The Arizona Biltmore Hotel is just a short distance away from where I live so it's easy to pop up there to meet a friend.
I'm always surprised by the number of people I see in the lobby of the hotel at this time of year. It just proves that some people do travel to the desert southwest during the summer months.
I love to photograph the different patterns and designs built into the stones that make up this great, old resort. I even managed to catch a photo of myself in that mirror.
Back in December when I was roaming around several resorts to see their holiday decorations, my first stop was the Arizona Biltmore. Since it's just around the corner from where I live, it was easy to make it the first stop. You might remember that I was disappointed that they used the same dull looking decorations they had used the year before. So after snapping the obligatory shots of the decorations, I took a few more inside the lobby. I was there early in the day so everything was quiet and there were only a few people around. Above is the lobby bar. It tends to be quieter now that they've added a fancy outdoor bar. I like this one the best.
Looking down from the bar, I could see into the restaurant called Renata's Hearth. I've eaten there several times. They have delicious food with a little Latin influence.
Getting a little closer to the restaurant, I saw that they had some subtle holiday decorations. They added the poinsettia blooms to that row of light fixtures. Now that I like.
I had a drink with a friend at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel and we both walked out the doors to face this new outdoor bar that opened about 2 years ago and we both turned around and went back inside. We decided that we liked the old bar inside the hotel much better. This modern looking space just seems out of place in such a historic hotel. It just doesn't seem to blend in the with the rest of the place. New and modern isn't always better.
This last weekend was a busy one for me. On Friday I attended the annual dinner for Habitat for Humanity at the Arizona Biltmore. You can see above the crowds of people bidding on the many silent auction items. I donated two framed photos for the auction and you can see one of them in this photo.
When I was at the Arizona Biltmore a few days ago, I saw these two sitting with their people around the outdoor bar. I just had to go over and say hello. What a couple of sweeties they are.
When I was just a kid, our family dog was an English Bulldog and she was the sweetest dog with a great personality. Some people find them rather scary looking and stay away but nothing could be further from the truth. They have a very friendly disposition. It was a joy to meet these two. To me, they are beautiful.
When we were at the Arizona Biltmore last Thursday, we did find one traditional Christmas tree. It was located near the entrance to the ballrooms. The tree was accompanied by a table full of beautifully wrapped gifts.
Perfect for Christmas Eve.
A friend and I went to the Arizona Biltmore Hotel to see how their holiday decorations were looking this year. The first thing we saw was this metal tree surrounded by metal gift boxes set up in front of the hotel. I thought to myself that it was a bit strange for such a stately old historic hotel.
The first Christmas tree we saw after entering was this one. My friend thought it looked like a giant, shaggy dog and I can certainly see how she would think that.
Since we were at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel on Saturday evening for dinner, we couldn't leave without taking a peek into one of our favorite rooms. Even though Frank Lloyd Wright was not the architect for the hotel, he was a major influence in the design and that can be seen very well in this room.
Since the room wasn't being used on this night, I could stand in the center of the room and take a photo straight up to that dramatic ceiling. It's always fun to explore this historic hotel and it's so close to where I live, I need to visit more often.
I enjoyed a fantastic dinner with my great friends David and Riley on my birthday last Saturday. We went to one of my favorite restaurants called Renata's Hearth at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel. As you can see, they serve meals "family style". We had the smoked brisket with some roasted fingerling potatoes and fava beans with a mushroom sauce. We managed to clean every one of those serving plates.
My birthday dessert was a coconut cheesecake topped with a strawberry jelly and a honeycomb cracker. The star here was the scoop of jalapeño ice cream. Sounds crazy, right? It was delicious. So delicious that David and Riley are thinking about trying to make it at home. They are both great cooks so I'm confident they will accomplish that goal.
Since I was at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel & Resort Wednesday evening, I couldn't resist a photo of the front of the building all lit up with lights. Since this is considered "off-season" here in the desert, the place was pretty quiet. In fact, there were only a handful of people enjoying the inside bar while we were there.
