The air-conditioning is going full blast as Justin, Mike and I speed down I-10 away from the Sky Harbour airport. Unlike 70% of our plane, we didn't come to Phoenix to play golf. Drew, one of our best friends, and my favourite travel buddy, is getting married this weekend. We've come to make certain he enjoys every last minute of bachelordom.

I've been to Phoenix before and my first impressions were dashed long ago. Far from being an inhabitable outdoor sauna, the fifth-largest U.S. city is a paradise of palm trees, golf courses, 5-star resorts and, frankly, beautiful people. The official records indicate that 300-days of sun bathe Phoenix year-round. No wonder everyone was so friendly.

In-N-Out Burger is our first stop. I just had to expose Mike and Justin to the best burger on the face of the earth. This California burger chain has been serving cooked-to-order burgers since 1948 and obviously perfected the art. One animal-style burger later, we check into the Scottsdale SpringHill Suites and quickly throw on shorts and short-sleeves. The desert beckons.

That night, we exhaust the best that Mill Avenue in Tempe has to offer for Drew's bachelor party. And that's about as much as I'm willing to say about that... If you do happen to get near "Mill-Av" in Tempe, however, pay the $3 cover for The Big Bang, a dueling-piano bar. This underground drinking hole is not the typical piano bar of weepy divorcées and interminable melodies.

We spend most of the weekend laughing and enjoying the activities that Drew planned for us. But I can't help but notice how beautiful everything is; especially in Scottsdale where things are not just beautiful, they're swanky too. I never knew a strip mall could look so good (see picture above). On Saturday evening, we eat at Ra, one of my favourite Phoenix sushi restaurants. Young and hip, the restaurant caters to us -- the young and hip. One waitress, serving a couple tables over, wears a shirt with the motto: "Practice Safe Sushi." And that we did -- my custom fallback at Ra is the "Tootsie Roll," a crab mix roll topped with tempura flakes and drizzled with eel sauce. Life could definitely be worse.

We top the night off, just as we did every other night in the Valley of the Sun, lounging by the pools, puffing on imported cigars and discussing the next chapters in our lives. We are happy that Drew has found someone to share his life with. Now... what about us?