Travel Tips & Adventures

So, you’ve arrived in Scottsdale and you’ve got your plastic ready.

Let’s go shopping!Starting in Old Town Scottsdale, you get a feel for Scottsdale of the old west.  There are stores where you can buy boots, especially cowboy boots.  Even the street signs reflect the old city.

In Old Town Scottsdale, even the street signs have cowboy boots!

Hop on the trolley (it’s a modern bus) any day of the week except for major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Day, Memorial Day, July 4^th, Labor Day) and ride for free between several major Scottsdale shopping areas.

Yes, I did say free! 

If you’re into art, Scottsdale has an entire district that has art.  You’ll see large statues – especially lots of horses looking fierce – outside the shops.  Jewelry, original art and the artistic sensibility are everywhere.

Next, you can pop over to the “5th Avenue Shops” and browse in a Spanish modern style.  Fountains and adobe greet you with boutique shops.  (Later this week, we’ll tell you about a fantastic, unique restaurant in that area.)

Scottsdale Fifth Avenue area

For more Boca-style shopping, hop back on the trolley and head to the Scottsdale Fashion Square.  Imposing and high fashion, you’ll find big names from A (Abercrombie & Fitch and many others) to Z (Z Tejas Grill– a Southwest fusion restaurant).  If you’re looking for the names, this is where you’ll find them.

Scottsdale Fashion Square - archway

Near Scottsdale Fashion Square is the even newer Waterfront area.  New shops, eclectic dining and high rise homes form a very modern contrast to the older area of Scottsdale.  Talk about a juxtaposition of old with new, there is a statue in tribute to the Hashknife Pony Express, that took a route right in the waterfront’s vicinity. 

Scottsdale Waterfront

Every year, the Pony Express still rides!  It’s an exhausting experience, but some intrepid riders and horses still make the handoff of mail for the US Postal Service, the only group commissioned by the USPS to deliver the mail by horse.  I’ve been at the Scottsdale Post Office when the riders arrived.  It is a punishing marathon that tests riders and horses in very difficult weather and conditions.

Statue commemorating Hashknife Pony Express riders

If you haven’t shopped yourself and your plastic to exhaustion, you can head up Scottsdale Road for even more shopping.  There’s Kierland Commons (H & M across the street) with upscale shops (Coach, Anthropologie, Restoration Hardware and more) spread out over a number of blocks like a small, modern neighborhood. 

You’ll find almost everything you’ve ever wanted in shopping during your stay in Scottsdale. If you “moseyed” up the road – Scottsdale Road – for a few miles and did not find what you were seeking in shopping, well, obviously, you were not really into shopping.

So, naturally, if you still have any resources, you’ll want to take a break. 

Tomorrow, we’ll detour south to a casino in Maricopa, Arizona – where?  Well, last week we already featured the Casino Arizona in Scottsdale’s vicinity, so we’re going to head south to Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino.  It’s south of Phoenix near Interstate 10.  You can hop a bus there, too, if you like.

Tags: Arizona, Art, Scenery, Scottsdale AZ, Shopping, Southwest, Travel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Arizona, Art, Food, Historic, Romantic Locations, Scenery, Scottsdale, Shopping, Southwest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.