Talk to Me About Arizona.

[bcla]

It's not as much the money as it is being hesitant to pay for a hotel that gets worse reviews than the one we can stay at for free. Mostly, it appears Maswik Lodge isn't in a great location as far as the in park hotels go.


It appears we could get one night at Thunderbird Lodge. What did you think about it? Was it walkable to any other hotels for more food options? That's one thing we loved about Yellowstone. Also, did they have an elevator? I tried a Google search, but nothing came up. I can't climb steps, so I can't take a chance on being assigned a second floor room without an elevator. If you don't remember, we'll try calling later.

ETA: After I booked two nights, I saw they don't have an elevator. That may be a problem. We'll have to call to see if they can guarantee ground floor.

The thing about national parks is that there are a lot of basic accomodations that are are there on the premise that the public should be able to afford it. Like I said - I stayed at the Maswik quad cabins years ago, although those are gone. The location wasn't that close to the rim, but it wasn't bad really.

As far as Thuinderbird Lodge goes, it's somewhat controversial. It looks OK, but it was built in a similar style as the Mission 66 program to build lots of newer buildings for the National Park Service by 1966. And lots of them were built in a more contemporary style than what had been "National Park rustic" for years. The criticism would be that it kind of looks out of place - like a commercial motel was dropped into a national park.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

In Jerome, we had a couple of meals, The Haunted Hamburger is great. We went in a bunch of shops, and went here https://goldkingmineghosttown.com/
We stayed in Cottonwood and went to a couple wine tastings, looked in shops and ate more food LOL. We were very full.

Thanks for the feedback. Haunted Hamburger looks fun. Great view! I'll check out the gold mine link. We tend to take "food" vacations too.

The thing about national parks is that there are a lot of basic accomodations that are are there on the premise that the public should be able to afford it. Like I said - I stayed at the Maswik quad cabins years ago, although those are gone. The location wasn't that close to the rim, but it wasn't bad really.

As far as Thuinderbird Lodge goes, it's somewhat controversial. It looks OK, but it was built in a similar style as the Mission 66 program to build lots of newer buildings for the National Park Service by 1966. And lots of them were built in a more contemporary style than what had been "National Park rustic" for years. The criticism would be that it kind of looks out of place - like a commercial motel was dropped into a national park.

National park hotels definitely charge a premium for the location. We expect that. I just didn't see the value in Maswik, but I could be wrong. I also found it odd that Maswik was available every night, but I had to stalk the site daily to find any other hotel. We're okay with Thunderbird Lodge, but I'll keep looking to see if anything else becomes available simply due to the elevator situation.

 

[Imzadi]

Those towns are new to me. I'll look into them. Thanks

I'm hoping we're going to be amazed by Sedona. Our hotel there is the most expensive of the trip. It's more per night than the Grand Canyon hotel we booked. Fortunately, we're using points there. I can't imagine paying $443 per night (rewards member - book early rate) for a Best Western.

If you can still cancel, you can probably find something at a lower rate in Flagstaff. Maybe even a Best Western there and not use up all your points. It's a large college city, so there should be lots of hotels and restaurants for a quick breakfast. No hotel views, but it's only 30 miles north of Sedona and has that gorgeous scenic view along Rt 89A again.

 

[Imzadi]

Your trip sounds wonderful. I'll definitely look into visiting the church, since we can take a golf cart up there. It's good to know about the possibility of driving our own car. The shuttle would be easier for DH, but I always worry about making people wait for me. It's also good to know that Horseshoe Bend is a short walk.

I forgot about your mobility issues. Again, I haven't been at Horseshoe Bend yet. According to some posters on Reddit, there is a staircase at the end. But it does down.

Here is a video of it. I have it cued up to the end where the stairs are. You can of course, rewind to see the full of the tour.

 

[Imzadi]

Sedona we did, only for the jeeps. My husband loves doing to jeep rental, driving all over the rocks is his thing.

Definitely rent a jeep for Monument Valley. The road around really ruined my own car's wheel alignment that I just had done before the trip. The mechanic tried to sell me a lifetime wheel alignment package too. But I turned it down. I thought, how many times am I going to need a wheel alignment?

