Best Luxury Hotel 2010 | Sanctuary Camelback Mountain | People & Places | Phoenix
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Best Luxury Hotel

Sanctuary Camelback Mountain

We believe risk-takers should be rewarded, even if their gambles don't pay off. Luckily for Sanctuary Camelback Mountain, their choice to spend millions of dollars on renovations in a down economy was worthwhile. The revamped hotel became even more breathtakingly gorgeous with the addition of a state-of-the-art gourmet kitchen space for celeb chef Beau MacMillan and Praying Monk, a glass-walled dining area with a view of its rocky namesake on Camelback Mountain. The desert landscape views from anywhere on Sanctuary's property are spectacular, whether you're staying in one of the plush spa casitas or springing $950 to $3,000 a night for a private home. Add luxuries like silken Mascioni linens, goose-down feather beds, and spa treatments — including the two-hour luk pra kope herbal massage — and you'll never want to leave this Sanctuary.

Best Spa

The Golden Door Spa at The Boulders Resort

The Golden Door Spa has day rates, sure, but why do that when you can take advantage of cool summer rates and escape the city for a getaway in a place called Carefree?Room rates run as low as $119, and the mandatory $27 "resort fee," for once, is totally worth it at The Golden Door. It includes all of your tipping, valet parking, Internet access, and, most importantly, admission to the Spa.Take a desert drive out to Carefree in the afternoon and enjoy a night in one of the Boulders' spacious, luxurious casitas. Then head over in the morning to the Golden Door Spa for a yoga class, work out in the gym with a gorgeous view of those gigantic signature stones, have a healthful lunch by the pool, pop in the Jacuzzi, contemplatively walk the labyrinth, relax in the Ofuro soaking tub, check out the steam room/sauna, have a shower in one of the huge spiral "snail" stalls, stretch out with tea and snacks in the relaxation room, groom with the provided toiletries and take a big sky drive home back to the hot city. All (except the lunch) for the price of your overnight stay at the resort.

Best Style Blog

SeeSaw Designs

Even if you can't afford their to-die-for letterpress invites and other lovely goods, you can still live in high style, because the ladies of Scottsdale's SeeSaw design are giving it away for free, so to speak, on their beautiful blog. Angela Hardison, Raquel Raney, and Lindsay Tingstrom share "daily inspiration" — basically, just design images cherry-picked by women with really, really good taste. The images aren't necessarily Arizona-based, but a potpourri from across the web — recent pickings came from the likes of Elle Interiors, HGTV, and Stylepark. Sometimes the SeeSaw-ers will feature picks from their etsy shop, also linked from the blog and a place to get deals on their best thrifting pickings. (Well, maybe not the best — sometimes they keep those for themselves, but trust us, there's still good stuff on there!)

Best Indie Music Blog

Electric Mustache

When it comes to local music blogs, we're sorta partial to our own, Up On The Sun. However, if your computer won't pull up our page for some reason, or when you want to read even more indie-rock news, you should definitely check out Electric Mustache. We love the brother-in-law team — primary writer Mike Escoto and primary photographer Shawn Anderson — so much that we've hired them to contribute to our blog with the express directive that they cannot — they must not — stop doing their own blog. Electricmustache.com has a great feel, with witty, quick-hit posts and tons of embedded music and videos. Oh, and there are rants, too, like the time Shawn (a west-sider) let a reportedly douche-y Scottsdale crowd have it with both barrels. The 'Stache tends to focus primarily on indie rock, which is nice for anyone who can't stand, say, to read even one more effing word about that talentless strumpet Miley Cyrus. Personally, we just love all the new music we've been able to hear on the site.

