DESERT MOUNTAIN, SCOTTSDALE

Arizona has become one of our top favorite places to escape to. The air is cleaner, the scenery is drop dead breathtaking and the terrain feels never ending. We are very fortunate we get to spend quality time with my mom’s parents, Nana and Tapa in this desert oasis I have come to call my home away from my home. Back in 1989, my grandparents purchased land to build a house. They wanted a vacation home to bring the family together, and that it has.

We arrived Thursday evening around 9:00 p.m. Grace and I were exhausted from a long work week and 4-hour flight. Nana, Tapa and Sam, my grandparents 80-pound black lab, were kind enough to pick us up at the airport. Tapa loves an airport pick up and so do I. We assumed we would make the 55-minute trek back to the house and call it a night. Oh no, they wanted to stop for Italian food and drinks. As a good Miami vice is my vice, Nana is an absolute sucker for a Campari lime & soda. We ate on the heated patio and it felt so great to eat outside again, especially in February. After some fresh grilled octopus and shrimp cocktail, we headed up the mountains for a long President’s weekend.

Desert Mountain is located in Cave Creek, about 30-minutes north of Scottsdale. It is comprised of a magnitude of different neighborhoods and 7 golf courses (including one par-3 course). My. grandparents home is in Rose Quartz. Every turn shows a different vantage point of the mountains and you can see all the way down the valley to Phoenix. The neighborhood prohibits you from building a certain way so each of the houses blends in with the terrain.

Once a year, the Cereus cacti will bloom over 40+ bulbs and they only live for a couple of days. The blooming event is one of their favorite things to look forward to. Javelinas used to frequently rummage through my grandmas desert garden and eat her flowers. So to fend them off, my grandparents brought in some large metal replicas to scare off the real ones. Nana loves these little javelinas. They “are my protectors of the garden.” Side note, despite how uncanny of a resemblance, javelinas are not pigs.

The architecture of the house is my favorite. A house built for sunsets. My grandmother loves her Scottish roots and one of her favorite architects is Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The long rectangles in the railings and the front door of the house is heavily influenced by Mackintosh. She had a great deal of fun incorporating her love for art and design into this home. Wide, floor to ceiling windows in every room to ensure you could see all that Arizona’s nature had to offer. The Moroccan rugs and tapestries from my grandmas travels are Grace’s favorite design feature.

On the second day, Sierra and Forrest arrived. Tapa and I went to pick them up at the airport. Once up at the house, the six of us headed to Seven for lunch. Seven is the newest golf course in Desert Mountain. It’s one of only two official Par-3 courses recognized by the USGA handicap system. The food was phenomenal. I obviously had to get the White Russian milkshake off the menu because, you know — vacation. It did not disappoint. Some fresh scallops to top off a perfect lunch.

After lunch, since it was Valentine’s Day, Grace and I went on a little day date into town of Cave Creek. Our main purpose was to find a dude ranch store that sold authentic cowboy hats and boots. We are prepping for our heavily anticipated trip to Eaton’s Ranch in Sheridan, Wyoming with the entire Kennedy clan. As you can see below, we were successful! Tapa said my hat reminded him more like Indiana Jones, but whatever, I will take it as a compliment.

We drove up to the Desert Mountain trailhead and took photos at the summit to show off our hats and Grace’s Johnny Was jacket. My beautiful bride with her cowgirl chic attire would not be complete without a mini photo shoot at the top of the mountain. She is beauty — she is Grace. I may start repping the cowboy hat around when we get back home, watch out Chicago.

For Valentine’s dinner, we went on a triple date to the most romantic restaurant in all of Desert Mountain — Constantino’s. A rose for my forever valentine. This is a staple of every trip to Arizona. A tasteful bone-in ribeye, branzino, fantastic red wine and the perfect company. Topped the night off with an espresso martini (of course).

On Saturday, Sierra, Forrest, Tapa and I went back to Seven to play the Par-3 course. Grace had some time to herself and had a little R&R at the spa. A nice workout and facial before we joined her at the Sonoran club for lunch.

I feel very fortunate to be able to play 18 holes of golf with my grandfather. He introduced me to golf at a young age and we have always had this special bond. I do not know whether it’s the air or the altitude or something completely else, but I love desert golf and I always seem to play better. 18 tries for a hole-in-one — 18 misses.

Truly some epic views and shots from this course. Incredible greens with bowls, ups, downs, breaks and more. A quick favorite of mine and it only takes a couple of hours to play the whole round (which Grace was a BIG fan of).

We headed back to the house because my cousin Carter was due to arrive from L.A. That evening we watched another amazing sunset and Tapa sous vide a bunch of meat for dinner. Sierra and Forrest had a couple of friends swing by from Depauw who live in Phoenix.

On Sunday, our last full day, Grace and myself woke up early to get a fantastic hike in with Sam. We headed back up the mountain to the spot we took our cowboy hat photos earlier in the trip. A great hike. Sam was a trooper and scared off all of the snakes We did not get lost…thankfully, I am really good with directions to directly quote myself. Ok, we got lost once. These views are spectacular and you can see all the way down to downtown Scottsdale.

After our hike, we stopped at Apache for lunch and then headed back to the house for some much needed hot tub time. One of our favorite paradises; we were in complete serenity.

Sunsets like these are frequent, yet, they never get old.

For our last supper, we went to get some Mexican at another Desert Mountain staple — Outlaw. A bustling, loud restaurant with “big” margaritas and epic fajitas.

Obviously, if there is an option for a bigger margarita, you order it.

An Arizona trip is not complete without completing at least two Stave puzzles. My grandparents passed their love on puzzles onto me and my cousins and I passed it along to Grace. Grace never understood the desire to do puzzles until she started doing them with my family. She is now hooked. There is an active puzzle on the table at all times of the day. We are. not competitive by any means, but I won.

Little did we know that this would be our last trip and last time seeing Nana and Tapa before the great pandemic hit. We are incredibly grateful that we had such a wonderful trip with some of the family since we do not know when we will get to all be together again. We took advantage of every ounce of wonder that Arizona had to offer and spent good quality time with my grandparents. Ahh Arizona, how we love you. Thank you for the restful and refreshing vacation, the stories that were told and the memories that were made. Until next time…