AZ on the Rocks

The Midlife Road Trip show stopped by AZ on the Rocks in Scottsdale, Arizona for a little team building exercise with our Phoenix Ambassador, Andi Barness.

One of the great things about social media is meeting so many awesome people from all parts of the world. We met and became friends with Andi on Twitter. She was so incredibly helpful in hooking us up with all the cool things to do and great places to eat in the Phoenix area, and she was a blast to hang out with.  She and I raced to the top (You'll have to watch the video below to see who won). She also turned us on to Bryan's Black Mountain Barbecue in Cave Creek, AZ - some of the best BBQ west of the Mississippi!

If you ever plan to do much traveling I strongly encourage you to get involved with Facebook and Twitter and make some friends who can show you their neck of the world better than guide book or travelogue.

Who'd-a thunk that fried eggs on BBQ could be so good?

Midlife Road Trip stars, Sandi McKenna and Sher Bailey with our Phoenix Ambassador, Andi Barness.

Me and Bryan, himself!

Interview with Jeffrey Hattrick

Here is the video of our interview with Jeffrey Hattrick, the Tea Sommelier at the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix.

Puttin' on the Ritz

      

So we headed out to Phoenix to shoot another episode of Midlife Road Trip. I was especially excited as the agenda called for hot air ballooning, tom-car riding, rock climbing and machine gun shooting.  Most experts agree that these activities are best done outdoors.

Prior to our arrival, it hadn’t rained inPhoenix for like 3 months. Wouldn’t ya know it, it rained for three of the four days we were there and everything but the rock climbing at AZ on the Rocks, was cancelled.
 

Ordinarily I would have been totally bummed, missing out on so much fun, BUT we were fortunate enough to be staying at the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix. Believe me, there are worse places to be stuck in the rain.

I got to see the touring cast from Boradway’s Mary Poppins Musical perform and entertain guests at an afternoon tea. I got to interview Jeffrey Hattrick, the world’s foremost tea sommelier, (I didn’t even know there was such a thing) and I got to experience the legendary Ritz-Carlton service. The Ritz Carleton in Phoenix definitely earns the Midlife Road Trip Seal of Excellence.

I would check “puttin on the Ritz” off my bucket list, but after this experience, I'm amending my list to to say "Stay at at Every Ritz-Carlton hotel in the world." That's not unreasonable, is it?


...and NO, I didn’t steal the robe…I just borrowed it for the picture:)