Best Food Blog

Lunch Bucket Bento

With apologies to our own sweetheart, Chow Bella, our favorite food blogs are super-personal, penned by one obsessed foodie with no agenda beyond telling you what she or he is eating today. And that's why we've fallen for Lunch Bucket Bento. Lisa LeComte started her blog in 2007 with a simple concept: She packs her lunch, takes a picture and tells a story.But she doesn't pack just any old lunch. LeComte's into bento — a Japanese tradition of packing a single-portion meal in a box (hence the name bento box). Bento can be simple or elaborate, and LeComte's have run the gamut. We like that about her, too. She shares recipes and even holds an occasional contest, but we love her best for showing us what she packs every day, be it elaborate sushi or an artfully displayed hot dog. Makes us want to go packin' ourselves.

Best Urban Planning Blog

Blooming Rock

For some folks, Phoenix is more than a pit stop on their way to whatever city their company transfers them to next. Some people care about the Valley of the Sun — its history, its topography, its architecture. And no one, it seems, cares about Phoenix as much as Tazmine "Taz" Khatri Loomans, a first-generation immigrant born in Mozambique who attended high school in Mesa, then went to ASU for a master's in architecture. Loomans moved away from the Valley and then, like so many others, came back. Unlike others, she launched a blog that celebrates what there is to love about our city — and candidly criticizes what's wrong with it, too. In cannily written essays about wasted infills, the value of historic preservation, and the peculiar visions of Mayor Phil Gordon, Taz sets out to positively impact the city she loves. Even Phoenix haters (and they're legion, right?) might well be swayed by Taz's clear-headed, well-wrought prose about light rail and dust storms and "the urban forest." It's a heroic feat, sticking up for Phoenix — here's to Taz!

Best Shopping Blog

The Willows

We have long loved The Willows Home and Garden shop — we've followed Beverly Burch around Phoenix, from location to location over the years (her current spot is at 3734 East Indian School Road) — and now we love The Willows even more, for its blog. Burch shares news about her family and friends, and shows off pictures of her gorgeous remodeled kitchen and her not-yet-organized craft room. It's never TMI, in her hands, just lovely musings and even lovelier, drool-worthy photos, interspersed with must-have items for sale at The Willows and blurbs about other local businesses. It's just what a shopping blog should be.

Best Local Wedding Resource

Arizona Weddings magazine and website

So your boyfriend popped the question, and now he's your fiancé. That means you're a fiancée, and you've been saddled with the 10-ton burden of planning your own wedding. Don't bother going to Mom (or, worse, his mom) for advice. What's a bride-to-be to do? First, have a meltdown. Then, wipe up your smudged mascara and rush to the magazine section of your local grocery store for the latest issue of Arizona Weddings magazine. This 500-page annual publication will stop that anxiety attack in its tracks with complete, updated lists of local ceremony and reception locations (with, OMG, yes, contact information), a how-to guide to getting your marriage license, and a wedding planner checklist. Not to mention that all the ads are from local companies. Get the magazine, visit the website, calm down, and feel great again about the man you're about to marry.

Best Light-Rail Resource

Rail Life

You may be surprised to hear that the best resource for finding out what's cool in and around the light rail is not associated with Metro light rail at all. Raillife.com is a site maintained by local folks who care about how light rail is changing our city. Perhaps you're looking for a home near the route. You're covered. Hungry? Raillife.com has tons of listings for local eateries just steps away from the tracks. You can even receive the Twitter updates to find out if stations are temporarily closed or other pertinent infobits to make your rail life an easy one.

Best Use of Social Media to Promote Semi-Nudity

Second Annual No Pants Light Rail Ride

The call went out on Twitter, on iPhones, and in e-mail blasts. Meet at the light rail and prepare to take your pants off. In conjunction with the national improv organization known as Improv Everywhere, local boys Improv AZ hosted their second no-pants light-rail ride on January 10. The results were liberating. Pantsless participants stormed a downtown Starbucks to keep their energy up. It turns out you burn a lot of calories laughing very hard at the perplexed faces of the people you walk by. This momentary lapse of reason couldn't have worked without smart phones and various forms of Internet communication. Ah, technology! Where would we be without it?

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