. "23"^^ . "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. \n\nThey 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. \n\nWhat 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? \n\nOh yeah, we've all been there. I was confident I'd be okay though. \n\nWe arrived and OTS reminded me of a modernized Old West town... with oodles of shops, some restaurants and a candy store. \n\nI 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. \n\nWe 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...\n\nI 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.\n\nSo 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. \n\nMy 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."^^ . "4"^^ . "2013-08-07T00:00:00"^^ . . "7"^^ . "5"^^ . .