Phoenix ... when it sizzles

Ah, the good life! Sipping a prickly-pear margarita while you wallow in an infinity-edge pool. Reading a spicy new novel as you await your appointment at the spa. Settling in for a siesta in your spiffy hotel room with its exquisite southwestern décor.

What a way to kick-back when it's sizzle time in Arizona!

There's no denying those triple-digit temperatures in the heart of the Sonoran Desert at this time of year. But recently, on a four-day Phoenix fling, I discovered how some Phoenician friends of mine beat the heat. They stay put!

"Why not?" my friend Lucy asked? We have everything right here in our own back yard - world-class resorts, luxury spas, upscale shopping environments, a huge selection of museums and cultural happenings, and an endless variety of outstanding places to eat. What are you waiting for? Come on down and we'll 'chill out.'"

"Chill out?" When it's 10 o'clock in the morning and over a hundred degrees in the shade?

Actually, Lucy's "stay-in-one-place idea," especially when the sun is high in the sky makes good sense. In the Phoenix area, all that's required is that you find yourself an "oasis" in the form of one of the area's all-inclusive, amenity-rich resorts. There are scores of them, offering luxuries and pampering services beyond your wildest imagination, with staff-to-guest ratios of more than four-to-one.

And this may be the best part: From now until the end of September (and sometimes beyond), most "destination" resorts offer attractive summer "get-away" packages, often with savings as much as 50 to 70 percent off high-season rates ($165-$199 per night is a ballpark figure).

You may choose to never leave the premises. Or if you're lured away for a few early morning cultural and shopping excursions or some after-dark escapades, you can always hurry back!

My friends and I have done the work for you - checked out the absolute best ways to swing through Phoenix without breaking into a sweat. Here are a few of our "coolest" suggestions:



Finding a sanctuary

Our first choice "oasis" is The Four Seasons Resort at Troon North. Near the northern edge of Scottsdale and nestled beneath Pinnacle Peak, the resort has clustered adobe casitas set into the hollows of a gentle hillside. We found its suites to be luxury-class without being pretentious, its "natural extension of the desert" landscape a soothing environment for complete relaxation. Some of the suites even have private plunge pools, garden showers and kiva fireplaces on the patios. The latter might not get much use during the summer, but the ambiance is so right!

The resort's small but posh spa claims to take its inspiration from Native American healing rituals and promotes such indigenous ingredients as ground Sonoran pumice, Saguero blossoms, and Sedona Red clay. For my pampering experience at the spa, one in which I am to "sweat out my body's toxins," I let aesthetician Lisa wrap me in unbleached linen sheets soaked in a tingly-fresh white willow bark infusion. Nearly euphoric when it's over, I extend the experience under the cool sheets in my own room.

Some other specialty offerings: a therapeutic massage for golfers, a side-by-side massage for couples, or one on your patio under the stars.

A nice touch: The high-powered telescope in our suite. How we love the star-studded finale that ends each day!

With return "get-aways" in mind, we visit several other properties while we are in town. The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess is modeled after a Mexican hacienda and has five pools, as many restaurants, a 27-hole golf course, (think air-conditioned golf carts!) lagoon fishing and an upscale shopping arcade. The 650 rooms are clustered around pretty tiled courtyards filled with fountains, fragrant shrub-size rosemary, and brightly-hued bougainvillea cascading from every window box.

In the lavish Willow Stream Spa, we follow the sound of rushing water to find a lovely man-made waterfall, inspired, it seems, by Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon. A group of contented-looking bathers soak in the pool below it. Upstairs, at its source, there's an adults-only "mesa" pool with private cabanas for relaxation, a massage, or an afternoon snooze.

A staff rep we meet encourages us to bring our husbands the next time we come. She says that the Willow Stream is especially proud of their reputation for making men feel at ease in a spa environment. Popular treatments for men include hand and foot grooming and stress relief and jet-lag massages.

A nice touch: The bento box lunches available to take to the pool. Also, the organic coffee and tea bar and the cauldron of chilled fresh strawberry-infused water to sip on the way back to your room.

The very chi-chi Phoenician offers a complete contrast to the two afore-mentioned resorts. Although it is nicely situated at the base of a Scottsdale's landmark Camelback Mountain, it's hard to forget that the middle of town is close by. Instead of natural desert vegetation, the multi-storied lodgings are surrounded by a meticulously landscaped garden of bright flowers and expansive green lawns. All a bit contrived for my tastes, but the "something-for-everyone" concept really applies in this town.

