Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
I had such high hopes of rising at 4:00 am, placing the kids in the car, and then arriving in Scottsdale by the time they woke up. Nope. The alarm went off at 4:00 am (I actually use this version of The Navy Hymn as my alarm tone) and I hit snooze…again and again and again. Until it was 7:00 am.
We ended up not leaving the house until 8:30 am. Oh well…it was “vacation” after all. I don’t usually use an alarm so I’m really not used to one…it has been many years since my military days! Usually, I wake up between 6:00 am and 7:00 am with no assistance, though it did not help that we had a dinner party the night before and I was up late packing.
My wife Heidi and I have different tastes when it comes to coffee. That requires taking separate coffee breaks because that is one area we are not willing to compromise on! Our first stop was at the Starbucks in Cabazon, California on the Cabazon Indian Reservation…Heidi likes her Americano from Starbucks…
We continued on and I pulled over in Indio about 30 minutes further down the road and stopped at a lovely independent coffee shop called Everbloom. It was packed!
After a respectable cappuccino, we were off again.
This time, we did not stop until we hit the Arizona border. I had high hopes to pull over and take a picture beside every state sign, but as the trip progressed we ended up doing a lot of our travel at night and did not stop again or a road sign picture until we reached Oklahoma. There wasn’t much to see out the window on this portion of the trip…
I deliberately held off on refueling until we reached Arizona, where prices are over $1/gallon cheaper. We filled up in Quartzite.
Not more than 10 minutes after leaving the station, Augustine announced he had to use the bathroom…thankfully, there was a rest stop not too far…with warnings to watch out for snakes!
We reached the Andaz and it had been two decades since I was in Scottsdale…wow, what a posh city. Beautiful homes.
I deviated from Route 66 to spend our first night at the Andaz because I wanted to treat the kids to a nice hotel that had a pool. And so for the rest of the afternoon and again in the evening (and again the following morning) we spent a lot of time in the pool. And the pool was heated almost to a jacuzzi temperature…it was lovely.
Our room was nothing special, but I very much like the bungalow-style accomodations here. I’d definitely return to this property. I spent 29,000 World of Hyatt points for the night here (a peak night) because the prevailing rate was $768…I always coax a good value out of my Hyatt points.
I made dinner reservations at a restaurant around the corner from the hotel called Fat Ox, but ended up canceling because the kids suddenly began bitterly complaining about how hungry they were and I did not want to bring them to a nice restaurant and make them wait 30 minutes for dinner.
So instead we drove to the closest Middle Eastern place called Shawarma Express. What a mistake…
First off, it was expensive…$75 for essentially three entrees…which would have been okay if the food was good, but the food not only took far too long to come out, but it was bad. The chicken and hummus were mediocre, but the beef was disgusting…the meat was so fatty. This place is an embarrassment to Middle Eastern food and I would not return.
We stopped at Trader Joe’s (where we should have eaten dinner) to pick up some food for the drive, then drove back to the hotel and sat down next to one of the fire pits before going to bed early. Despite the poor meal, it had been a great first day!
Finally, I am aware that Scottsdale is not on Route 66. We chose to divert to Scottsdale for the hotel, but we returned to Route 66 on our way to New Mexico. Tomorrow: Petrified Forest National Park.
This trip report covers my road trip along the old Route 66 from Los Angeles to Chicago.
More appropriate to Arizona would have been beer , cactus salad , steak , and apple pie .
When at Andaz Scottsdale, I have three words of advice for feeding your kids: Fogo de Chao
All you can eat steak, meat just comes to your table, no waiting necessary (unless they are packed and you need to wait for a table.) It’s a huge place so the wait is never that bad.
So funny you mention that. Heidi and I love Fogo de Chao and go to the one in Pasadena all the time. When we stopped at Trader Joe’s we noticed the Fogo de Chao in the same lot…and both regretted we did not go there!
Fogo is one of my very favorite places and our kids agree wholeheartedly! I’ve been a huge fan since eating at a Fogo in Sao Paolo on my birthday in 2000! It’s a place that is excellent every time.
Unfortunately, Fogo is no longer what used to be. It was a family owned company who it started but now it belongs to a private equity and it has no connection to the Brazilian roots anymore. The food is not the same quality and the service is far from what it used to be. They added a bunch of cheap stuff on the salad bar and now bring cheap food to your table (sausages, chicken, etc…) and wait until you are full to bring the good stuff.
Ironic that you didn’t chose a Mex or NM place in our city given your affinity. Next time.
Also didn’t you fly in and out of Scottsdale airport < 10 years ago.
And just for the record, it’s pronounced Route (Like root) 66 and not like r out. The large scale mispronunciation of the word route is only about 20 years old. We do have a tendency of destroying languages in this country.
Why keep hitting the snooze button. Just set it for when you need to be up and get up . Also why do you call it a route 66 trip if you’re not on route 66?
Because we mostly followed Route 66…as you’ll see if you keep reading.
Why did I keep hitting the snooze button? Well, gee I don’t know. Maybe because I was tired?
