Cruise 'extras' can sink your travel budget

By now you have probably figured out that Joel and I love cruising and that in recent years he's found some good cruise deals that allow us to pursue that passion.

Let me be clear, by 'deal' I don't mean booking some crammed inside room with no view, next to an elevator on an old bucket of bolts. What I am talking about is an unobstructed balcony room with a view that we nailed at a price far below the published one on a fabulous ship heading to some exciting destination.

One of the reasons that good 'ticket' price is important is that we've learned it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the total cost of a cruise. That payment  pays for that room and for as many meals and snacks as you can shovel in, (oink!) a day - pretty darn nice digs and good eats, to say the least.  (For our upcoming cruise, it also pays for port fees and taxes, but that isn't always the case, so check that out before booking as we are talking a chunk of change if it is added on top of the bargain price.)

Once on board, the real spending begins:  set-amount tips added to your bill at the end of the trip, beverages - (including soft drinks and specialty coffees), specialty restaurant surcharges, ship-sponsored shore excursions, spa visits, cooking classes. . .you name it and you'll probably be able to buy it or sign up for it.

The temptations and dollar-signs that go with them, can and do add up to hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars more, if you aren't keeping track of your on-board spending. And when you take a repositioning cruise like we are this spring -- the kind that that moves a ship from one part of the world to another -- the temptation to spend is hard to resist because during those six blissful days of sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, we will be on the ship 24/7, eating, drinking and entertaining ourselves. (Thankfully, on longer cruises like these you usually get a 'mid-cruise' invoice to let you see how high you've stacked the dollar signs.)

Even world events can come tapping on your cruise budget.  Cruise lines clearly state that if a certain cost threshold for barrel oil is hit in the world market it will likely result in them adding an additional per day, per passenger charge for fuel. (On our upcoming cruise is is $10 per person, per day if levied = $260)

Yesterday we received an email from  Cruise Critic featuring an article on ways to curb at least those  tempting discretionary cruise costs. It's worth a read if taking a cruise is on your travel 'to do' list.

Dam?! . . . We missed it.

Yes, we sure did miss Hoover Dam when we headed south in Ol' Orange, our trusty rental car.

How could we have completely missed one of America's Top 10 Construction Achievements of the 20th Century - the one 'must see' on my list? Well, I'll blame it on the newest construction achievement of the 21st Century:

The Bridge. This sweeping, spectacular dam viewing stand/traffic by-pass opened with great fanfare last fall while we were cruising the Black Sea. How else could we have missed the news?  So on our recent southwestern road trip we zipped Ol' Orange over the span so fast that we barely gave notice to the sign marking the turnoff 'to Hoover Dam'.    (Click the link for a great time lapse video of the construction.)

"Did you see the bridge?" "What was the bridge like?" asked our friends in Arizona.  Well, we sort of missed it as well, . . .I guess we did notice the line of tourists off to the side, safely tucked away from cars by its tall cement walls that created the viewing area overlooking the dam and Lake Mead.

Hoover Dam as seen from The Bridge
j.smith photo, (c) 2011

Last time we'd seen this famous dam, built during the Great Depression in the early 1930's and once-named Boulder, was from inside our car as we crept across its crest on U.S. 93 a decade or so ago.  But that snaking, narrow roadway you see in the photo above was made history when the newest tourist attraction -- the Mike O. Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge opened Oct. 16, 2010.

If-you-go note:  There are a number of tours from Las Vegas that will get you to the dam in a motor coach.  If you drive, it is an easy 25-minute trip from Vegas on multi-lane freeways.  Before parking we did go through a security checkpoint, but the wait wasn't bad with only a dozen cars or so in front of us on a mid-week morning. But parking at the bridge was already tight.  We followed the walkway to the bridge and when we left less than an hour later, the line of cars at security had grown to nearly 100 and snaked back up the access road, nearly to the freeway. (You might consider a tour instead of renting a car).

Ghosts of The Old West

Wickenburg, Arizona continues to bring the Old West to life in its stores, on its street corners, well, . . .pretty much everywhere you look.  The City Fathers (and Mothers) have promoted the history to the point that you can stroll the streets, guided by free walking tour maps (available everywhere it seemed), and 'meet' the folks who walked these same streets more than a century ago.

One of my favorite stops was the Jail Tree, where in the late 1800's -- during the gold rush boom -- there just wasn't the time to take away from mining to build something as practical as a jail.  So, the bad guys simply got chained to what was, and still is, called The Jail Tree.

