Atlantic City, the Sullivan Catskills and Scottsdale
We arrived at our hotel, The Hard Rock Atlantic City and after a speedy check in were straight to our lovely rooms. Spacious and just enough luxury without being too over the top. It turns out we picked a good night to check in as Kenny Chesney (a very popular Country singer in the US) was playing at the hotel that night and so there was a real buzz about the place. We headed straight out to the beach area directly in front of the hotel where we found a beautiful stretch of white sand beach. It was not what I expected at all, it was like something straight out of the Caribbean! We went straight over to the Pier opposite the hotel, the oldest Steel pier in North America and home to a number of traditional funfair rides.
We couldn't wait to try out the Observation Wheel, the third tallest in the USA.. you enjoy 3 full rotations and it takes about 10 minutes with a stop at the top so you can see the surrounding area. It was a beautiful day so you could literally see for miles! With the 'strip' of casino hotels lining the beach to either end and a stunning view of the Atlantic Ocean below it was well worth doing. We also had our adrenaline fix on a 5 minute helicopter ride from the end of the pier out to either end of the resort, it's certainly the best way to see the area especially for any thrill seekers!! We couldn't leave the pier without enjoying a traditional funfair treat of funnel cake. I've had this in many locations in America and it's one of my favourite sweets but topped with stewed apple and whipped cream sat in the salty Atlantic coast air was by far the best way I've ever eaten it.
Our next adventure was a dolphin spotting cruise from Gardners Basin to the north of Atlantic City. We set off on our 2 hour adventure that took us down past and along the shoreline of Atlantic City. We were very lucky to catch a glimpse of the local dolphins but only very briefly on this occasion. The tour company that we used don't bait the dolphins to draw them to the boat or the area but they rely on sightings from local fishermen and their knowledge of where they often spot the dolphins as well as a bit of luck thrown in! Being out on the water was a lovely experience. I also fell in love with a few of the beautiful houses on the harbour as we came back into dock.
We left Atlantic City the next day heading further north, past New York where we could see the skyline from the coach, and up into the Catskill Mountains in Upstate New York. We were lucky to be staying at a brand new resort that had only opened a few weeks earlier that offered modern family orientated accommodation with the bonus of it's own on-site indoor waterpark! There were firepits dotted around outside in the garden areas where you could take a hot chocolate and toast some marshmallows, a great bar area and lots of family games to play. We even managed to find time to pop our swim suits on and check out the waterpark which being indoors meant that it didn't matter what the weather was like outside! The waterpark was great and had enough to keep little ones and big kids happy.. it has a couple of bigger slides as well as a wave rider for those who are a bit more adventurous... or you could just bob around in the Lazy River like me.
The next day we were up early for our most adventurous activity of the trip, white water rafting on the Delaware River... Now this was an experience. With five of us to a raft we paddled down river where we tackled some of the rapids, and survived! Not only was it great exercise, exciting and fun it was a unique way to see the local wildlife. We saw eagles and possibly a bear (we didn't stick around to find out if it was for sure!) as well as deer. It took around an hour of paddling to reach the end of the course and we were greeted with much appreciated hot chocolate and cookies to warm us up.
It was then time to check out the amazing artisan distillery and brewery trail in the area where we toured the sites, heard about the process of how their products came to be and even sampled a few of the offerings.. purely for research purposes obviously! With visits to Prohibition Distillery (from which I may have made a purchase or two!) and the Roscoe Beer Co, which is based in an ex Firehouse so has a great character to it we saw and tasted some of the best that the area has to offer.
Our last stop in the Catskills was a visit to Bethel Woods Centre for the Arts and Museum, which probably doesn't mean much to you... otherwise known as the home of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival!! As a music lover it was such an honour to be able to stand on the ground where that iconic event took place 50 years ago. The location and the museum are fabulous memorials to the event and it was like stepping into a time tunnel wandering through the museum, watching the videos, hearing the stories and seeing the outfits and photos of the whole thing. It's in such a peaceful area so I can't imagine what the neighbours thought when thousands of people turned up for a festival!
That was our final stop before heading to Newark Airport, around 90 minutes away, for our flight to Phoenix and the finale to our trip in Scottsdale. On arrival at our hotel, the 5* Phoenician Resort, we checked in and headed straight out into Scottsdale for some food and drink. Found a great place called Dierk Bentley's Whiskey Row where there was live music, great food and we tried some of their local beers before dancing the night away. The next morning it was an early start with a short trip into the desert to Saguaro Lake Ranch for a horse trail ride through the desert. I expected, as a non-horse rider, that it would be a simple flat terrain ride for an hour.... how wrong was I!?!?! It was up hills, climbing rocks, coming down the other side of rocks at very steep angles... I genuinely thought I was coming off my horse several times... but we made it back in one piece and it was actually a really amazing experience, possibly even better than the white water rafting!
We were able to relax around the fabulous pool at the hotel before we were finally saying goodbye to Arizona... a short but very sweet trip indeed!