This is a trip report from our visit to the Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, AZ. For those of you who know me from the SXM forum, the detail of this report won’t be surprising; but for those who don’t, let me preface it by saying that I write these reports as a journal for myself, and post them in the hopes that they may help others who are considering a similar trip. If you aren’t interested in a lot of detail, then stop reading now…. if you are…enjoy!

David and I decided we weren’t going to do much for each other for Christmas this year, since we’re moving sometime soon and didn’t want to have a whole lot of stuff to pack up. He’s been talking about going to a Barrett-Jackson auction someday, and since this is their 40th anniversary I thought, why not? I purchased the tickets online, printed them and wrapped them up. He was completely shocked on Christmas morning.

As I had purchased tickets for the entire 7-day event (cheaper that way, and gave us the option of going whenever we wanted), we decided we didn’t want to miss anything. We flew out on the Sunday before the event, and returned on the following Monday. We were able to upgrade all legs of our flights using FF miles on US Airways, and the flights were uneventful and on time. The flight out was pretty bumpy, but nothing over the top, and the scenery was absolutely fabulous the entire way. It’s been well over 20 years since I’ve been west of the Mississippi, and I was just amazed at the different look of the terrain from the plane. And there sure was a lot of snow on the ground!

Once we picked up our rental car we turned on the gps to guide us to our hotel. Unfortunately there was a marathon going on in Scottsdale Sunday, and the road we needed to take was completely blocked. No matter what we tried “Rosie” (our gps’s name because she sounds like the housekeeper on the Jetsons) insisted that we head back to that road, so finally we found a nice policeman to direct us around the road closures, along with everyone else in Scottsdale who didn’t want to be there either. Nearly two hours after our plane landed we finally arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn in Old Town Scottsdale, and checked into our room. We had booked through Expedia, and everything was exactly as advertised.

The realtor who is listing our house has a friend who has connections at the auction, and he got us tickets to the Opening Night Gala as well as two days in the Muscle Lounge Skybox at the event. Both are by invitation only so we were incredibly grateful for those perks! After we dumped our luggage at the hotel, we drove to his hotel to pick up the passes which he had left for us at the front desk.

After we got back we decided to walk into Old Town to look around and get an early dinner. We’d been up since 4 AM (2AM mountain time) and were hungry and wearing down. The hotel recommended the Italian Grotto, which was excellent. David had the baked stuffed cannelloni, and I had halibut piccata. Both were fabulous. We took the long way back to the hotel, found a grocery store to pick up a bottle of wine, and headed to the Jacuzzi by the pool at the hotel. The water was fabulously hot and the contrast with the cool night air was wonderfully relaxing. We managed to stay awake until almost 9 PM.

Monday brought a beautiful sunrise outside the window of our sixth floor room. The mountains here are orange, and it was so pretty! After complimentary breakfast at the hotel we headed over to the auction venue to scope things out. Our plan was to only stay a short while so that we could get our bearings for the Gala tonight, but that changed the minute we got there. This thing is like nothing I have ever experienced! It’s huge, and filled with all sorts of vendors and sponsors from cars to helicopters to airplanes, to jewelry, tools, art, collectibles, clothing….you name it. Of course, all the cars that are to be auctioned throughout the week are there too. David participated in the GM driving experience, and took a hot lap in a corvette while I watched. At first I thought a week was going to be way too long, but now I’m concerned we won’t be able to see and do everything we want to while we’re here.

The Gala began at 7 PM, and we were right on time. The place was jam packed with people. A great band played the entire night, and the tiny dance floor was jammed almost the entire time. Food stations from various local restaurants were set up all around the auction hall, each with different small plates. As time wore on the lines got pretty long, but moved quickly enough. Of course the bar lines were longer than the food lines, but that didn’t keep me from enjoying a couple glasses of wine more than I should have. At least I didn’t end up prone on the dance floor like one young lady dancing near us!

Tuesday was our first full day at Barrett-Jackson, and we were fortunate to have been given passes to the Muscle Lounge Skybox. It was a great place to watch the action away from the crowds, and the food and drink were plentiful all day. We spent plenty of time in the box, as well as just walking around the venue inside and out. By about 5 we’d had enough after traveling and partying, and headed back to our room for an early night.

