Jaunted - Tag: Desert Travel

Florence: Theme Parks Travel: Start Planning for Coyote Canyon

kjb — 2008-09-23T10:30:32-05:00

Arizona, it seems, wants to be more than just cacti and where John McCain is from, and a group of local investors are eager to bring some new commercialization to the state: They're looking to build a new theme park in Pinal County, the third planned for the area.

The park, Coyote Canyon, will feature five different themed lands including the Old West, Indian High Country, Rocks and River County and Canyon Country. The Central Corridor area would bring hotels and shopping to the park experience. However, there's no word yet if huge steel coasters are in the works for any of the lands.

Developers have already indicated that other investors are eager to get in on the ground floor of the $600 million project and have announced that hotels, restaurants and even bowling alleys are ready to break ground. Even if all goes smoothly, it'll still be a couple years until we get to check it out: No land has been purchased yet.

Related Stories:
· Third Theme Park Proposed for Pinal County [Tucson Citizen]
· Theme Parks coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Karen Sheets]

Desert Travel: Doing It Bedouin Style

BS — 2008-08-01T13:05:03-05:00

Visiting the Middle East can be disappointing for anyone hoping for "A Whole New World" type of adventure, once they see all the skyscrapers, beach resorts and, of course, gigantic Eurotrash discos.

Fortunately for those in search of a vacation with more desert sand dunes and travel by camel, Israel has plenty of back-in-time experiences like the Mamshit Camel Ranch.

Set in the middle of Israel's Negev Desert, Mamshit offers day-long camel tours, Bedouin-style group meals and overnight stays in "the Million Star Hotel," an assortment of sheep wool and goat hair tents. The whole thing is a little more Disney-Middle East than genuine experience, but what are you gonna do? Even the Bedouins live in houses now.

Related Stories:
· Mamshit Camel Ranch [Official Site]
· Israel Travel coverage [Jaunted]

Hiking Israel: Masada

BS — 2008-07-29T09:30:24-05:00

Israel packs deserts, mountains, volcanoes, canyons and seas into an area the size of New Jersey, which makes for some pretty spectacular hiking. And the country's most popular route is the trip up Masada, the isolated rock plateau on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert.

One of the most important sites in ancient Jewish history, the barren desert mesa is the site where a band of Jewish rebels made their last stand against Roman warriors in the first century AD. The 2,000-year-old ruins at the top of the plateau are the main draw for history and religion buffs, while the 1,800-foot climb and view overlooking the Dead Sea attract a wide array of tourists.

The problem with visiting this mountain in the middle of the desert, of course, is the intensity of the sun, which is why many summertime visitors choose to hike up before dawn, catching the sunrise and beating the heat. If that still sounds like too much, there's always the cable car to the top.

Related Stories:
· Masada National Park [Official Site]
· Oh Lord, What a Hike [Jaunted]
· Israel Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

Scottsdale: Scottsdale Spas: Spoiling Our Inner Princess

The Lost Girl — 2008-01-31T10:30:01-05:00

First there were organic foods and cosmetics, then energy-efficient cars, and now, even our spa treatments are going green. Willow Stream Spa at The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess has just introduced Desert Purification, a bodywork treatment inspired by Native American traditions and culture.

It may sound a little out there, but they certainly don’t oversell the “all natural” thing. The 90-minute treatment begins with an optional “smudging,” or burning of a sage stick to purify the space for healing, then a therapist applies a mask all over your body. Not only are the indigenous ingredients—cornmeal, oats, bentonite and kaolin clays, among others—free from preservatives, artificial colorings and synthetic fragrances, but even the fabric used to exfoliate your skin is made from the biodegradable fibers of a local Ayate cactus plant. (Cacuts?! Sounds prickly, but we promise, it's not so bad.)

Once you’ve been sufficiently smoothed and subsequently showered, you can get what you’ve really come for—a nourishing body massage featuring an aromatic blend of organic juniper, sage and rosemary essential oils. While we’re not sure just how much a getting green treatment reduces our impact on the environment, we love the idea that getting pampered might not be entirely self-indulgent after all.

