Explore the Cities You Drive Through, No. 1

I’ve decided to create a little series on this blog called; “Explore the Cities You Drive Through”, as titled above – this is no. 1.

I live in Phoenix, Arizona – well, technically I live in Maryville. Maryville, as I’m told, is a pretty rough area. Not suitable for kids, if you catch my drift. However, I haven’t experiences anything negative yet! I like to believe that if you don’t look for trouble, it probably won’t find you.

Regardless, I drive through beautiful cities every day. I drive through; Phoenix, Tempe, Gilbert, Glendale, Downtown – and our first of the series – Old Town Scottsdale.

Doesn’t the name just make you want to explore?

I’ve lived in Phoenix for four years now, almost five, and this is the first time I have spent the day in Old Town Scottsdale. I loved it.

Now keep in mind, I had about fifty bucks in my bank account and it was President’s Day. This meant I couldn’t do everything that people say you should, and even if I could – most were closed due to the holiday.

Sadly, all museums were closed that day and the ones that weren’t cost about $60 for two (I’m talking about you Candytopia).

I’ll paint a picture of my morning before we jump into the exploring.

I woke up around 9am due to a doctor’s appointment. I of course woke my boyfriend up as well, persuading him with the mention of getting breakfast after said appointment. I had found a little bakery on Instagram that I wanted to visit. We drove the thirty minutes it took to get to the doctors, only for my appointment to be cancelled due to the expired insurance – another problem that caused my brain to overflow with stress and panic.

My boyfriend had luckily calmed me down, ensuring that we will call them Tuesday and get the situation handled. In the meantime, he suggested going to the Love statue that I had been wanting to see for over a year.

I put the bakery into my maps, calming down at the thought of sweets and coffee. I searched the distance from the bakery to the statue, wondering if the drive would even be worth it between the two. Turned out, they were only three minutes apart!

On we went, driving down to Sweet Dee’s Bakery in hopes that maybe they would still have some Valentine’s Day treats like I had seen in the Instagram posts.

First Stop: Sweet Dee’s Bakery

I was in luck! The bakery had a few hot cups left for their Valentine’s Day drinks. It wasn’t the same thing that I had seen online, but I wasn’t going to be picky.

I ordered a hot latte. Specifically, a white chocolate late with coconut milk and edible rose petals. Yeah, edible rose petals, I didn’t know that was a thing either.

I was honestly very tasty, and I enjoyed the atmosphere of the bakery. It was cute, pink and filled with interesting little pieces.

The only thing I would mention was the price. It was a little extreme for my liking, my coffee being $8. However, I would definitely return for a sweet treat again.

It was a beautiful day outside, and I of course needed to capture the beauty of my drink. We sat at a table for a few minutes, people watching and enjoying the weather.

Of course, five minutes in; “okay let’s go”. Is anyone

else’s boyfriend this impatient? It happens not matter what I’m doing. Frozen yogurt, rushed. Shopping, rushed. The only time we’re not rushed is when he is enjoying himself – of course.

Sighing at the thought of getting back into the car, I jump up; “let’s walk!”

That’s what we did. The Love sculpture was only a fifteen-minute walk from Sweet Dee’s Bakery and I was more than happy to enjoy the fresh air a bit longer.

On our walk, we saw beautiful trees, fountains, and sculptures. I’m not going to lie, spending the day just sitting in there would’ve been a day well spent for me.

Second Stop in Old Town Scottsdale: LOVE

We took some poorly posed pictures and admired the statue before continuing on our way. The amount of times I said “let’s explore” that day should’ve been a world record!

Old Town Scottsdale is filled with history everywhere you turn. There were fountains and sculptures everywhere. Cute little shops and restaurants as well.

We walked around for an hour, wandering in and out of shops – up and down streets, before realizing the hunger in our stomach.

Stop Number Three: Sugar Bowl

We stumbled into a restaurant named Sugar Bowl. We ordered some burgers and sat in the pink booth. The burgers weren’t amazing, but we knew they weren’t named the Sugar Bowl because of their burgers. We of course ordered a dessert. Specifically, the Brownie Buster.

It was vanilla ice cream, a warm brownie, hot fudge, marshmallow, whip cream, and a cherry to top it off.

Two spoons deep into deliciousness.

Finally, we walked around some more. Taking pictures in a store for little girls – because why not, before heading back to the mall (where the Love sculpture is located).

The mall was large, but I wasn’t that impressed. I enjoyed walking in the community a lot more.

There you have it, a short-written blog post for a long exploring day. If I were to go back again, I would definitely go to a museum as I felt that was the only thing missing. The shops make you feel like there’s history as many were filled with native American culture. The night life I imagine to be exciting as well, as there were brewery’s and bars on every corner.