 

[Cookn70]

Jerome is a very cool town with great views and unique shops/restaurants. The streets can be steep and also a lot of the sidewalks are uneven and narrow though. We haven’t been for a few years, so not sure if that has changed.
Cave Creek has a Steelers’s bar named Harold’s. It’s near The Horny Toad.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

If you can still cancel, you can probably find something at a lower rate in Flagstaff. Maybe even a Best Western there and not use up all your points. It's a large college city, so there should be lots of hotels and restaurants for a quick breakfast. No hotel views, but it's only 30 miles north of Sedona and has that gorgeous scenic view along Rt 89A again.

Good tip. I booked Sedona, because it makes all the must see lists that I've read. We could still cancel, but I'm not really worried about the points. I'd be more concerned, if we were paying the $443 per night rate for a Best Western. I'll do more research on the two cities to see which I think we'd prefer for the weekend. Either way, we plan to do the drive on 89A.

I forgot about your mobility issues. Again, I haven't been at Horseshoe Bend yet. According to some posters on Reddit, there is a staircase at the end. But it does down.

Here is a video of it. I have it cued up to the end where the stairs are. You can of course, rewind to see the full of the tour.

I'm hoping I can at least get a glimpse of some of the places that I'm not able to walk down to. If not, DH is good about going down to take a bunch of pictures for me, as long as he wouldn't be gone for long. He feels bad about leaving me sitting around by myself for a long period of time.

Definitely rent a jeep for Monument Valley. The road around really ruined my own car's wheel alignment that I just had done before the trip. The mechanic tried to sell me a lifetime wheel alignment package too. But I turned it down. I thought, how many times am I going to need a wheel alignment?

Thanks for the warning. We'll be flying in & renting a car. I'm really hesitant to get a Jeep though. In Montana, our only choices were Jeeps & trucks. We took a Jeep. I had a really hard time getting in & out of it to the point that I just skipped some things rather than climb in & out yet again. Hopefully, we can find an alternative solution.

It's funny what mechanics will try to talk you into.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Jerome is a very cool town with great views and unique shops/restaurants. The streets can be steep and also a lot of the sidewalks are uneven and narrow though. We haven’t been for a few years, so not sure if that has changed.
Cave Creek has a Steelers’s bar named Harold’s. It’s near The Horny Toad.

Sounds like a neat place. We'll make a note to at least drive by there to see, if I can do the walk. There are a couple of restaurants in that area that we find interesting.

 

[fly girl]

I remember being in Scottsdale one day when it was 112°. I thought to myself, "There are limits to the 'It's a dry heat' theory." But of course, it still was better than 112° with higher humidity would have been.

112, ehh .... that's your average summer day! Try the hottest day on record, 6/26/90 clocking in at 126. I remember it vividly because it was the day after I got my drivers license and I went to the movies with my friends only to come out to a puddle of radiator fluid leaking due to the excessive heat. Even my car said this heat is too much.

And you got that right, I will take oven 112 dry oven heat versus 90 high humidity swamp heat any day!!

 

[tarheelmjfan]

To answer my own question earlier, if you keep stalking, some Grand Canyons hotels will eventually pop up. I've been refreshing the site a couple times a day looking to see if something comes up that we'd like to switch to. This morning, El Tavor finally popped up. I was excited for about a minute. Unfortunately, when I clicked to see what was available, it was a room with no view & no elevator access. After seeing the no elevator note, DH decided to call Thunderbird Lodge to request a ground floor room for the reservation we already have booked.

Now I'm wondering, if I should even bother wasting time stalking the site. Is ground floor, partial view at Thunderbird Lodge as good as I'm going to get or are there better options out there for those who can't climb steps? It's hard to check all of the options, when very little is available.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

112, ehh .... that's your average summer day! Try the hottest day on record, 6/26/90 clocking in at 126. I remember it vividly because it was the day after I got my drivers license and I went to the movies with my friends only to come out to a puddle of radiator fluid leaking due to the excessive heat. Even my car said this heat is too much.

And you got that right, I will take oven 112 dry oven heat versus 90 high humidity swamp heat any day!!

It's been 100 in steamy South Florida lately. Our AC is giving up.

 

[fly girl]

It's been 100 in steamy South Florida lately. Our AC is giving up.