Related Stories:
· Willow Stream Spa, Scottsdale [Official Site]
· The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess [HotelChatter]
· Spas coverage [Jaunted]
· Scottsdale Spas Map [Jaunted]

[Photo: TripAdvisor]

Scottsdale: Scottsdale Spas: The Pedicure that Keeps on Kickin'

The Lost Girl — 2008-01-24T13:30:01-05:00

Of all the services that you could return from a destination spa raving about, mani-pedis usually aren't among them. It's not that getting your hands and feet sandblasted, buffed and shellacked by a stranger isn't incredibly relaxing, but the perfectly polished nails you pay hand over fist for have usually chipped by the time you're back in your own area code.

That's why we were pretty jazzed by the just-introduced Double Happiness Manicure and Pedicure combo we received at the Spa at Camelback Inn. Created by skincare diva June Jacobs exclusively for the resort, the treatment is designed as a facial for the hands and feet. As our chatty, Russian-born therapist Marta got to work on our woefully neglected gams, she informed us that peppermint, the featured ingredient the scrub she was using, has both aromatic and antiseptic properties--and, as we'd soon discover, can also make your toes tingle!

Two hours of intense pampering later, we had to admit that our fingers and toes looked pretty damn good. But we didn't fully grasp how effective the treatment had been until a week or so later, when our skin still felt spa-day smooth and our Espresso Your Style OPI polish still looked freshly painted.

Sure, a full body massage might have been nice--but it was pretty cool reaping the benefits of our spa experience long after returning home.

Related Stories:
· Spas coverage [Jaunted]
· Scottsdale Spa coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Spa at Camelback Inn]

Phoenix: Scottsdale Spas: Getting Our Rocks On

The Lost Girl — 2008-01-17T15:00:01-05:00

On our recent trip to Scottsdale to get massages, pedicures and bodywork treatments in the name of, um, travel research, we learned that this desert oasis plays host to more than 40 spas, many of which are located in swank destination resorts. When you're in such close proximity to your five-star competition, you've got to offer something wacky, niche or ultra-luxe to win over guests--your basic Swedish rubdown or hydrating facial just won't cut the epicurean mustard.

Making our appointment at The Revive Spa at the JW Marriot Desert Ridge, we were urged to try The Turquoise Blue Sage Body Ritual, a 3-in-1 combination therapy designed to cleanse and purify our senses. As the name implies, the products used throughout the 80-minute experience feature the area's most recognizable rock, plus fragrant ingredients like sage and organic essential oils.

Guiding us into the treatment room, our spa therapist explained that turquoise possesses a kind of healing energy. We pondered this, more than a bit skeptical, as she began working a mineral-rich salt scrub into our skin. But as she coated us in a desert clay body mask, wrapped us inside a hydrating cocoon and worked us from head to toe in a full-body massage, we started to come around to her way of thinking. By the time the treatment rounded out with an energy ritual designed to cleanse our aura and balance our spirit, we were totally down with the whole desert healing vibe.

The Southwestern zen lingered for hours--at least, until we came inches from stepping on a live rattlesnake during hike in the nearby Sonoran desert. After such a traumatic, near-death event, we felt totally justified in booking another extra-long treatment at Revive.

Related Stories:
· Revive Spa [Official Site]
· Spas coverage [Jaunted]
· A Taste (or Ten) of Tuscany [Jaunted]

Tohono O'Odham: Stargazing In Arizona

ced138 — 2007-12-03T13:00:01-05:00

Sure, Hawaii wins the prize for the Western Hemisphere's best stargazing. But it's much easier to to glimpse those sparkly darts without all that pesky tropical foliage obstructing the view. Hunter S. Thompson was on to something when he sent his protagonists on a drug-fueled trip into the Nevada desert in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

For those looking for the euphoria of desert tourism without any medicinal enhancement, look no further than the family-friendly Kitt Peak National Observatory on the Tohono O'odham Reservation an hour-and-a-half outside Tucson, Arizona. The admission price ($39; $34 for students) includes a box dinner, orientation in which participants learn to use star charts and use of observatory binoculars to locate constellations. At the end of the three-hour program, visitors can glimpse some of the farthest planets through Kitt Peak's dome-mounted telescopes. Groovy.

Related Stories:
· Kitt Peak National Observatory [Official Site]
· Stargazing in the Sonoran [NYT]
· Stargazing Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Time Inc.]