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| - We have some friends who are long time AZ residents. When we told them we were going to go check out Old Town Scottsdale, they kind of snickered. When I questioned why this choice of activity was so amusing, they revealed that OTS is a bit of a tourist trap.
They seem to have forgotten that I have lived an hour and a half from Orlando most of my life... I'm immune to tourist trap purchase trance.
What is tourist trap purchase trance you ask? Well, it's when you go to a tourist trap and buy a bunch of useless stuff you don't need. You get home with all your bags of new toys when you finally snap out of the trance and wonder.... What did I just do?
Oh yeah, we've all been there. I was confident I'd be okay though.
We arrived and OTS reminded me of a modernized Old West town... with oodles of shops, some restaurants and a candy store.
I got out of the car and the first thing I saw were the brochure booklets with Maps, a Directory and... a Dining Guide. A sure sign of a tourist trap... the ol' brochure booklet. I'm on to your game Old Town Scottsdale but I'll play along. I took a brochure.
We walked around peeking inside shops, browsing through a few, but never making eye contact for too long. Oh no... never make eye contact for too long or you're sure to get pulled into a buying frenzy. We gave the typical, "Oh just looking" response to the shop keeper hook question of, Can I help you find anything? We were doing great. Then came the pipe...
I slipped up in a Native American-y store. I saw this really cool looking pipe. It was shaped like an ax. I held it and my hand started trembling. I had to have it. It had feathers on it. And it was shaped like an ax. It was so cool.
So I bought a pipe... shaped like an ax... with feathers on it. I mean, c'mon, how many times in your life will you say that? I don't even smoke.
My verdict is that Old Town Scottsdale is pretty sweet. Although it's totally a tourist trap, it's also entertaining and a nice place to come walk around. I didn't try any of the restaurants on this trip but look forward to coming back. Next time with a little more will power.
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