Did I notice a jug of Makers Mark on the dresser? Good move, Matthew. I can’t imagine a cross country road trip without MM for support and courage.
That’s the Andaz minibar! I’m not a fan of Maker’s Mark…
route 66 trip? your not even close to route 66 driving thru scottsdale, u need to be more north bruh in flagstaff
Keep reading.
“but the beef was disguising”
What exactly was it disguising?
Shish kabobs are not supposed to have fat. Fatty, poor-quality meat.
@Matthew, I think @Bob was pointing out the typo…
LOL. Once again showing worthless Grammerly is.
@Matthew, it can’t even fix its own name! XD I wonder why you have so much trouble with it, though… I use the free browser extension and it typicaly highlights dramatical errors and typos (but only offers explanations/corrections if I sign in).
I found the free version (where you sign in) to be useless, so I don’t want to pay for it.
For this comment, I deliberately mistyped “typically” and “grammatical” and Grammarly underlined both in red. It seems like it *should* pick up most of your typos, but might not have identified disguising/disgusting.
Everyone driving on I-10 in either direction fills up in Quartzite.
The stations in Quartzsite aren’t that busy, really. The Pilot at Exit 1 in Ehrenberg, on the other hand…I don’t think I’ve ever passed by where the lines aren’t 3-4 cars deep at every one of the pumps.
Yes! I was going to to stop at The Pilot (right where I took that Arizona road sign picture) but my goodness, there were at least 20 semis lined up stretching down to the off-ramp!
It is odd you went to an overpriced kabob shop when the restaurant at Andaz is top notch. Weft and Warp has excellent Middle Eastern / Mediterranean fare. Personally I thought including the barb at the bad restaurant in your title really hurts the value of the article in general. Sounded like a perfectly enjoyable trip. Would be like visiting LA and my big gripe was that I got a greasy wing at KFC. Do come back and try the Fat Ox!
Fair enough and I regret not eating at the hotel – we went to this place because it was five minutes away and because and thought the food would be served instantly. Big mistake. Scottsdale is lovely…I want to return!
Just curious, did you rent a car for this roadtrip ?
No. The purpose of the trip was to transport a car from LA to Chicago.
Having to stop at 2 different coffee joints may be the purest definition of white privilege out there. Not saying you didn’t earn everything you work for but it definitely comes off as beyond elite.
Well, then guilty as charged. I don’t drink Starbucks.
And here I was thinking it was the purest definition of loving and respecting his wife. Kudos, Matthew, for giving her what she prefers rather than giving her grief over the marginal bother.
You missed the General Patton Museum in Chiriaco Summit. Check it out next time you drive out that way, or decide to spend a long weekend in Palm Springs.
P.S. if any member of my family asked for a second coffee stop instead of the one I chose, they’ll be instantly told they’re going to have to do without. Zero tolerance for adding 20 minutes to my drive time and ruining my average MPH!
Happy wife, happy life! 😉
Holy moly that place does suck, I had the exact same experience there. You woulda been better off at the Detroit Coney next door. But I really recommend the Jewish Deli on the far southwest corner. If you like real pastrami etc. you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Wish we had gone there instead!
As a European who loves roadtripping in the US (been to all states many times over and do four 10-35 day US roadtrips per year), I don’t really get the Rt66-obsession but I love Scottsdale and Petrified Forest NP even more. I’ve visited about 85% of all NPs and Petrified Forest is in my top five. Truly spectacular.
I have you didn’t leave before having breakfast because it’s great at this Andaz. The happy hour is also really good too. They have food and drink specials. For the US, this really is a good property, though personally, I’m not crazy for Scottsdale. I find it to be poor overall value.
I hope you didn’t…*
There’s a happy hour? Some dude with lipstick and a beard checked us in and did not offer a welcome drink or mention the happy hour.
If I was on a road trip and someone wanted to stop to get coffee, I’d be bothered. If I had to stop at two places, I’d no longer have travellings companions.
Coffee is very important in the Klint house!
Great hearing about your road trip, done it many times. Like to make Morongo (Cabazon) the midway stop, cheap gas and In n Out!
Love Scottsdale, have lived there, and making annual trip for Barrett-Jackson Auction. Always a great experience.
Prescott is a great sidetrip, and there’s a cutoff from I-10 east of Quartzite to Hwy 60 that eventually takes you up 4000 ft in about 5 miles (Yarnell Hill) to reach Yarnel then on to Prescott. Fun drive!
We have two friends in Prescott that we could have visited. There will be a next time!
Nice article. A great mediterranean restaurant in Scottsdale is Taza Mediterranean Bistro at Hayden & Mountain View.
I ate at Shawarma Express about a year ago and it was pretty decent. Not sure if service has gone down or if they had an off night. There’s a great Indian place though (Taj Mahal) I’d recommend in downtown Scottsdale if you ever pass back through.
The Persian Room is a great Middle Eastern restaurant in North Scottsdale but absolutely do not go if you want a quick meal. It is a sit down restaurant and they take their time
We looked at that place – I would have gone had we had more time…it looks great!