Scottsdale Arizona

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With our windows repaired, we have a very short 35 mile drive from Mesa to Scottsdale. We really haven’t spent much time in the Phoenix area and figure we should give it a try. We have stayed in the general Phoenix just twice back in 2017. We went to an FMCA rally in Chandler and had a great stay at Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction. Neither of those stops really gave us the opportunity to explore Phoenix and the surrounding suburbs. We hoped to make up for some of that with a stop at WestWorld in Scottsdale.

Entrance to WestWorld

This place is a very large multi-use event center situated on nearly 400 acres of land. They are definitely setup for equestrian events with hundreds of horse stalls and rings for all sorts of events. It had just recently hosted the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction. This would have been a pretty fun thing to experience. Around 1800 vehicles are auctioned off with some of them going for over a million dollars. We were not coming here for any event, just to take advantage of their camping facility. It’s not your typical campground. They have water and electric utilities scattered all over the grounds, generally on the perimeter of some of the event facilities. When they aren’t hosting events, they offer camping sites to others.

We had read blogs of others that had stayed here and it sounded like we wanted to get a spot next to the polo fields. We headed to the RV office and talked with the manager. Turns out we could stay, but only for 7 nights because they have an Arabian Horse Show coming in after that. We probably would have stayed a few extra nights if we could have but we’ll take what we can get. They asked if we were here for the PGA golf tournament? We weren’t but apparently the golf course is just a few blocks away so many of the people staying are here for the nearly weeklong activities. I guess we are here for the events as well whether we want them or not!

Once we got situated in our spot overlooking the polo fields, we investigated what the schedule of events at the Phoenix Open were going to be. Neither of us are golfers, unless you count putt-putt and even then we aren’t very good. My dad used to play golf and I remember being his caddy once for one of his league nights. I was probably only 10 or so and had trouble just carrying his golf bag - this was well before golf carts were common. I just remember watching these “old guys” chasing the little white balls all over the place and deemed it as an “old man’s game”. I figured if I started to play golf it would make me an old man. Even though I’m in my late fifties, l am unwilling to become old!

We had another rig pull into the spot next to us. It was a rental rig and I figured they were likely just passing thru. We went over to chat with the couple to find out they lived in the area and volunteer at the golf tournament. Rather than dealing with the traffic each day, they just rented the camper and would spend the several days using it as their home. We got a good rundown on the tournament from them. The Waste Management Phoenix Open is sort of a cross between a golf tournament and a frat party. If the weather is nice on the Saturday of the event, we should expect between 200,000 to 250,000 people to attend! With close to half a million for the full event. Most of those people aren’t there to watch golf but to drink. If you check online, the WMPO is the top party spot on the PGA tour. Maybe this won’t be as bad as I was expecting.

It turned out they were having free admission for the two practice days before the real events started. Instead of rushing over for the first day, we would just make a day of it and head over on Tuesday. We figured out where to drive to a parking lot to catch a shuttle bus to the golf course. There was a long line of cars but there were plenty of staff directing traffic and it didn’t take too long to get parked. Next was the long line to catch one of the buses. They have metal detectors and all sorts of restrictions on what could be brought in but they do all the screening prior to getting on the never ending stream of buses. I was impressed with how quickly we managed to get thru security and onto a bus. It was a short drive to the event itself and the driver made sure everybody was aware of the spot we needed to return to if we wanted to get back to our parking lot.

Waiting in Line for Bus

Entrance at WMPO

Our neighbors at WestWorld are correct, the TPC Scottsdale course is a beautiful place and the weather was perfect to just walk around to see the various venues and just people watch. Since we aren’t into golf, we don’t know any of the “famous” golfers that might be in our midst. We would probably recognize Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson, but neither are playing this tournament. There were lots of people, predominantly kids, with these autograph sheets waiting at the various putting or driving areas for another golfer to walk by and get their signature. Many of them seemed to have 15 to 20 signatures already.

Greenskeeper Building Overlooking Course

Putting Practice

We wandered all over the course, stopping occasionally to watch a group practicing on one of the holes. There are quite a few large structures that are setup to serve food and drinks and provide a great view of the nearby hole. It was busy the day we went but by no means crowded. I couldn’t begin to imagine what it will be like with 5 times more people here on Saturday.

Swirling Sand During Shot

Teeing Off at #7

Beautiful Mountain Backdrop

The most interesting hole is #16. It’s a par 3 that is completely surrounded by bleachers or huge covered lounge areas. It can hold 16,000 people. From the sounds of things, it can get rather rowdy here - not your typical golf etiquette. I suppose that’s what happens when you have that many well inebriated people in a confined space. From the looks of things, the lounge areas require some sort of admission fee but it sounds like it’s an open bar? I checked online after the fact. A Skybox at #16 will allow you and 33 of your friends to have complimentary breakfast, lunch and an open bar for a mere $53,000!