UCK! You have my sympathies. Miserable. Your poor AC is tired.

 

[DCLMP]

October is a great month in AZ in terms of weather. I live here and don’t consider it beautiful, but it’s nice to hear that tourists do. I miss the green stuff and the ocean. Originally from So-Cal.

 

[Pembo]

We had a parking lot view at Thunderbird and honestly it didn’t matter. A few steps and you are on the run. The hotel is nothing special but the location can’t be beat. There is a shuttle bus that runs in the park. Highly recommend taking it to the end.
Sedona is very cool. I wish we had stayed downtown.
Flagstaff is a cool little town.
My husbands favorite spot was Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well. It was on the way out of Phoenix.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

October is a great month in AZ in terms of weather. I live here and don’t consider it beautiful, but it’s nice to hear that tourists do. I miss the green stuff and the ocean. Originally from So-Cal.

I can totally relate to that. I was born & raised & have a home in the mtns. of North Carolina. Growing up I couldn't wait to move near the ocean. I finally did & still live here. I still love the ocean, but I had to be gone from NC a long time, before I learned to appreciate the beauty of the mountains. I'm really excited to see Arizona. It's totally different from anything I've seen in person.

We had a parking lot view at Thunderbird and honestly it didn’t matter. A few steps and you are on the run. The hotel is nothing special but the location can’t be beat. There is a shuttle bus that runs in the park. Highly recommend taking it to the end.
Sedona is very cool. I wish we had stayed downtown.
Flagstaff is a cool little town.
My husbands favorite spot was Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well. It was on the way out of Phoenix.

I'm still debating whether I should keep stalking the Grand Canyon hotel site or stick with what we have. Do you think any of the other hotels have a better location? In case you haven't noticed I second guess everything.

Now, I need to do more Sedona research. I booked this hotel for the private balcony with a view https://www.bestwestern.com/en_US/b...otel-creekside-villas/propertyCode.03099.html, but we do value convenience & being able to walk to restaurants, bars, entertainment, etc. from the hotel. I may be back with questions about downtown hotels. First, how walkable is the city? It won't do us any good to stay downtown, if it's not flat.

Would you recommend the Castle & Well for someone with mobility issues?

 

[tarheelmjfan]

It's time to book tours. I'm hoping you guys will be willing to share more advice. Below is a list of places we plan to visit. Which locations should we book a tour & which can we tour on our own with driving tour apps?

Just to reiterate, I have health problems, which means no steps or strenuous hikes. We're willing to book tours anywhere, if it makes a difference on whether or not I can access the site. If we can do a self driving tour, that's probably preferable. It's easier to be able to go at my "slow" pace.

Sedona
Sunset Crater
Grand Canyon
Wupatki NM
Montezuma Castle
Montezuma Wall
Upper Antelope Canyon (I know I need to call to see if I can find a guide that will provide an accessible tour.)
Horseshoe Bend
Canyon de Chelly (I'm pretty sure a tour is required here.)
Monument Valley
Petrified Forest
Scottsdale

Please, feel free to offer suggestions for tours. I need all the help I can get. Pricing out this trip is making Disney seem like a budget vacation.

 

[Travel60]

Tombstone was a stark disappointment to us. We had planned a day there and left after an hour. Very fake "Hollywood"

 

[Kennywood]

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Tombstone was a stark disappointment to us. We had planned a day there and left after an hour. Very fake "Hollywood"

That's a bummer. We had already eliminated it for this trip. We just don't have enough days for everything we wanted to see. That makes me feel better about eliminating it. I'm sorry it was a letdown for you though.

View attachment 888677

Lol. We're actually thinking it will be chilly for us in October.

 

[disneyseniors]

October is a great month in AZ in terms of weather. I live here and don’t consider it beautiful, but it’s nice to hear that tourists do. I miss the green stuff and the ocean. Originally from So-Cal.

I agree with you My sisterinlaw lives in Phoenix and we visit once a year. After looking at sand, no grass or trees (the type I'm used to), just desert landscaping, I was really missing Mn. It's very nice to visit with a lot to see and do, but I don't think I could live there. However, we live in the very cold north. The only reason we stay here is because of the kids and grandkids