Going to Phoenix, AZ at the end of this week

[GMTruckGuy74]

My boss invited the few members of my department to attend a conference in Phoenix Thursday through Sunday (11/29-12/2). I'll be staying at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel and will be at the Phoenix Convention Center for the conference. There isn't too much free time Friday-Saturday, and I arrive late morning on Thursday. Anyone here from that area, or been to that area, that can tell me if there's something I should most defintely see? I may have free time Thursday afternoon, and it looks like the members of my team may be meeting for dinner Thursday night.

[G. David Felt]

Have a safe trip, I know there are some awesome car auctions as well as restore companies in the area but Hopefully someone from that area can offer some better stuff to see.

[vonVeezelsnider]

Depends what you're interested in. Seeing as your time constraints have to keep you close to Phoenix, one that stands out for me is the Heard Museum - has lots of great Native art and artifacts from the Southwest and is located right on Central Avenue Phoenix, on the LRT line out of downtown. If you had a bit more time and/or a rental car, the drive up the Apache Trail from Apache Junction past Canyon Lake to Tortilla Flat is quite nice as well.

[Robert Hall]

There a number of good restaurants downtown and near downtown, accessible depending on if you have a rental car. The light rail goes up Central Ave from downtown, plenty of good restaurants along the rail line, and going east the light rail goes to downtown Tempe, lots of restaurants around there. Saturday nights are great for the Pavillions cruise ins in Scottsdale. Alas, car auction week is still a couple months away..

Edited November 27, 2012 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[GMTruckGuy74]

Saturday nights are great for the Pavillions cruise ins in Scottsdale...

Cubie, tell me more about these Saturday cruise nights. No rental car, so walking, LRT and taxis will be the modes of transportation. I'm not 100% sure of the Saturday activities, but I know most of the day will be consumed with work-related stuff. However, if cruise nights start late and end late, I may have to come up with a good excuse to "leave"

Pizzeria Bianco was a restaurant recommended to me by one of my co-workers who was in Phoenix two weeks ago. She highly recommended it, and said it was not a place to miss eating at. Do you agree?

[Robert Hall]

Saturday nights are great for the Pavillions cruise ins in Scottsdale...

Cubie, tell me more about these Saturday cruise nights. No rental car, so walking, LRT and taxis will be the modes of transportation. I'm not 100% sure of the Saturday activities, but I know most of the day will be consumed with work-related stuff. However, if cruise nights start late and end late, I may have to come up with a good excuse to "leave"

Usually starts around 4 on Saturday afternoons, goes till 9 or so....A few hundred cars show up--anything and everything--and in January during auction week it's probably over 1000... about 20 miles from downtown at the Rock N Roll McDonalds in Scottsdale.

http://rockandrollcarshow.com/History.html

Pizzeria Bianco was a restaurant recommended to me by one of my co-workers who was in Phoenix two weeks ago. She highly recommended it, and said it was not a place to miss eating at. Do you agree?

It's really good...the big negative is the 2-3 hour waits most evenings. One chef (the owner). Was ranked best pizza in the country a few years ago.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Wow, that car show (cruise) is not far from where I'm staying (about a 24 minute drive according to Yahoo! Maps). I'm very tempted and interested in going to that; I'll have to see what the conference schedule is and how I can reasonably get there (do you think a taxi would cost a lot?). I always enjoy a car-related event when I'm in a different state - don't get to go to many outside of the NJ-PA areas. What about the Scottsdale International Auto Museum? If I make it to the cruise show, the museum seems to be very close by.

[Robert Hall]

Wow, that car show (cruise) is not far from where I'm staying (about a 24 minute drive according to Yahoo! Maps). I'm very tempted and interested in going to that; I'll have to see what the conference schedule is and how I can reasonably get there (do you think a taxi would cost a lot?).

Probably expensive, given the distance. I'm only familiar w/ using taxis around here to get to and from the airport...

I always enjoy a car-related event when I'm in a different state - don't get to go to many outside of the NJ-PA areas. What about the Scottsdale International Auto Museum? If I make it to the cruise show, the museum seems to be very close by.

Hmm...Scottsdale International Auto Museum..never heard of it..will have to check it out. I've been to the Penske Auto Museum in N. Scottsdale, pretty cool display of various Penske race cars from over the years.

[vonVeezelsnider]

Hmm...Scottsdale International Auto Museum..never heard of it..will have to check it out. I've been to the Penske Auto Museum in N. Scottsdale, pretty cool display of various Penske race cars from over the years.

I think it's relatively new, haven't been in there myself but I did see it when I was there in September. Googled it and saw they claim to have quite a few cars (250+) but it seems a lot of them are a little pedestrian (late model Mustangs, 1980s Jaguars etc...) It's in that half vacant strip mall on the south side of Indian Bend between Pima and the 101.

Edited November 27, 2012 by vonVeezelsnider

[GMTruckGuy74]

I will definitely be looking at Saturday's schedule and a way to get to Scottsdale. I'll have to see if the hotel has a rental car desk there, though I'm sure it won't be cheap either. The trip is being arranged by a travel company that will have members on-site, and that I know. I'll bet good money one of the two will have a rental car (now what will it take to get them to drop me off? )

Edited December 1, 2012 by GMTruckGuy74

[GMTruckGuy74]

So I'm here in Phoenix. What a beautiful place! Can't believe all of the classic iron on the roads - some restored, some not - all being used. Never see that in Jersey

Weather is great and I've walked around just a little bit to take some photos for the family back home to see. 80 degrees and gorgous outside - haven't experienced this nice weather for almost two months.

Love seeing all of the classics on the road, and hoping I'll find a way to Scottsdale Saturday night (not likely with work-related responsibilities).

[Robert Hall]

So I'm here in Phoenix. What a beautiful place! Can't believe all of the classic iron on the roads - some restored, some not - all being used. Never see that in Jersey

Weather is great and I've walked around just a little bit to take some photos for the family back home to see. 80 degrees and gorgous outside - haven't experienced this nice weather for almost two months.

Love seeing all of the classics on the road, and hoping I'll find a way to Scottsdale Saturday night (not likely with work-related responsibilities).

It is really nice here in winter. It's a bit warmer than normal right now. But I wouldn't recommend visiting between May and September..... too warm. This is my 5th year here, hope to be gone within 2 years...

[GMTruckGuy74]

So, I am going to Scottsdale Saturday evening!! I have a 2-hour window to utilize, so with an estimated 25-minute drive that gives me an hour to see as much as I can. I spoke with the "main" woman from the travel company that has arranged all the logistics for the event earlier today and she arranged for a car to picl me up at the hotel at 4:00 PM. It will pick me up at 6:00 PM and bring me back in time for the dinner/keynote speaker. I'm so excited to be able to go to a car show while in Arizona Expect pictures posted here sometime Sunday or Monday.