The Inn at Eagle Mountain, Scottsdale, AZ

I stretched out my legs so my toes could get even closer to the fire in the fireplace which was crackling merrily and busily warming up my frigid toes. As warmth spread through my icy feet, I looked around at the large and spacious suite we had settled in at the beautiful Inn at Eagle Mountain in Scottsdale, Arizona and felt very, very happy that we had made the choice to stay here first on our road trip of Arizona.

toes1 e1329863518250 224x300 The Inn at Eagle Mountain, Scottsdale, AZ

Warming my toes!

We flew into Phoenix, picked up our rental car – which, incidentally, we traded in the next day for a bigger car. A two-week road trip turned out not to be a good time to be a tightwad. Our two suitcases wouldn’t even fit in the trunk and, since the original car had only two doors, we would have been fighting to get that second suitcase in the backseat for the whole two weeks. No thanks. After picking up our (tiny) car, we turned on our Garmin GPS and headed to the Inn at Eagle Mountain. This was the first time we had traveled with a GPS and we will never take another road trip without one – it has been absolutely invaluable and I recommend either bringing one or getting one from the rental car company.

As soon as we arrived in Phoenix, we began marveling at how incredibly different the landscape was from the green rolling pastures of our native Lexington, Kentucky. Shades of brown, gold and tan sand and rock with eerily unearthly looking cactus and other desert plants create an environment unlike anything we have ever seen. It’s very different but also very beautiful. We headed out of Phoenix towards Scottsdale, through the Sonoran desert, and then up into the community of Fountain Hills, where the Inn is located. It’s only about 40 minutes from the Phoenix airport, so it was an easy drive. We drove up into the lovely desert landscape of the Inn and pulled up in front of the Southwest styled lobby.

lobby 300x225 The Inn at Eagle Mountain, Scottsdale, AZ

You know you have arrived in the Southwest!

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#The Great Hair Product Project of 2012: The Inn at Eagle Mountain, Scottsdale, AZ

I am so IN LOVE with Arizona. The desert, the mountains, the canyons, the saguaro cactus…wait. I must show you a picture I took of a saguaro cactus we saw in Scottsdale.

 

yipee e1329606190507 224x300 #The Great Hair Product Project of 2012: The Inn at Eagle Mountain, Scottsdale, AZ

Yipee - ki - yay!

Seriously? Someone was having too much fun with the saguaro cactus.

I’m going to tell you more about the fabulousness that is the great state of Arizona and how every time we get hot, we nudge each other and say “but it’s a dry heat” which, frankly, does not help at all. It’s still hot. Although that has not really been much of a problem since the weather is completely glorious here. I just checked the weather back in Kentucky and they are getting 1-4 inches of snow tomorrow. It’s 73 degrees here in Lake Havasu and not a cloud in the sky. I feel a little sorry for them. Not much. But a little.

So, Arizona. All about that later because right now I have to tell you about the amenities at the Inn at Eagle Mountain so I can begin the Great Hair Product Project of 2012. I am going to tell you all about the Inn eventually as well because it was wonderful in every way. Let me give you a visual. Picture us arriving cold and tired into the paradise-like suite that was our home at the Inn. Then there was this.

toes e1329607283858 224x300 #The Great Hair Product Project of 2012: The Inn at Eagle Mountain, Scottsdale, AZ

Warming my toes in front of our fireplace.

But all that will have to wait because what I want to tell you about is the amenities at the Inn at Eagle Mountain and how they stacked up in the Great Hair Product Project.

eagle mountain amenities 300x224 #The Great Hair Product Project of 2012: The Inn at Eagle Mountain, Scottsdale, AZ

Tarocco shampoo, conditioner, lotion and soap.

The amenities are by a company called Tarocco and now that I have looked at their website I realize I was correct when I thought I detected a slight smell of citrus. Their products have Sicilian Red Orange Extracts and it is a very nice smell. Here’s how they worked.

Shampoo – The shampoo has a lovely, citrusy smell and  looked and felt like honey with  a clear amber color. It suds up quite nicely and I had to use what seemed like quite a bit. But when I looked at the bottle, I had actually only used about a fourth of it, so it would last for a few days, although they left more of everything on the second day at the Inn even though we hadn’t used anything yet. After blow drying,  my hair was clean, shiny and soft

Conditioner – The big problem with the conditioner was that I had a huge issue with getting it out of the bottle. It was actually so thick and I have so much hair, it took me forever to get out enough conditioner. The bottle is a hard plastic so you can’t just squeeze it out. It had a faint, pleasant, nondescript smell. I had to use about half the bottle to get enough conditioner for my long hair.