From General Admission Seats at #16 - Looking at Green

From General Admission Seats at #16 - Looking Back to Tee Area

We spent several hours wandering around and eventually got hungry. There are lots of food choices and actually had some decent Mexican food for lunch. There are numerous pro shops with all sorts of clothing and golf souvenirs. This will likely be our only PGA event, but we still weren’t inclined to buy anything. Later in the afternoon, we headed back to the area where our bus stop was - us and hundreds of others. Again, the wait was not too bad but our bus driver this time had been driving to one of the other lots all day but was reassigned to our lot due to the large volume of people needing to get there. With the help of the passengers, we eventually got back to our car.

Big Lake at TPC Scottsdale

Got Bored with Golf and Distracted by Cactus

When we got back to WestWorld, there was a lot of activity taking place on the polo fields just below us. At first we thought it might be another parking area for the tournament but the numerous orange cones and people directing incoming cars didn’t make much sense. It was then we realized this was the drop off and pick up spot for both Uber and Lyft.

A Cone Maze at Uber/Lyft Pickup/Dropoff Area Behind Our Rig

Helicopters Doing Flyover

We spent some time just walking the WestWorld grounds. There were several extremely large structures up in a fenced off area of the grounds. Based on their size, it’s hard to imagine these are temporary buildings but in talking with one of the security guards, these buildings are some of the ones put up each year for the car auction. We could still see probably hundreds of cars either still in the structures or sitting in the parking lots nearby. There seemed to be a continuous stream of enclosed car carriers that were coming to transport the vehicles to their new owners. I saw more than a few that would have been nice to take for a joy ride.

Oversized Structure for Cars

A few Nice Ones

A Few More

Wednesday was the Pro-Am day at the tournament and while watching the never ending stream of Uber and Lyft cars coming in, it was clear there was a pretty good turnout for the event. There are some bike trails that run right past WestWorld so we headed out on one to see where it took us. It started as a paved bike path but we veered off and took what appeared to be a rather well used dirt road/path. After about 5 miles, we had made it over to the base of Taliesin West. We had visited this on a prior trip since we are fans of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and this was his winter home. It would be worth the stop if you’re in the area.  Blog with Taliesin West Visit

Canal Along the Bike Trail Near Taliesin West

The following day we headed to Old Town Scottsdale to wander around, take in the sights and grab some lunch. It’s a very pretty area with the city hall and library adjacent to a very nice park with small ponds and fountains.

Fountains Near Scottsdale City Hall

Lots of Oranges in Those Trees

Welcome to Historic Old Town Scottsdale

There’s a small museum with all the information about the birth of Scottsdale and how it has grown over the years. It’s worth spending half an hour exploring here. We enjoyed exploring the area. We had to check out the Old Adobe Mission built in 1923 with its beautiful statues. We had a great lunch at Los Olives Mexican Patio. It was the perfect day to sit outside and people watch. The local pigeons were fairly bold but we kept them away from our food.

Kitchen Scene in Museum

Beautiful Old Organ

Another Fountain

Inside Old Adobe Mission

Main Altar

Mallard Chilling by Pond

On Saturday the weather was perfect for golf so we knew this area was going to be next to impossible to get out of or back into. We decided to stay put and just watch the thousands of Uber and Lyft cars coming and going. I setup my camera on a tripod and took photos every 15 seconds for just over 4 hours starting around 9 AM. I sat out in a lawn chair and just watched the people. It was clear that a vast majority of the people were kids in their twenties. Many of them seemed to arrive with a drink or two already under their belts. It made for an entertaining morning. At times the traffic trying to get out was at a complete standstill. This meant the unloading area was full of cars so passengers were getting out at the far end of the polo fields and walking to the entrance to go thru security and board the buses. I later took the 1000 pictures from the camera and mad a time lapse video to the morning rush.

Ride Share People Lined Up for Bus

Our last day at WestWorld was Super Bowl Sunday. I was expecting a repeat of the crowds from Saturday but it was much less busy in the ride share lots. I suspect most of the young crowd were skipping the golf tournament and going to a Super Bowl party instead. We took it easy and enjoyed the game. The glorious weather we have been enjoying here was about to change. Our original plan had been to drive to Tucson and boondock at a casino for 4 nights before heading to a reservation at a state park south of there. But the forecast called for below freezing for several of those nights. We could have survived but we had managed to find a site at Picacho Peak State Park for those four nights so that is where we will pick up in the next post.