if there is a kosher grocery store, or a grocery store with a kosher section that we could buy food at. If you're a frequent traveler, I'd love advice on how to manage food. Do you eat lots of penut butter and rice cakes or do gourmet cooking at your location if you're away from kosher centers? Any tips?

We will be in Arizona for shabbos. We've contacted the Chabad of Flagstaff, which looks closest to the Grand Canyon and we can go there for Shabbos davening and meals, but we're having a hard time finding walkable accommodations that don't break the bank, so we may just do a quiet shabbos on our own. Any other ideas for Shabbos?

Any advice, suggestions, recommendations?
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saw50st8




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 7:22 am
I love Arizona! It is really awesome. Flagstaff is a great place to stay over Shabbos. I stayed at the Residence Inn but we didn't walk over to Chabad. It was a nice place to stay for shabbos and the time of year we went was very reasonable (under $100/night).

Even though I absolutely love Tucson and Tombstone, I would recommend staying in the north. There is so much to see there. Sedona is incredible - there are amazing hikes, pink jeep tours are fun (expensive but worth it!), there are native caves you can hike to. Definitely spend at least a day in Sedona. Near Flagstaff is Sunset Crater National Park (very cool lava rock walks), Wupatki, Petrified Forest, Painted Desert, Meteor Crater, you can even stand on a corner in Winslow Arizona :-) And of course the Grand Canyon! Are you planning to hike it?
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amother
Brown


 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 7:22 am
DVOM wrote:
Hello girls!

After much deliberation (not too expensive, not too far, no Zika locations) we have settled on a vacation destination... Phoenix Arizona!!! We have 4.5 lovely days in May: landing on a Wednesday afternoon, staying till Sunday night. It's not a ton of time, and I'm tempted to run around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to see EVERYTHING, but I don't know that that's smart. I definitly want to get to the Grand Canyon, which looks like a 3.5 hour drive north of Phoenix. I'd also happily travel to some old mining towns like Tombstone and Bisbee, but they are a 3.5 hours drive south. Google searches and a guide book from the library showed parks that have ancient castle ruins of indigenous people! We love nature. We love old historic locations. We love antique shopping (though not necessarily buying due to limited funds!). My head is going to explode with all the cool stuff I want to do. I need help!

So... Do you live in Arizona? Have you visited Arizona? What are the most lovely, romantic, amazing things to do and see? We can see that there are some kosher restaurants in Phoenix. Any savvy restaurant-critic-Ima want to make a recommendation? We also want to know if there is a kosher grocery store, or a grocery store with a kosher section that we could buy food at. If you're a frequent traveler, I'd love advice on how to manage food. Do you eat lots of penut butter and rice cakes or do gourmet cooking at your location if you're away from kosher centers? Any tips?

We will be in Arizona for shabbos. We've contacted the Chabad of Flagstaff, which looks closest to the Grand Canyon and we can go there for Shabbos davening and meals, but we're having a hard time finding walkable accommodations that don't break the bank, so we may just do a quiet shabbos on our own. Any other ideas for Shabbos?

Any advice, suggestions, recommendations?


I haven’t been in Arizona in 15 years but my parents go often for business and always stay in Phoenix for shabbos. There’s a hotel walking distance to the shul.

Have fun, it’s beautiful there!
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jkw




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 7:43 am
www.ahavastorah.org
In Scottsdale. Website has lots of good visitor info.
KITCHEN18 is phenomenal. Went 3 times in 4 days and even did takeout food when flying out.
Highly recommend Sedona as well.
Also Museum of the Western Spirit in Scottsdale.
Have fun!
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DVOM




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 8:11 am
jkw wrote:
www.ahavastorah.org
In Scottsdale. Website has lots of good visitor info.
KITCHEN18 is phenomenal. Went 3 times in 4 days and even did takeout food when flying out.
Highly recommend Sedona as well.
Also Museum of the Western Spirit in Scottsdale.
Have fun!


Just glanced at the shul website-- So helpful, thank you! I'm going to look into this!


And thank you for the restaurant recommendation!
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DVOM




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 8:18 am
saw50st8 wrote:
I love Arizona! It is really awesome. Flagstaff is a great place to stay over Shabbos. I stayed at the Residence Inn but we didn't walk over to Chabad. It was a nice place to stay for shabbos and the time of year we went was very reasonable (under $100/night).

Even though I absolutely love Tucson and Tombstone, I would recommend staying in the north. There is so much to see there. Sedona is incredible - there are amazing hikes, pink jeep tours are fun (expensive but worth it!), there are native caves you can hike to. Definitely spend at least a day in Sedona. Near Flagstaff is Sunset Crater National Park (very cool lava rock walks), Wupatki, Petrified Forest, Painted Desert, Meteor Crater, you can even stand on a corner in Winslow Arizona :-) And of course the Grand Canyon! Are you planning to hike it?


A friend mentioned jeeping or horseback riding. I'm definitely going to look into this!

I would love to do some hikes while there. Can you recommend what would be good day hikes up north? I'd say we can do easy to moderate hiking. My husband is very fit, me not so much... Smile

What is Winslow?

If you didn't go to a Chabad for meals, what did you do for Shabbos meals in your hotel room?

Thanks for your help!
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SuperWify




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 8:23 am
You can take a tour bus to Grand Canyon that stops by Sedona as well.

There’s a mining town 1/2 hour from Phoenix but the name eludes me.

There’s a great pizza store called la Bella where we literally ate every day.
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amother
Ruby


 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 9:09 am
Native Arizonan here. My advice is to spend shabbos in phoenix or scottsdale. Theres plenty of minyanim/kosher food, etc there. See Ohr hatorah in phoenix or ahavas Torah in Scottsdale.

