Food, Fitness, & Fun in All 50 States

Ahhhh I’ve been a slacker on here again lately. We have been on several road trips though so I feel like all I have time for is cleaning house, laundry, packing…and of course lots of fun. But I’m back! We are on our final 5 weeks here in Sarasota (can you believe it?!) and we both have family coming to visit, but we are done with big road trips so hopefully I will have more time to write again.

To remind you were I left off last, I was telling you about a road trip we took while living in Phoenix in Northern AZ. Our first day of the trip we visited Meteor Crater then Lava River Cave and then headed back to our hotel to clean up for dinner. We stayed at the Grand Canyon Holiday Inn Express that night which I must say was a bit shabby compared to many others we have stayed in. It was fine though for a safe, clean place to sleep. Just not the best Holiday Inn we have stayed at.

The city of Grand Canyon, AZ is very small with mostly locally owned type of restaurants. We asked the front desk person at the hotel for dinner recommendations and they said there was pretty much only two places in town worth eating at. I had looked on Yelp for restaurant reviews in the area, but there were none with good reviews. So, we went with the suggestion of Sophie’s Mexican Kitchen that was very close to the hotel since it was late and we were exhausted.

Let me just start this review by saying we really wish we would have just picked up a bag of chips and 6 pack at the gas station for dinner instead of wasting our money on this place. The service was terrible and the food was even worse. And that’s coming from somebody that would eat Mexican food every single day if I could keep from gaining weight!

First off: they charge $2.00 for each basket of chips after 2…how annoying. I mean 2 baskets were plenty for 2 of us, but still. Then, the “bowl” of cheese dip was the biggest rip off ever. It was served in a 2 oz plastic ramekin (you know the size of plastic cups they put salad dressing in to-go, and then there is the bigger size that is equal to 2 of those?). So $5 for the tiniest serving of cheese dip that was literally cheese sauce they serve on nachos at the movie theater…really?! Disgusting and a rip off!

For dinner, Skyler ordered the Steak Mexicano: a 12 oz sirloin with 2 cheese enchiladas and rice and beans. He wasn’t impressed. And look how un-appetizing that plate looks anyway – wilted lettuce, filthy place…yuck!

I got a combo plate with a ground beef enchilada, pork tamale, chicken tostada, rice, and beans. It was gross. Not one thing on the plate was good and I left most of it.

So, like I said, it’s a small town with limited options. But who cares right…I mean you’re at the Grand Canyon! My advice would be to skip the restaurant route though and just pack sandwiches or snacks. And get excited for an awesome adventure the next day…