Wickenburg's Jail Tree
j. smith photo, (c) 2011

The 200-year old Mesquite tree is found in the center of town in the back lot of one of those ubiquitous modern day versions of the corner grocery that seem to be on every other southwestern city corner.  It was at the store, that I learned about the ghosts of Wickenburg.

We'd visited the tree Sunday afternoon and after that Pig Trough feast I stopped in for a bottle of water.  While paying, the clerk asked the usual visitor questions, "So. . . where are you from?  How you like the town? Did you see the Jail Tree?"   

When I said I loved the spiny old tree out back, he offered a bit more history telling me that a jail had finally been built on this same corner. Some of the holding cells metal walls were used in the store's freezer unit.  And then he added:

"And you know. . . we have a ghost.  She comes in about 12:30 a.m. It's a little girl, you can tell from her laughter.  I've been working and the bells that ring when the door opens will start ringing and I look around and there is no one in the store, but then I hear her laugh. I just said 'hello' to her one night and then I heard the bells ring - she had left."

It seemed such a nice story; and one that made me want to come back to the store and the town. It was so easy and relaxed and comfortable.  I mean a welcoming place where even the ghosts are happy and laughing! Maybe I was I caught up in another tall tale from the Old West? I am not sure, but it added to my growing list of reasons, why I love this town.  So on our next visit in addition to stopping by that store again, I am going to go in search of more ghost stories . . .

I will be signing up for Hassayampa Heather's 90-minute stroll through town so that I can hear her stories about legends and ghosts that include:  The Legend of the Phantom Coach and The Ghost of the Vernetta Hotel.  The tours are offered weekdays at dusk (is that beyond too cool?) and on weekends during the day and again at dusk. 

If you are planning a visit and want to sign up, call (928) 232-9691 or check the tour website, Wickenburg Ghosts.

Out Wickenburg Way ~ A Most Western Town

We were looking for America's Old West and found it in Wickenburg, Arizona.

"Wickenburg?!"  Long pause. . ."Are you sure?"
Several  friends seemed surprised that we planned to spend a night in Wickenburg, Arizona during our recent Southwest road trip.

"Have you ever been there?" they'd  ask, then add, "It is sort of a ranching area, you know. There's not a lot to it."

Wickenburg Train Station houses Visitor Information now
j.smith, (c) 2011

We assured them that our fueling stop there on our southbound journey, had prompted our desire to further explore this place named for its famous German immigrant gold miner from yesteryear.

We spent the night in a basic, (somewhat pricey for what we got), clean room at the Best Western Rancho Grande, (293 E. Wickenburg Way) but its central location was perfect for setting out on foot to explore this once Wild West hub of a gold mining town.

A shopkeeper told us we were visiting at end of "Snowbird Season" referring to those folks from the north who head south like the birds seeking winter warmth.  Their numbers double the population, he said, taking it into the 10,000 range.

Calling itself "Arizona's most Western community" and located 55 miles north of Phoenix, we found there were so many historical and artistic layers to this little place that we will simply have to return because we didn't have time to see it all.  And here's why:

1.  For years this place was known as, "The Dude Ranch Capital of the World," and there are still several to chose from include the Flying E Guest and Cattle Ranch that has been hosting visitors since 1946.  Rancho de los Caballeros, now in its 63rd year of operation,  offers guests, "spikes, spurs and spa".  (Next time partner, we'll be headin' to a ranch!).

2.  The Desert Caballeros Western Museum (21 N. Frontier Street, 928-684-2272, admission is charged) is a treasure trove of Old West history and art.  If you have no other reason for stopping in this town, this Museum is reason enough.  This two-level treasure will time-travel you back into ranches and early Wickenburg; you'll have a sampler of Southwestern Indian arts and crafts, see minerals, learn about mining and cattle ranching.  (The art gallery wing was installing a new show and was closed - gotta see it next time.)

3. The Historic Vulture Mine, some 14 miles out of town, is where you can take a self-guided tour of the remaining buildings and mining site. For information, call (602)859-2743). (Didn't get out there this time.)

4.  The town sits on the banks of the Hassayampa River, one of the best remaining examples of a rare type of North American forests: the Fremont Cottonwood-Willow riparian forest. The Hassayampa River Preserve is on U.S. Highway 60, about three miles southeast of the town near mile marker 114.  (Coming from the rain-soaked Pacific Northwest it was most interesting to see a riverbed with no water in it.)

5. We don't golf, but for those who do, the 18-hole Los Caballeros Golf Club, built in 1949, is ranked one of the top five in the state of Arizona by editors of Golf Digest and their subscribers have voted the course as a must "Place to Play." Green fees range from $35 - $50. (Sounds pretty good to me.)