As far as grand canyon. Don't drive all the way up. Drive to Winslow, which is just outside of Flagstaff, take the Grand Canyon railway. It's much more fun trip and faster. They do a little show on the train to. It's very nice train, not like an Amtrak!

Spend at least a day or two in Sedona if you can. There's like no minyanim in Northern Arizona(north of phx) or kosher food outside whatever you can find with an OU in supermarket so be prepared. Buy food in Phoenix.
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amother
Ruby


 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 9:11 am
Native Arizonan here. My advice is to spend shabbos in phoenix or scottsdale. Theres plenty of minyanim/kosher food, etc there. See Ohr hatorah in phoenix or ahavas Torah in Scottsdale.

As far as grand canyon. Don't drive all the way up. Drive to Winslow, which is just outside of Flagstaff, take the Grand Canyon railway. It's much more fun trip and faster. They do a little show on the train to. It's very nice train, not like an Amtrak!

Spend at least a day or two in Sedona if you can. There's like no minyanim in Northern Arizona(north of phx) or kosher food outside whatever you can find with an OU in supermarket so be prepared. Buy food in Phoenix.

Hiking. In Sedona for easy trails, the beginnings of Westfork is flat and pretty. You can also go into one of 100 tourist info centers and ask for hiking trail reccs. Don't go hiking in Phoenix, it's too hot and comparatively ugly.
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saw50st8




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 9:36 am
DVOM wrote:
A friend mentioned jeeping or horseback riding. I'm definitely going to look into this!

I would love to do some hikes while there. Can you recommend what would be good day hikes up north? I'd say we can do easy to moderate hiking. My husband is very fit, me not so much... Smile

What is Winslow?

If you didn't go to a Chabad for meals, what did you do for Shabbos meals in your hotel room?

Thanks for your help!


We ate in our hotel room. Nothing fancy. It was me, my mom and my 4 kids. We aren't big into eating out on vacation. If Chabad had been closer, we probably would have gone though. Note: the Residence Inn didn't have paper goods (plates/utensils/cups) so definitely bring your own. That might be true of many hotels around there, I am not sure.

We did a nice simple hike in Sunset Crater that was very easy. In Sedona, we went to Palatki ruins (you need to pre-book to go up to the cliff dwellings). It's a very short "hike" so I am not even sure that it qualifies. We wanted to go to Slide Rock state park but we didn't have time. It looked awesome.

At the Grand Canyon, We walked about 30 minutes down the Angel Bright trail and then turned back up. It's a totally different feeling that staying at the surface.

Winslow is a little town that had a famous Eagles song that has "Well I was standing on a corner in a Winslow Arizona" in it. We stopped there after hitting the Wigwam motel.

On the way back from Flagstaff, we stopped at Montezumas Well, which has a nice walk and some cool ruins. It is very easy, it's a walk on a paved path.

Oh! The Lowell Observatory had some really interesting evening lectures. It was definitely worth going to.
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DVOM




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 9:59 am
SuperWify wrote:
You can take a tour bus to Grand Canyon that stops by Sedona as well.

There’s a mining town 1/2 hour from Phoenix but the name eludes me.

There’s a great pizza store called la Bella where we literally ate every day.



I want a mining town! Can you see if you can remember the name? Thank you!!
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EMEN




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 10:04 am
I feel like Antelope Canyons is a MUST even if it's out of the way.
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DVOM




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 10:12 am
EMEN wrote:
I feel like Antelope Canyons Is a MUST even if it's out of the way.



Ohhh! Tell me more! What is antelope canyon?
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EMEN




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 10:18 am
I can't even describe how breathtaking it is. Google it and looks at the pictures- those images don't even do it justice. I thought the pictures were photoshopped before I saw it with my own eyes.
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Wife1




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 11:00 am
Definitely go to Sedona it's beautiful! Lots of hikes!
Dans deals travel blog has fantastic ideas of where and what check that our
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doctorima




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 11:37 am
I'm really busy, so no time for a full essay on Arizona, but you've gotten lots of great advice. Just want to add that it's really worthwhile to hike at the GC, but I strongly recommend doing the South Kaibab trail, not the more popular Bright Angel trail. I've done both at SK is way better, especially if you're only doing a little of it, as it makes you feel like you're much more "in" the canyon. If you can go 1.5 miles down to the first rest spot (I believe Cedar Ridge), that's ideal; if that's too much, even .75 miles to Ooh-Ah point is still very cool.

Antelope Canyon is amazing, as is Horseshoe Bend in the same city (google pictures of both), but they're 2 hours north of the GC and could be hard to fit into your itinerary.

Sedona is an amazing chilled town that you will absolutely love. I'll try to check later for the names of the hikes we did there if you're interested.

Shabbos in PHX is ideal. If in Flagstaff, ask the Chabad about lodging options, and check out AirBNB for the area near shul.
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tichellady




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 11:38 am
We had less time so didn’t aim for Grand Canyon. We loved the musical instrument museum. Kitchen 18 and cafe chenar were both great ( kitchen 18 is more upscale) and we wanted to eat at fresh mint and Lior the baker but it didn’t work with our itinerary. There is a kosher bagel place so we got bagels to have for lunches and we had protein/granola bars for breakfast and then ate dinners out.
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merrygold




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 07 2019, 11:39 am
Sadona is really beautiful- but don't use a cheap jeep company. We did that and the jeep broke down.
Use a reputable company.

Enjoy!!
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amother
Amethyst


 

Post Mon, Dec 30 2019, 1:01 pm
Bump. I hope to go next week for a few days (Sunday_wednesday) can anyone advise me best city to stay in (which airport) and some budget friendly attractions? We love hiking so any recommendations on that?
Thank you!
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