I snapped this photo looking across the hotel lobby. When I visit here in the winter months, there is no way to get this photo without lots of people it it. As you can see, it was pretty quiet while we were there.
I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today. I'm continuing my look at The Wallace Collection in London.
Have you ever seen a blue palm tree?
Actually, there was a blue light shining on this tree and the sky was filling up with clouds so I thought it might make an interesting photo.
After that delicious dinner I wrote about yesterday, we decided to stop at the Arizona Biltmore for a nightcap. We stepped outside to their new outdoor bar (I wrote about it here) but we decided it was still too warm to be outside. We went to the inside bar instead. As we were leaving, I stepped outside to snap a photo of the outdoor bar all lit up in blue. That palm tree was just a bonus.
Since we had "theme day" yesterday, I saved my Happy New Year photo for today.
I had fun creating this from a photo from my archives.
I hope everyone's year is starting off very well. Fingers crossed that 2022 will see us get this pandemic under control.
I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today. I have another set of favorite London photos.
My friend Glenda and I went back to the Arizona Biltmore Friday night for dinner again. It was just the two of us so we didn't have a huge spread of food like the last time. Once again the food was delicious.
After dinner, I walked outside to get a better picture of that new bar they built in the huge center courtyard. You can see the water that surrounds the bar. It's like a moat all the way around the bar.
We decided to have an after-dinner drink but it was just too hot to sit outside at the new bar. We opted for the indoor bar which has only seen a few minor changes. One change was the stemware. They are now serving champagne in tulip glasses instead of the flutes.
I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today. I'm visiting desert museum in southern Arizona.
What used to be the only pool at The Arizona Biltmore has now been designated the "family pool" area. That huge water slide is the biggest change in this area. This pool used to be divided into two sections with a lovely waterfall between the two.
With all these changes, it appears to me that the hotel is starting to market to a younger crowd. There were certainly a lot more kids around than I've ever seen before.
To one side of the pool area was this fountain designed for splashing. The water spouts all had colored lights on them and three fake saguaro cactus stand in the center. There are no thorns on those fake cactus so it's perfectly safe for the little kids to play.
The biggest change that was made to the Arizona Biltmore Hotel was the addition of this new outside bar. You can't tell from this photo that it is surrounded by a water filled moat making the bar look like it's on an island.
Directly behind where I was standing to take the first photo is this new pool area. This new pool has been designated the "adult" pool while the old pool is now the family pool. All of this has been added to the large open space that used to separate the main hotel from the other buildings where rooms are located. I posted some photos from this area a couple of years ago when I had the opportunity to spend a weekend here.
The Arizona Biltmore Hotel reopened in March and I finally got to see the changes that were made. I joined three good friends for dinner at the new restaurant at the hotel called Renata's. This new place calls it's food "modern Latin cuisine" and I have to say, the food was excellent!
My good friend David ordered one of the specialty drinks called Los Muertos. It's described as Serrano-infused blanco tequila, activated charcoal, agave, lime juice, black lava salt and smoke. Sounds dangerous, doesn't it? This is the way it was presented, under a glass dome filled with smoke. I did taste it and it was pretty tasty.
I asked our waiter to take a photo of us after our meal but before they cleared the plates. Just look at all those dishes. The menu consists of a lot of shared dishes and if I remember correctly we ordered 5 different things but as you can see, that filled our table with dishes. We had no trouble eating it all.
When I took that long walk last Saturday, I walked the full loop which brought me right up to the Arizona Biltmore Hotel. I've featured photos from this historic hotel many, many times on this site, most recently after Christmas in 2018. That's when I had the opportunity to stay there for two nights right before the holidays. When the pandemic started last March, the hotel closed temporarily but as this health crisis progressed, they remained closed. I never saw a sign that said why, just that they were temporarily closed. The hotel belongs the Hilton Waldorf Astoria hotel group so I knew they would survive. Now the website says they will open again in the Spring, possibly on March 1st. It also had pictures of some changes they made like adding a new outdoor bar. It sounds like they used the time to make some improvements. If we ever get back to some type of normal, it will be fun to explore there once again. I'll be looking forward to trying that new outdoor bar. 😊
