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ranchandcoast.com 70 JANUARY 2025 RANCH & COAST MAGAZINE Appropriately, we dressed lightly for everything — spa visits, excellent Old Town dinner spots, and a couple highly recommended non-spa stops. I'm trumpeting the highly impressive Musical Instrument Museum. It's a world-class museum with 15,000 instruments, international displays, and a floor full of exhibits featuring American musical legends ranging from Johnny Cash to Taylor Swift. It's enthralling. Also, if you're brave, buckle up for a three-hour Desert Wolf Tour. It's a challenging, wildly invigorating, self-driven guided tour of the Sonoran Desert in a military-grade dune buggy. After the excursion, you'll be proud of yourself — and ready for a massage. Quick fun fact: Scottsdale is a test market for driverless rideshares. One night, we opted out of Uber and chose a Waymo. ese all- electric Jaguar I-PACE cars have no human being behind the steering wheel. Completing an uneventful driverless car ride made us minor celebrities in the porte cochère when we arrived at our hotel. In the 1950s, Hotel Valley Ho was a hideaway for Hollywood celebs like Bing Crosby, Tony Curtis, and Zsa Zsa Gabor. e 241-room property was recently restored to yesteryear splendor. Its splashy colors, straight lines, and right angles are an eye-catching example of mid-century modern architecture. W hat happens to you after four straight days of spa services? You could go soft. Or, daily massage might make your muscles, skeleton, and lymphatic system exponentially stronger. is is what I intended to find out in Scottdale, Arizona. Beforehand, I was a tad perplexed. I'm just an occasional spa guy. A massage is a welcome treat but afterward I can't wait to wash off oily salves. Not the same story for my wife, Jules. She would gladly volunteer for 40 days of spa treatments and enjoy the smell of sage, juniper, and cedar on her body 24/7. With more than 50 luxury resorts and day spas, Scottsdale is unofficially considered the spa capital of the United States. Good thing spa-hopping is an indoor activity. In the summer of 2024, Scottsdale experienced 113 straight days of triple-digit temperatures. Serendipitously, we arrived on September 17, the day the streak ended. Locals unanimously reminded us how lovely it was to live in a low-90s world. (In late fall and winter, Scottsdale daily highs fall to the mid-70s and upper-60s.) PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF EXPERIENCE SCOTTSDALE Sun & Spa I spent four days of massage table hopping in Scottsdale. Here's what you knead to know BY RON DONOHO