Arizona: Day 2

As promised, here is a recap of our adventures on Day 2 of our Scottsdale, AZ trip!

Workout

I started my day with a cycling/TRX class at the resort’s fitness center. It was my first time doing TRX and I loved it! We alternated between 10 minutes of cycling intervals, and 10 minutes of TRX training, for an hour-long workout. Great way to start the day!

In case you’re not familiar: TRX is a full-body strength workout created by a Navy Seal that utilizes a person’s own body weight instead of relying on machines or dumbbells. The two suspension straps allow for an infinite number of exercises that help to improve strength, balance, and flexibility.

 

Hiking

We decided to try a new hiking spot: the Cholla Trail at Camelback. As shown in the above picture, Camelback Mountain is what provides the breathtaking views from our resort (can you spot the camel’s humps?)

The reason we didn’t hike Camelback last year was because Justin’s aunt (who lives in Scottsdale and is a hiking fanatic (as in I think she has actually climbed Mount Everest)) advised us against it since it is a popular tourist attraction and the trails are often crowded.

She was correct that it was super crowded. It took awhile to find a parking spot on the street near the base of the mountain, and  it was a half mile walk before we actually reached the trail entrance, but it was still an enjoyable, scenic hike.

Lunch

There’s nothing like a good workout with the promise of a delicious meal directly following. Once again, we decided to revisit a favorite from our last visit for lunch: Olive and Ivy.

We had to wait about 5 minutes for an outside table, so we visited their smoothie bar for maybe my favorite smoothie ever–>the PB&J.

It was necessary to take this picture in order to attempt to recreate the deliciousness at home (which I did and it was amazing).

Every business establishment should have a smoothie bar. It just makes sense.

Even though it was a pretty filling smoothie (I saw the guy put like half a jar of peanut butter in that baby, and I feel good about that), I still required some solids in my belly.

This restaurant has awesome Mediterranean flavors–the pesto and hummus are excellent. I could have stopped there but…

This salad sounded too good to pass up, and it was. It really was. This was the Mediterranean salad with feta, almonds, tomato, couscous, shrimp, and oregano vinaigrette. I would like to have this everyday for lunch until November thankyouverymuch.

Spa

After lunch, we went back to the resort to spend some time at the spa part of “Montelucia Resort and Spa”.  If you’re not getting a spa treatment, you can buy a day pass for $25  to get access to the spa’s private pool and facilities.

After lounging by the pool for about an hour, Justin left for a spa treatment so I went to explore the women’s locker room and lounge. And let me tell you, what an experience! The spa has a sort of magical, Moroccan-inspired feel to it–kind of like the movie Aladdin come to life or something.

Before entering, you are supposed to put your hands on this crystal and take a few deep, cleansing breaths.

When you first go in, there is a little lounge of couches and pillows with a little bar with tea and grapefruit-infused water (which is incredibly delicious and refreshing btw).

This is known as the “Whisper Room” where I guess you go to relax and whisper if need be. I did not employ this room’s services, as I did not have anyone to whisper to at the time, but it certainly looks relaxing.

One feature of the women’s locker room I did use was the Hammam Ritual room:

 

While I did not have the “black soap cleansing”, I did my best to follow the ritual as outlined.

First, I went in the steam room for 10 minutes. This was my first time using a steam room, and I’m pretty sure the steam in this particular room consisted of angel tears infused with flowers from heaven. Needless to say, it was ridiculously amazing.

Immediately following the steam room, I did the Cold Deluge which consisted of entering a beautiful shower room of sorts and pulling a handle to release gallons of cold water rushing down onto your head. Normally, this would not sound like a good idea at all. However, it was greatly appreciated after sweating buckets in the steam room.

I decided to skip the whirlpool part, and went in the sauna for ten minutes. This was the least exciting part of the ritual, partly because I have used a sauna before and partly because the sauna wasn’t that hot.

 

Then it was back to the cold shower, which didn’t feel as refreshing as after the steam room (probably since the sauna was lukewarm). However, I definitely recommend the Hammam Ritual if you ever get the chance–I felt like a million and one bucks afterwards!

Dinner

We decided to just eat at the resort’s restaurant, Prado, since it was delicious last time we ate here and we had an early morning the next day.

Salmon with orzo and veggies, followed by molten chocolate cake for dessert–>pretty great way to end a pretty great trip!

Until next year, AZ!

<3VKG