Soap – They had no bath gel, just bar soap, and I didn’t actually notice there were two choices until I was in the shower with the skin cleanser soap with exfoliant. This has little apricot seeds in it and smells very nice but it’s extremely drying.  I forgot to take my face cleanser in the shower so used this on my face, which was a huge mistake.  As soon as I rinsed it, I felt the moisture suck out of my face like a squeezed lemon. I think the other soap, which was much creamier, would have been a better choice.

Lotion – This lotion would be no problem if you had approximately 3,421 hours to get ready because it was nearly impossible to get out of the bottle. I managed to finally squeeze some out and it popped out of the bottle in a little cylinder that actually retained it’s shape, it was that solid. It had a pleasant smell and was nice and creamy but was way, way too hard to get out of the bottle.

So.

The Inn at Eagle Mountain Amenities Score: -10 for difficulty in getting things out of the bottle
                                                                                  Final Score: 90%

Stay tuned for more amenities reviews. The quest for the perfect amenities goes on. It’s tough job but someone has to do it.

 

Full disclosure: Our accommodations were provided by the Inn at Eagle Mountain,  but as always, I will share my honest opinion about any travel experiences I have.

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In Which I Prove Myself to be a Bold and Intrepid Traveler

hair 300x300 In Which I Prove Myself to be a Bold and Intrepid TravelerThe last time we went on a trip, I unpacked my suitcase and lifted out the very large baggie stuffed with my shampoo, conditioner, bath gel and lotion and said no more. This is ridiculous.

Because I’m normally traveling for a good chunk of days, I need a large container of shampoo, etc. and those piddly little travel sizes just don’t do it. Plus, I’m just a teensy bit of a prima donna when it comes to my hair. I have what you might call not naturally blonde hair.

OK, I guess that’s precisely what you would call it.

Although a few years ago, one of my friends was at my house for the first time and spotted an old picture of me with my daughter when she was very young. There we were, her perched on my lap, and both of us with long, dark hair. “Oh!”, she exclaimed. “I thought you had naturally blonde hair.

Do I even need to say that I love this woman?

So I guess my hair looks pretty good blonde and I’m determined to keep it that way. I wash it carefully with shampoo formulated for blonde hair and, up to this point, packed that large, unwieldy and heavy bottle in my suitcase along with conditioner and bath and lotion from Bath and Body Works because I love me some pretty smells and don’t even get me started on how many bottles of bath gel I have in my shower.

And then every single hotel, resort and B & B we visited always has shampoo, conditioner, bath gel and lotion. Which, up to this point, I just pushed to one side and used my own stuff.

But the time has come. I am rebelling. I am becoming a wild, impetuous and perhaps mildly crazy woman. Especially if my hair does not cooperate in this project.

I am only going to use the provided amenities on this trip to Arizona.

The shampoo, conditioner, bath gel and lotion are going to stay right on the shower rack at home this time.

My suitcase will be 2 pounds lighter.

And The Great Hair Product Project of 2012 has begun.

I’m going to use the provided products in every single place we stay. And then I’m going to Tweet about it. I’m even going to create a hash tag for it. What’s that you say? That this project sounds just the smallest bit self-involved?

Do you know me at all?

Have you noticed the fact that spa visits are accounting for roughly 80% of the time we spend in Arizona? Does this not give you a hint that I am, indeed, self-involved?

Back. Off.

And hand me that hotel shampoo.

Let the Great Hair Product Project begin.

 

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Tiny Luxembourg = Big Vacation

Luxembourg City Palace of the Grand Dukes  300x199 Tiny Luxembourg = Big Vacation

Palace of the Grand Dukes in Luxembourg

I was a little amused by the fact that the capital of Luxembourg was also named Luxembourg – who does that? – until my husband gently reminded me of New York, New York. Oh. OK. Not that strange after all. Luxembourg is truly a lovely little country and I don’t use the word “little” lightly. Driving from Germany to France, you can almost miss this friendly and beautiful place if you are not careful.

Luxembourg, or technically “the duchy of Luxembourg” has an area of only 998 square miles or 2,586 square kilometers, with a population of barely half a million people. We spent a day in the beautiful city of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg last year and found it to be a very interesting and historical location filled with some of the friendliest people we met in Europe.

Read the rest of this post on Alpharooms HERE.

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Westward Ho! Arizona, Here We Come!

acrobat 300x300 Westward Ho! Arizona, Here We Come!I feel like a juggler, balancing all those plates in the air – and then he starts adding items until he is just a whirl of motion keeping everything going.

I also understand now why Gary Arndt has an assistant because planning a two-week trip with innumerable stays, tours, and restaurant visits to a place that is relatively unknown to you is hard, y’all.

