A couple weeks ago, Amy from What Jew Wanna Eat and I met at the Austin airport, caught up over coffee and tacos {like Austinites do}, and hopped on a plane to explore Phoenix, Arizona. Both of us were smack dab in the middle of exciting professional transitions and couldn’t have welcomed a celebratory vacation an ounce more.

When we landed in Phoenix, we were greeted with blue skies, the hottest sun, emoji-like cacti, and {what we’d come to find out was the norm in Phoenix} the friendliest faces. Our driver took us straight to our first hotel, The Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass, where we shared our first jaw-drop. The lobby was as grand as grand could be with stunning views of the mountain ranges beyond and beautiful murals depicting the lives of local Pima tribes. And just like that, we transitioned into vacation mode!

We dropped our belongings in our room, soaked up more desert views, bounced around the room like kiddos in anticipation of hitting up the resort pool, and headed to the Aji Spa Café for a quick lunch before our spa treatment appointments. We sat by the “adult pool” and enjoyed cocktails and goat-cheese grilled cheese until it was time to robe-up.

I was really excited about the spa treatment for a handful of reasons. I’m about as tightly wound as they come and having forced relaxation is the best way to get me to slow my roll. But also, I’d never experienced a clay wrap and I was looking forward to deviating from my typical deep tissue work. During the treatment, they applied indigenous white clay to most of my body and secured me with a wrap while they massaged my scalp {heaven!}. I’m certain it was no more than five minutes before I was off to dreamland.

Afterward, we prettied up for dinner at another of the hotel restaurants, Ko’Sin, where we forgot to pace ourselves for the remainder of our food-centric vacation. We ordered the Crow’s Dairy goat cheese and corn dip, honey hot pork wings {pictured below}, charred eggplant, grilled filet mignon, and goat cheese cheesecake.

And the friendliness continued as both chefs came out to introduce themselves to us and describe the dishes we ordered. Both Amy and I frequent media dinners and we were still pleasantly surprised with how much attention was paid to our table.

The next morning we checked out Ko’Sin again for breakfast and managed to sneak in some time to work. Egg-topped avocado toast may be overdone these days, but it’s been my go-to-feel-good breakfast for as long as I can remember and I was pleased to see it on the menu. We sat on the patio and admired the pool where we’d soon be wading.

It was pool-time where I first registered how much I enjoyed traveling with a blogger friend. Neither of us minded “extra takes” of photos and both of our blogger brains were on the constant hunt for creative shots. We passed the time by slurping up fruity, vacation coladas and posing in Amy’s bagel float.

After a relaxing day at the pool, it was time for the most special meal of our trip: dinner at Kai. From the moment we sat down and were politely requested that cell phones and cameras remained tucked away, we knew every detail of the Kai experience would be intentional {and it was}.  Each menu was covered with a hand-painted scene by a local Pima artist. A Russian service style, where a server assigned to each guest and dishes are presented in a synchronized  manner throughout the experience, was flawlessly executed. And palette and sensory cleansers were provided between courses to ensure each phase of our meal was enjoyed to the fullest. Amy and I shared the seared Hudson Valley foie gras and butter poached Nova Scotia lobster followed by the wild buffalo tenderloin and wild scallops.

We were stuffed to the max with culinary goodness, but that didn’t stop us from the total excitement of the treats to come! The chefs brought out an unexpected course, which was a cheese plate served with fresh honey comb that was harvested by a former Kai chef. It was the sweetest, most delicate honeycomb I’d ever tasted.  We finished our meal with an eggless custard with prickly pear sorbet and a coffee parfait and left in amazement that we had spent four hours fully engaging with each other, our meals, and our servers.

The next morning we woke to the delivery of the room service breakfast order we scheduled the night before. We shared every breakfast staple as we packed up our belongings and got ready for our next adventure with Visit Mesa.

The folks from Visit Mesa took us on their Fresh Foodie Trail that highlighted local and farm to table eats. We snacked on Infatuation-worthy hot dogs at Joe’s Farm Grill, ate cupcakes at neighborhood coffee shop, and toured Agritopia {an urban farm that provides organic produce to its neighboring community}.

Also on the Fresh Foodie Trail, was a stop at the Queen Creek Olive Mill. There we learned about olive oil production and sampled house-made olive oils and balsamic vinegar reductions. The Meyer lemon olive oil was my favorite and I loved their suggestion of using it to top salads. We also tried white balsamic reductions, which were both delicious and a first for me.

We ended the trail with happy hour at Postino, which was super lively for a Thursday afternoon. The patio area was reminiscent of Austin’s Rainey Street as there was a ton of outdoor seating and games. And their bruschetta board, with staple varieties as well as seasonal, was an easy dish to share with a group.

By this point we were FULL {like jam-packed stuffed}. We checked into our new room at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort and felt like we had been dropped off in a foreign paradise. Palm trees, mountains, blue skies, and colorful buildings made for quite the patio view. And again, we took some time to rest and appreciate our surroundings before heading to another meal.

A shuttle brought us to a restaurant at the highest point on the property, Different Pointe of View. Even at night, the view from the dining room was breathtaking. The chef created a tasting menu for us that allowed us to try his favorite dishes.  The shrimp ravioli, seared Berkshire pork belly, seared stone fish, and tomato infused grilled bistro steak were beautifully presented and equally as delicious.

The next morning, we met the lovely Lovey Borenstein, owner of Chompie’s {Arizona’s New York Deli} for brunch. Salmon topped latkes, corned beef hash, cheese blintzes, fried matzo balls – it was deli heaven! But even better than the food was the quality time we spent listening to Lovey’s story. She had Amy and I cracking up when explaining how, when her family brought bagels to Phoenix, people were ordering the chocolate doughnuts {pumpernickel bagels}.

One of the top highlights of the trip was touring Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, Wright’s winter home for the last 20 years of his life. With loads of natural light, strong angles, bursts of bright colors, and Japanese influence – I couldn’t help but crush on the buildings on this property.

And by the time we arrived at our last adventure, we were exhausted. We threw on our suits and sluggishly worked our way down to the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs poolside cabana. But as we turned the corner, we noticed the cabana was filled with emoji beach balls and food-themed pool noodles. And within minutes of emoji ball excitement, every tropical drink imaginable was was brought to our cabana and Chef Abel pulled up with a super smile and all of the ingredients necessary to make the most fabulous homemade salsa and guacamole. And just like that, Amy and I were energized and ready to make the most of our last night in Phoenix.

We spent our final morning in Phoenix reminiscing about our trip over breakfast at Pointe in Tyme {another restaurant at Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs}. We joked about how stuffed we were, how tight our pants felt, and how much it was all worth it. We discussed how well Phoenix treated us every moment of our stay. We got a little bit mopey about not wanting to get back to real life. And then it dawned on us {like really, really dawned on us} how well we traveled together and how thankful we were that this trip gave us the opportunity to become closer friends.

I left Phoenix already contemplating reasons to return. Another girls’ trip? Mom-daughter vacation? My very preliminary 2017 calendar was spinning through my head the entire flight home.

Disclosure: Although Visit Phoenix kindly hosted our trip, the opinions in this post are completely my own and based on my experience.