Arizona Biltmore Hotel, Phoenix, AZ

We took a weekend to go up to Phoenix to stay at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel with our friends Ken and Marie. We had a great time and I managed to take a whopping three photos the whole time we were there. I guess that means we were having too much fun. We ate way too much (the "all inclusive" package turns out to be a smoking deal, by the way) and probably could have drunk way more, but certainly had our share. We only left the resort one time on a shopping venture. We checked out The Container Store, which was actually kind of cool. If you need a container for something, they probably have it. They are apparently the IKEA of storage. We actually bought a bungie office chair there. It's neon green. Then Joan and Marie went to a store called Last Chance, which is like a big Nordstrom bargain bin. Or so I'm told. Ken and I went into Lonestar and had a beer.

Sunday morning Joan and Marie signed up for a pedicure before we left so we met up at the little "cafe" and had a quick bite to hold us over till lunch. Then Ken and I broke out my petanque game for the first time. Petanque is a boules game similar to bocce. I guess you could say it's the French take on bocce. I like it--it moves quickly. Of course, Ken soundly whomped me two games in a row.

Once the girls were done with their beautification procedures we used the last of our food vouchers and had another fantastic meal before hitting the road. I have no complaints about The Biltmore. It's a great resort. But above all else, they have fantastic food. I enjoyed everything we had there. It was a lot of fun.

On the way back we stopped off to spend a small fortune at IKEA. A few weeks ago Joan and I went up there and purchased a desk for the office room we recently refinished. This time we picked up a matching tall bookcase and a low shelf for under the window. It should look pretty good but I'm not looking forward to putting it all together. Those Danish drawings can be confusing...