Wednesday we decided to take a day away from the auction, and drove around the countryside looking for scenery. It’s not hard to find here, and we ended up on the Apache Trail at Canyon Lake. We considered renting a boat, but decided just to drive the length of the trail instead. Unfortunately one section was closed due to the heavy rains they’ve experienced this winter, so we weren’t able to traverse the entire length. We stopped at Tortilla Flat and had a couple of beers and some chips and salsa while chatting with their entertaining bartender, Karen, AKA The Sheriff. The bar stools are saddles, and the walls of the place are covered entirely with dollar bills. Wednesday evening we walked into Old Town and had dinner at a little Mexican bar/resto.

Thursday is back to Barrett-Jackson. Unfortunately without the benefit of skybox passes, we are forced to huddle with the riff-raff. No worries, we still have a fabulous time, finding seats in the bleachers right at the end of the stage where we are able to clearly see the cars driving off. The weather is so great that we’re able to spend plenty of time outdoors wandering around and looking at all the cars, and then come back inside when we get too hot. Nice to be too hot in January!

Friday is another sightseeing day, and at the recommendation of TTOLers we head to Sedona and a Pink Jeep Tour. It’s about a two hour drive from Scottsdale to Sedona, and the scenery is beautiful on the way up there. I was completely amazed when we kept climbing up this seemingly endless mountain, to arrive at a completely flat expanse of what looked like pasture land at the top. The flat grassy land went on forever before we finally turned and headed into Sedona. The red cliffs are absolutely gorgeous and unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. Our jeep tour (Broken Arrow) took us off the roads and right up into the cliffs. Even though the ride was pretty rough, the seats were quite comfortable. Our driver made the tour extremely enjoyable and exciting; at one point it seemed as if we were going to hurtle right off the edge of a cliff, but of course, we stopped in plenty of time, and it really wasn’t the edge of a cliff anyway! I highly recommend the Pink Jeep tours if you’re in Sedona. After the tour we had lunch in the Silver Spur Café at the Cowboy Club restaurant. Of course we had to try a Cactus-tini, a martini sweetened with prickly pear cactus juice, which was pretty tasty. David’s chipotle grilled chicken was delicious and served with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus. I ordered the grilled salmon sandwich without the bun, and it was served with delicious peanut cilantro slaw and shoestring fries. After a two hour drive back to Scottsdale, we decided on cheese and crackers in the room for dinner.

Saturday is the big day at Barrett-Jackson, and again we were fortunate enough to have skybox passes. We decided that we would stay until the auction ended, so opted for valet parking (which had been $10 for the gala). When we got up to the valet entrance, the sign posted the cost was $30! No worry, since we had been given the skybox passes and I had already purchased our event tix before then, I offered our tix to the guys in the car behind us. Even though I sold them our two tickets for the price of one, it paid for our valet parking and they got in for less than half price...everyone’s happy! The day was fabulous, with lots of great cars crossing the block. The highlight was the auction of Brett Michaels’ Camaro, which brought $200,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, and was followed by individual donations totaling an additional $250,000, for a total of $450,000 donated to charity. The charity auctions are definitely the most fun to watch. We managed to stay almost until the last hammer, but unfortunately left before Alice Cooper drove his car onto the block. You just never know what’s going to happen next.

Sunday we went back to Barrett-Jackson for the final day of the auction, and for us it was the most fun. We had no special passes, so just sat where we could find seats, and since a lot of the bidders had left, the back section of the floor seats was open from the beginning. After a couple of hours, the security guys left the floor (they do this en masse, with a great flourish), allowing us to sit even closer; and about an hour after that the announcement was made that we could sit anywhere we wanted, as long as we moved if the “owner” of the seat we occupied returned. We eventually ended up in the front row, in the seats that had been occupied by Rick Hendrick and his guests. Yes, we did take that sticker off the seat when we left! It was so much fun to see the auction so close up, with folks sitting just across the aisle bidding on cars. We got a couple of autographs (Spanky and Amy, for those of you familiar with Barrett-Jackson; and they are two of the nicest people I’ve ever met. We actually carried on a nice conversation with each of them while they signed our book). You can see how much they love what they do; in fact it shows in everyone involved with the event.

Sunday evening we walked into Old Town and had a pizza at Grimaldi’s…excellent! They serve NY style pizza cooked in a coal-fired brick oven, and they place was packed.

Assuming our return flights will be uneventful, I’m posting the report now. I hope everyone enjoys reading about it as much as we enjoyed experiencing it!