I say relatively unknown because we have technically been to Arizona before – twice. The first time was our visit to the Grand Canyon when we flew over the Canyon in a helicopter which had to be one of the coolest things we have ever done in our lives and the other time was when we walked across Hoover Dam and stood in Arizona for, like two minutes. Not the most productive visit.

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River Inn at Harbor Town in Memphis, Tennessee

River Inn 300x197 River Inn at Harbor Town in Memphis, Tennessee

The River Inn at Harbor Town

Overlooking the lazy Mississippi River and with a quiet air of sophistication, the River Inn at Harbor Town on Mud Island is the perfect place to stay when you visit Memphis, Tennessee. Just a few minutes from downtown across a connecting bridge, but far enough away from the wonderful craziness of Beale Street to be ideal, the River Inn not only has marvelously luxurious rooms, but they also include a full, hot, and quite delicious breakfast at Paulette’s Restaurant in your room rate.

Read the rest of this article on Examiner.com HERE.

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Road Trip! South Walton Girlfriends Getaway

beach 300x300 Road Trip! South Walton Girlfriends GetawayBemused, I gazed at my bright pink, freshly pedicured toes. The pedicure was lovely but what was truly, truly lovely was the view I had over my toes, resting on the end of a lounge chair on a blindingly white sand beach in South Walton, Florida.

Clear water shading from dark turquoise to the clear lime green of that true southern specialty, key lime pie, stretched to the horizon of the blue, blue sky decorated with just a few wispy white clouds. It was January back home and snow warnings were predicted for that evening but that seemed far away on this gorgeous day. Far, far away.

I stretched, relishing the feel of the golden sun on my legs and glanced over at two of my favorite traveling companions, my sister and sister-in-law.

Read the rest of this article on Girlsgetaway.com HERE.

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Saint John City Market, New Brunswick, Canada

flag 300x300 Saint John City Market, New Brunswick, CanadaI like to think I’m organized. I keep spreadsheets and write notes and always, always put my keys back in the right place so I won’t lose them. I go into excruciatingly, annoyingly, anal mode when I am planning a trip and plan every single detail.

So when I was just writing a magazine article about our visit to Saint John, New Brunswick while cruising the Atlantic coast of Canada on the Norwegian Jewel today and I went to refer to the second article, the one about the City Market that I was sure I had written, I was astonished and annoyed to find that I had never actually written it. I even told you in the post about the Bay of Fundy that I would be writing more about Saint John and then I never did. You have been waiting all this time for the rest of that story!

Oh, yes you have.

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WordPress for Dummies 4: How to Change “admin” to Your Name.

guy with computer Wordpress for Dummies 4: How to Change admin to Your Name.Once again, I have to reiterate what a WordPress Dummy I am.

Please, please tell me that I am not the only person who has had “admin” as the author of every blog post for almost a year and every single time it came up, thought “Huh. I kinda wish that had my name instead of admin because wouldn’t it be a whole lot nicer if my name was at the top of all those hundreds of words I just wrote“?

Finally, I just had my last little nerve tweaked by that frakkin’ “admin” and decided I would figure out how to change it. How hard could it be?

Uh. Yeah.

Not very hard.

Here’s how to do it.

Because I know I’m not the only one.

Admit it.

1. Go to “Your Profile”. It’s over there on the left on your dashboard, under Users.

2. Scroll down to where it says “Display name publicly as” and change “admin” to “your name”.

3. Obvs, it’s going to say your actual name and not “your name”.

4. However, this is just the kind of direction that I can spend hours attempting to decipher before I figure out that they meant my actual name. You’re welcome.

5. Your name will now appear on all blog posts.

6. Instead of admin.

7. It will change on all those posts you slaved over.

8. Yeah, it’s fabulous.

9. Pretty darn fabulous.

10. If only I had a 10 this list would seem much more complete. So here it is.

 

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An All-Inclusive Dream at Dreams Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa, Mexico

hotel2 300x200 An All Inclusive Dream at Dreams Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa, Mexico

Dreams Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa

Walk quickly past the dozens of timeshare sellers at the Puerto Vallarta airport, not acknowledging their spiels with a comment, because you are about to experience a stay at one of the nicest all-inclusive resorts in the area, with Unlimited Luxury where everything is included in the price you have already paid for your getaway.

The best thing about Dreams Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa is the completely private beach, enclosed at each end by scenic rock cliffs which shelter the little bay in which the resort is nestled. Or the best thing might possibly be the spacious and luxurious rooms and suites, many of which have balconies overlooking that same scenic and idyllic little beach. Ask for an ocean view room with a Jacuzzi on the balcony, fill your Jacuzzi with cool water and lounge in it as you sip a beverage from your mini-bar (all of which are included in your price and are constantly replenished as you consume them) and realize you have truly arrived in paradise.

Read the rest of this article at Examiner.com HERE.

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