Birthday Weekend - Tucson - June 2019

Ritz Carlton Tucson

This year, for our birthday weekend, we chose to head down to Tucson to burn some of Shawna's Marriott Points at the Ritz Carlton Dove Mountain.  The weekend turned out great - we spent our entire time at the hotel, enjoying the food, pool and spa!  The hotel is very nice, tucked away in a valley with beautiful views of the desert landscape and the staff are super friendly.  Since we had let them know in advance that we were celebrating our birthdays, we got lots of freebies - free drink at check-in, cake and champagne in our room, and extra wine and free dessert at one of our dinners!

Since we moved to Arizona, we had wanted to visit the airplane boneyard but it is only open on weekdays.  So, we decided to get tickets for the Friday afternoon and make it a half-day at work.  We made it to Pima Air and Space Museum in a couple of hours, ready for the 2pm tour.  There were only 18 of us on the bus, which took about 10 minutes to get to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base where we were screened before crossing through the base to the boneyard.  The boneyard stores about 4,000 military aircraft to be regenerated in the future or used for parts for other planes.  There are 400 C-130s in the boneyard as well as several C-5 Galaxys, the largest US military cargo plane.  A guide narrated the tour and gave us color on each of the planes.  The tour took about 1:45, at which time we returned to the museum and then drove north 40 minutes to the hotel.

Airplane Boneyard Davis-Monthan Air Force Base

An upgraded room was not quite ready at check-in so the hotel offered us complimentary cocktails in the lounge while we waited for the room.  Both the front desk clerk and the waiter knew it was our birthday weekend, as did almost every person who interacted with us over the weekend.  After our room was ready, we had a quick shower and then went down for the wine experience.  That night was Italian wines, with the sommelier hosting the event at the bar.  Three other couples were there as well - we chatted with one of them (an air force pilot and his wife) the most.  The sommelier poured extra wine for us since it was our birthday and then we bought a bottle which we shared with two of the other couples (one of the couples had already left).  That night, we had dinner at Ignite out on the patio, sharing edamame, sashimi and a few sushi rolls.  For dessert, we had some of the cake that they had brought to us in our room after we checked in.

One of our 'freebies'

After sleeping in on Saturday, we grabbed a quick breakfast from the To Go market and then headed down to the pool to settle into the cabana that we had rented for the day.  The cabanas were located down by the children's pool so we took the one all the way on the end so we would not have to hear as many children screaming! The cabana came with several amenities: two free drinks, sunscreen, water, water bottles and several other things we didn't use.  While it was nice to have our own space, we decided that it was not really needed since this is a slower time of year.  We had lunch at our lounge chairs, sharing nachos, tacos and a salad.  The nachos were very tasty!

Our cabana for the day

In the afternoon, we each had 80 minute massages which Shawna really enjoyed and Keith said his was average.  The spa is very nice with all the expected amenities.  After our massage, we went back to the pool and hung out in the adult pool, enjoying adult beverages and chatting with the couple we had met the night before along with some other couples who were there.  After cleaning up, we had dinner at Core Kitchen and Wine Bar where we shared yummy avocado and skillet cornbread appetizers and a pork tenderloin for an entree.  We were comped dessert and a glass of port -  we shared the sticky toffee pudding which was yummy!

Dinner at Core Kitchen and Wine Bar

On Sunday, we grabbed breakfast again at the To Go market and then went to the pool to relax for a half day.  We then had lunch at Ignite, sharing the tostado and tamale which were both very good.  After lunch, we cleaned up, checked out and then drove home.