Recently my family had the opportunity to plan a Staycation at the Point Hilton Squaw Peak. For those of you not familiar with the term staycation, it’s when you plan a vacation in your own town. You get a mini vacation but it is much more economical than leaving town. Here in Arizona, summer is the off-season for tourism, and so all nice hotels and resorts have awesome rates. I have never been to a resort before and I as a little anxious that us ‘regular folk’ might not fit in at a fancy resort. I was so wrong! All of the staff was so welcoming and friendly. There were a lot of families with small children like mine and us ‘regular folk’ were in the majority at the pool.
 
Speaking of the pool, I should really say pools! The Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak pretty much has it’s own water park called the River Ranch. There are multiple pools, a water slide, lazy river, waterfall, a hot tub, and that’s just inside the River Ranch. There are other pools on the property including a deeper pool for lap swimming in the fitness center. Here is my family enjoying the waterfall. 

I am also posting today on my other blog, East Valley Mom Guide. I encourage you to come over to hear about the great time we had at the resort and see how big our room was.  It was amazing.

I want to focus the rest of this post on the delicious food we ate while we were on our staycation. There are three different restaurants on the property: Rico’s American Grill, Slim Pickin’s, and Hole-in-the-Wall. Slim Pickin’s is actually inside the River Ranch and Hole-in-the-Wall is right next door. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to eat at Hole-in-the-Wall and try out their backyard feast.

The backyard feast is served family style and consists of a bottomless salad bowl, chicken, brisket, ribs, and two side dishes. You order it by the person, with a two person minimum.

My family of four had a two person backyard feast and it was plenty! We picked Macaroni and Cheese and steak fries as our sides. We knew the kids would like those the best. I have to say that the Macaroni and cheese was the best I have ever eaten in my life! It was seriously so delicious.
Once our plates were clean and the table was clear, the waitress walked out and put S’mores down in front of us! I had not been paying close enough attention to the menu, the Backyard Feast comes with do-it-yourself S’mores too.

My whole family loved it! We thought we were stuffed after the meal, but we managed to find the room for s’mores. 😉 I even have some photographic proof that I was there too.

After dinner we walked back to our room and found a great surprise. On a side note, we didn’t have to get in our car and drive anywhere the whole time. It was really nice that everything was in walking distance from our casita. While we were out the hotel staff and left us a fruit and cheese platter, some nice bottled water, AND cookies and milk. We also had a nice note from the Resort manager. We felt so welcome and special.

We were so stuffed, we put the fruit and cheese platter in our full size refrigerator for breakfast the next morning. We did manage to eat a few cookies and save the rest for the next day.

I want to go back to the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak so bad. We had such a great time as a family. My kids still talk about it on a daily basis and the whole time we were there they described it as the “best time ever.” The Pointe Hilton resorts are having a Suite Summer Getaway package starting at just $109 a night for the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak. These deals run through September 8, 2012 so there is plenty of time to plan your own trip to the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak.
For more information about the resort you can visit their website, Facebook page, or Twitter. Don’t forget to stop by East Valley Mom Guide to hear about the rest of my trip.

We had so much fun with those table-top s’mores that I will be showing you what we did with them once we got home.

Disclaimer:My family was provided with a complimentary stay at Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak as part of the staycation series on East Valley Mom Guide. All opinions and enthusiastic reactions are 100% my own.