Thursday... Spa Day!
New Day Spa was our destination for the morning... facials and massages. There are no pictures of this... you don't want to see it. But noteworthy from the this visit was an interesting book, which I'll look up to read more later. It's about water, and the subtitle was, "You're not sick, you're thirsty." It addressed all kinds of various things that ail us, and how water is the answer to most. I only read a bit of it in between my spa treatments, but I'm sure I'll be looking into it further.
We had previously discussed that we didn't want to go hiking after our spa morning, so we had plans to check out a French restaurant called Rene. It's tucked into a village of shops and galleries called Tlaquepaque, which is inspired by a town of the same name in Mexico. The artist who first created the space was inspired by communal spaces in Mexico where artists could gather to not only practice their craft but also sell their art and build relationships with one another. It was built in the 70's, and over time has become more commercialized and touristy than I'm sure was first intended. The architecture is still lovely, though, and today a guitarist was playing beautiful music in one of the plazas. The outdoor spaces were decorated for Dia de los Muertos, which runs from October 31 to November 2.
The food at Rene was underwhelming, although it looked pretty and the gruyere and parmesan beignets we had as an appetizer were spectacular. After we'd eaten and walked around a few of the shops/galleries, we ventured across the bridge that spans Oak Creek. It's a pretty little place, although hard to linger and enjoy the water because you can't get down to it, and the road is a major thoroughfare and quite noisy/busy.
We had passed a dessert place on our stroll, and went back there to check into something sweet to take back to the hotel for a mid-afternoon treat. I spent an ungodly amount of money on treats for us, including this prettily-decorated almond flour cake. The butter cream frosting used to make the cacti was far more butter than anything else (I almost spooned some granulated sugar over a cactus to make it more edible), but the cake itself was outstanding. We haven't yet eaten any of the cactus-decorated sugar cookie or lemon bar... they're saved for later.
It being spa day, it was time for an afternoon nap. We couldn't get our sleepiness in sync, so I napped while Kef was on her computer. Then she napped while I walked across the street to the little botanical garden on the corner. And I do mean little. It's really more of a specimen garden. There are a couple of benches, some mosaics near a meditation space, a couple of wildlife sculptures, and several specimens of Arizona trees, succulents, and flowers (now dormant for the season).
On the way back to our room, I stopped by the small sculpture and man-made stream that creates a pleasant babbling backdrop. As I approached, I noticed a couple of beautiful rosebushes in bloom! One was a vibrant yellow, mom's favorite. Since I can't resist a little bit of flower photography, I lingered in that area for a little while.
In addition to being spa day, it's also National Calzone Day! Kef had noticed that one of the Italian restaurants nearby has calzones on their menu, so of course that's where I wanted to have supper. Gerardo's Italian Kitchen had three calzones on the menu, and I opted for the Sicilian. It was outstanding... and I had to quietly admit to Kef that I might like it even better than OGFI's. Please don't tell anyone I said that.
We ended our laid-back day with Kef playing games on her phone and me writing for you all. I plan to eat a little more of that calzone before bed. And maybe a little bit of almond cake. Tomorrow, I'm pretty sure there will be hiking. Stay tuned!
We had previously discussed that we didn't want to go hiking after our spa morning, so we had plans to check out a French restaurant called Rene. It's tucked into a village of shops and galleries called Tlaquepaque, which is inspired by a town of the same name in Mexico. The artist who first created the space was inspired by communal spaces in Mexico where artists could gather to not only practice their craft but also sell their art and build relationships with one another. It was built in the 70's, and over time has become more commercialized and touristy than I'm sure was first intended. The architecture is still lovely, though, and today a guitarist was playing beautiful music in one of the plazas. The outdoor spaces were decorated for Dia de los Muertos, which runs from October 31 to November 2.
The food at Rene was underwhelming, although it looked pretty and the gruyere and parmesan beignets we had as an appetizer were spectacular. After we'd eaten and walked around a few of the shops/galleries, we ventured across the bridge that spans Oak Creek. It's a pretty little place, although hard to linger and enjoy the water because you can't get down to it, and the road is a major thoroughfare and quite noisy/busy.
We had passed a dessert place on our stroll, and went back there to check into something sweet to take back to the hotel for a mid-afternoon treat. I spent an ungodly amount of money on treats for us, including this prettily-decorated almond flour cake. The butter cream frosting used to make the cacti was far more butter than anything else (I almost spooned some granulated sugar over a cactus to make it more edible), but the cake itself was outstanding. We haven't yet eaten any of the cactus-decorated sugar cookie or lemon bar... they're saved for later.
It being spa day, it was time for an afternoon nap. We couldn't get our sleepiness in sync, so I napped while Kef was on her computer. Then she napped while I walked across the street to the little botanical garden on the corner. And I do mean little. It's really more of a specimen garden. There are a couple of benches, some mosaics near a meditation space, a couple of wildlife sculptures, and several specimens of Arizona trees, succulents, and flowers (now dormant for the season).
On the way back to our room, I stopped by the small sculpture and man-made stream that creates a pleasant babbling backdrop. As I approached, I noticed a couple of beautiful rosebushes in bloom! One was a vibrant yellow, mom's favorite. Since I can't resist a little bit of flower photography, I lingered in that area for a little while.
In addition to being spa day, it's also National Calzone Day! Kef had noticed that one of the Italian restaurants nearby has calzones on their menu, so of course that's where I wanted to have supper. Gerardo's Italian Kitchen had three calzones on the menu, and I opted for the Sicilian. It was outstanding... and I had to quietly admit to Kef that I might like it even better than OGFI's. Please don't tell anyone I said that.
We ended our laid-back day with Kef playing games on her phone and me writing for you all. I plan to eat a little more of that calzone before bed. And maybe a little bit of almond cake. Tomorrow, I'm pretty sure there will be hiking. Stay tuned!
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