6. Oh yes, there's also the 600-seat Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts where entertainers from Jose Feliciano, The Sons of the Pioneers and The Canadian Tenors are among this season's headliners.

7. Eateries.. .oh, my!  A fellow tourist told us we 'had to have the ice cream'.  She was referring, to Tony and Pam Rovida's  Chaparral Homemade Ice Cream (T45 N. Tegner St., 928-684-3252) which has been around some 30 years. Homemade ice cream, hot fudge, chocolate and caramel sauces - not to mention pastries -- are served here.  I am pleased to say we were saving ourselves for a barbecue feast at the newly-opened Pig Trough on Wickenburg Way. (A trough, is what a pig eats out of, for those of you city folk reading this).  Suffice to say, it lived up to its name: we were piggies at dinner.

Perhaps the best part of this place to our way of thinkin' are the 'real' ranchers and cowboys.  Boots, blue jeans and cowboy hats weren't props for some theme-town.  That's the way the folks were dressed as they drove huge pickup trucks through town hauling horse trailers as long as an RV, carrying as many as a half dozen horses. 

This place is America's West - and we struck travel gold when we discovered it.

D2G: A Culinary Journey Road Test

Our "Diet 2 Go" , D2G, in Twitter-talk was 'put to the (road) test' in the Southwest.  Temptations were as prevalent as tumbleweeds.

Our first taste of reality came around noon only a few hours out of Las Vegas en route to Phoenix in a town called Kingman, known for its once strategic location on a section of Historic Route 66, just in case you've never heard of it.  We'd  stopped at a delightful coffee shop in the historic district planning to eat lunch. We ended up with one of the best cups of black coffee ever served, but said adios to the pastry case that offered the only sustenance. On we went to the ubiquitous Arizona convenience store, Circle K,  -- they are on every street corner, I think -- in hopes of finding something healthier.

The wafting scent of deep fry grease as I opened the doors should have told me that the best I would do there was a small carton of low-fat cottage cheese (one of two on the shelf).  Back in Ol' Orange we ate it, split a breakfast bar, and some almonds.

That was one of several times we had to either resist temptation or be creative in food choices as we ate our way through the Southwest.  But we ate a lot, even some of those 'forbidden wheat and sugar-based fruits' -- those, in moderation -- and drank with gusto.  We enjoyed great home-cooked dinners with friends in Phoenix and Tucson and even threw a party at our spacious digs in Scottsdale, and we dined out several times.

Pinnacle Peak General Store breakfast
j. smith photo, (c) 2011

One of the most surprising things we noticed -- now that we are noticing such things -- were the many restaurants offering sides of fruit, sliced tomatoes and cottage cheese for breakfast instead of the traditional hash browns and toast as shown on the photo of my breakfast at the General Store.

I couldn't help but wonder if maybe they have always been offered and we just never noticed.

And for those of you who are following along -- and those who've reported that you've joined this culinary journey:  I am  down 9 pounds and Joel is close behind at 8.

Tucson Tasties - More Muy Bueno places

It seems as if we were eating our way through Arizona.  But then it is our favorite way to learn more about places.  And again these eatery 'finds' are thanks to the recommendations of  friends.  Too good to miss, let me tell you about . . .

Pets are welcome at Viv's outdoor tables
j. smith photo, (c) 2011

Viv's Cafe where you will find yourself sitting elbow-to-elbow with locals -- regulars -- who return time after time for the warm welcome and inexpensive, hearty breakfasts and lunches served here.  And if you go back a second time, it is likely that Viv, who runs this diner-like, place will greet you by name or remember from where you're visiting. 

Lucky for us it was walking distance from our hosts' home so we worked up an appetite going there and burned off a few of the delectable calories we'd consumed on our return. Open for breakfast and lunch, this place doesn't have a web site of its own but you can read about it on Yelp.  If you go on a Saturday, check out the Farmer's Market at the far end of the parking lot.
(8987E. Tanque Verde Rd., 85749, 520-760-8622)

We had another great breakfast at a place we likely would never have found on our own:  Tohono Chul Park, where the eatery is just one of its many draws.  In this Southwestern arboretum-like setting, nature and art merge.  And our Huevos Rancheros -- even better than those egg dishes we've eaten in Mexico -- were proof that culinary art is as important here as are the visual arts.  The place is 'wander'-land of art, plants, nature trails, gardens and is the site of a variety of special events.  The gift shop is full of great things for souvenirs.
(7366 N. Pasea del Norte, Tucson, 520-742-6455)

Our Portland friend tipped us off to Cafe Poca Cosa, an upscale Mexican restaurant where chef/owner Suzana Davila, who hails from Guayamas,a town in Sonora, Mexico, serves up so many specialties that the menu changes twice daily.  In fact it is written en espanol and English on chalkboards that waitstaff bring to the tables.  When I searched the Web for its site, I noticed one restaurant view site that rated it 4 out of 5 points based on more than 1,000 reviews.  Definitely on our 'must-go-to-next-time' list.
(110 E. Pennington St., Tucson, 85701, 520-622-6400)

Some of you have asked how the D2G fared with all these restaurants, that report is coming. . .