An acre of water gardens called "The Oasis" has seven terraced pools, large and small, including an adults-only cluster of tiled hot tubs. Fountains bubble and waterfalls cascade, and among a thicket of banana tree foliage, a water slide spirals from one level to the next. There's even a pool with Mother-Of Pearl tiles. Golf and tennis? To be sure, especially if you start at the crack of dawn. And then there's a $3-million dollar wine list and a $25-million art collection. The glam factor is a major theme here, for sure!

Nice touches: Daily afternoon tea in the British tradition; a two-acre cactus garden that's absolutely stunning at sunset.

My friends convince me that "to see and be seen" is the name of the game at the retro-"cool" Valley Ho Hotel. Built in 1946, it was the one-time playground for Bing Crosby and his cronies. Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner had their wedding reception there. Since its enormous renovation and rebirth in 2004, it's been a favorite of both design and travel magazines. Definitely worth checking out!

Taking time for the visual arts

What a shame to be in Phoenix and not spend a morning or two perusing some of the country's finest art museums! The Heard Museum is Arizona's premier cultural institution. It is home to one of the nation's most complete collections of treasures from the Indian civilizations that have inhabited these parts for more than 15,000 years. Magnificent rugs and pottery, delicately-woven baskets, handsome Navajo, Zuni and Hope jewelry, and hundreds of kachina dolls, (many from the Barry Goldwater Collection) attest to the creativity of countless, mostly nameless Native American artists whose work is proudly exhibited here.

Within the labyrinth of halls and galleries of The Phoenix Art Museum is an admirable collection of paintings and sculpture from the Renaissance to the present. The collection of contemporary art is particularly good, with works by Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Henry Moore, and Georgia O'Keeffe to name only a few.

Scottsdale may be obsessed with art featuring lonesome cowboys and solemn Indians, but the boldly designed Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art also contains cutting-edge art, from the abstract to the absurd. Our favorites - a pair of Dale Chihuly art-glass installations in an adjacent building. The museum shop is a delight too and full of goodies to take home.



A desert 'island'

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright fell in love with the Arizona desert and, in 1937, built Taliesin West. Of the several early morning excursions we took, the jewel in the crown was a half-day visit to Wright's winter headquarters. The complex of buildings and open spaces is considered one of Wright's masterpiece creations and today it still functions as a school for architects.

Wright wrote of his fascination with "the dry, clear, sun-drenched air, and by the stark geometry of the mountains." Wandering among the cluster of low-slung buildings, then through a half-dozen rooms fabricated with simple elements like stone, canvas and glass, it seemed that the architect's spirit inhabited every corner of the place. "We have met the desert, loved it and lived with it," he wrote. "The desert is ours."



... And when the sun goes down

After sunset, temperatures drop to bearable mid-80s. That's when it's time to head for the splendid Desert Botanical Garden, where docents present their pleasant flash-light-guided "Desert Moonlight Tours."

Along the garden's miles of footpaths, some 4,000 clearly-marked species exist - mostly cacti, succulents and wildflowers. Among our favorites: bony-fingered ocatillos, paddle-shaped prickly pears, spiny agaves and aloes, barrel cacti, and the giant cactus known to everyone who's ever seen a western movie - the stately Saguaro (pronounced "Sawaro.") Looming tall in the darkness with their upturned "arms," these giants lend a somewhat macabre element to the nighttime landscape.

Don't forget to look for the wild creatures that seek cooler temperatures at night too. Among them: tarantula spiders prowling for their dinner, nighthawks singing their melancholy songs, and bats sipping the nectar of night-blooming plants.



The indoor/outdoor 'sport' of choice

Few regions in America offer such an exceptional range of shopping experiences. From charming antique shops and boutique art galleries to "Main Street" districts and some of the nation's most fashionable malls, shopping in the Phoenix and Scottsdale area offers sure-to-please "retail therapy" of every ilk.

We blitzed through a few of the most prominent shopping venues in the Valley - Biltmore Fashion Park, Kierland Commons, and Scottsdale Fashion Square.

If you think that shopping doesn't fit into the theme of "keeping cool," think again. Most of the outdoor walking areas have overhead "misters" that dispense a fine vapor of water into the atmosphere around you.

Ah, those Phoenicians have thought of everything. "Misters" in the mall? How clever! With comfort assured, it's so easy (and fun!) to blow all caution to the winds.



For more information: Check out the GREATER PHOENIX website www.visitphoenix.com or call toll-free 877-CALL PHX (225-5749).



Carolyn Schwartz is a part-time Summit County resident and freelance writer.