Scottsdale Eateries - off the beaten path

Don't you love it when people who've visited a place, or those who live there, tip you off to some wonderful eatery that you would never in a million years have found on your own?  We had several recommendations for Southwest 'finds' that were so great I need to pass them on to you, with a big thank you to those who told us about them:

Greasewood Flat dining area
j.smith photo, (c) 2011

Greasewood Flat: If you've not been to this 30-year-old local favorite atop Reata Pass, then you haven't experienced Phoenix/Scottsdale to its fullest.  And one trip will likely not be enough to get a taste (quite literally) of the place.  Greasewood Flat is a massive open air dining field of sorts enclosed by a fence made up of old time farm and ranch equipment.  You'll sit at one of those picnic tables while eating one of the best burgers ever made and washing it down with a tall cool one or two. There's usually a big bonfire going and if you time it right, a band will be playing. Those country gals and guys will be struttin' past doin' the Country Two-Step and it likely won't be long before you are tempted to join 'em. 
(27900 N. Alma School Parkway, Scottsdale, 85262, 480-585-9430)


Reata Pass Steakhouse:  Located just next door to Greasewood Flat in the original 1882 stage coach stop on Reata Pass.  Even if you are stuffed from that burger I suggested, you'll want to go inside and take a look around, then put it on your list for the next visit.

•  This year we visited the Reata Pass Cavalliere's Farmer's Market, held each Sunday from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. The booths are tucked in between the two eateries.  Homemade pickles, salsa and jams were being sold and the smell of the whole pig roasting on a spit made our mouths water. It was also hard to resist the homemade vanilla ice cream being served right out of the mixer.

Breakfast at the Pinnacle Peak General Store
j. smith photo, (c) 2011

Pinnacle Peak General Store:  We would never have stopped at this place had our friends, whose recommendations we value, suggested it.  As you are driving past it on Pima or Pinnacle Peak Roads, it appears to be a service station with a sign reading, "General Store" on the adobe hacienda-style building behind it.  "You have to have breakfast there!" we were told and so we went.  What a find!  The interior still houses a post office (like none you've ever seen) and an eating area amidst a museum of country western memorabilia.  We chose to sit in the sunny courtyard near the fountain with its hacienda-like feel to eat our enormous breakfasts.
(8711 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, 85255, 480-991-1822)

Overeasy Cafe: Was recommended by a friend in Portland, Oregon who used to live in Arizona. We didn't get to this one, but I checked out the menu and with plates called, "The Crying Pig, The Mile High and The Pollo Loco" (that last one is 'crazy chicken' for you non--Spanish readers), we have it at the top of our 'next time' list.
(This place has just expanded and now can be found at  two locations:  The newest is at 4730 E. Indian School Rd. #123, 85260, 602-468-3447 and also at 9375 E. Bell Road, same phone number.)

Tomorrow I will tell you about our finds in Tucson. If you have recommendations for Scottsdale/Phoenix please tell us about them by using the comment box below. 

Note:  Don't be put off leaving a comment because you have to fill in an email address.  It doesn't appear on your comment; it is a security measure to make sure you aren't some robot roaming the blog and spamming. You can chose how you are identified: by name, nickname, or anonymous (but then wouldn't you want us to know who made a great suggestion?)

Arizona and Japan

The view from our friends' Tucson home is spectacular. We've spent many hours since our Friday afternoon arrival sitting outside and soaking in the view of the vast sweeping mountain range in the distance. 

However the serenity that the vista inspires has been shattered by our repeated trips indoors to watch the horror taking place in Japan. We are stunned to see how our friends across the Pacific  are struggling with unimaginable situations.

The blogosphere has made the world smaller and we know a large number of our readers live in Japan. For that reason, our report on the road trip through Arizona will resume later - today it is important to simply remind those in Japan that you are in the thoughts and prayers of millions just like us around the world. 

And to other readers who want to help but don't know how to do so.  Repeatedly we have heard on news reports that donations - money - to the Red Cross or Doctors without Borders are two good ways of being a part of the rescue effort. Simply click the links to access their web sites.