When we see Pinnacle Peak rising in the distance from the road, we know we're not far from the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North. The craggy ridges and salmon colored slopes of the area's signature mountain seem to pull us along, welcoming us to the high Sonoran desert. Pinnacle Peak, rising 2,889 feet above sea level, forms the backdrop to the AAA Five Diamond Resort.

Upon arrival, the doorman offers us bottled water or prickly pear ice tea, both welcome after our drive. In the room, chocolate chip cookies and juice greet children.

Size matters. Among Scottsdale's many hotel choices, we appreciate the low-key ambiance of this medium size resort whose 210 guest accommodations spread out in one to three storey casitas that dot the 40-acre property. On the ride to our room via golf cart, we pass saguaro and barrel cactus as well as ocotillo and palo verde trees. In the morning and evenings, my daughter and I play a game of counting the many brown rabbits hopping and sniffing their way through the plantings.

Staying at the Four Seasons Scottsdale we feel as if we are guests at an exclusive spread, a heritage that dates to the property's development in the 1940's as the Crescent Moon Ranch, a private estate built with cottages for friends by cereal heiress Lois Kellogg Maury. In 1967 developer Charles Ingebritson purchased the property. The Four Seasons Resort opened in December 1999.

The upscale resort offers a low-key oasis with first-class service plus many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors with your family, not the least of which is taking a guided hike up Pinnacle Peak. Golfers also like the property, dubbed a "Top 10 U.S. Golf Resort" by Travel & Leisure Golf. Tom Weiskopf led the renovation of both of Troon North's course. The Pinnacle and the Monument golf courses reopened in 2007. In March 2008, the golf complex debuted the Callaway Golf Performance Center, one of only 10 such high-tech teaching facilities in the U.S.

In January 2008, the resort completed an 18-month, $17.5 million renovation. The make-over added comfortable couches to the lobby, a new wall of glass in Talavera, the fine dining restaurant and room upgrades.

Pinnacle Peak dominates the view during the day, but at night my daughter and I like to admire the twinkling lights of the Scottsdale/Phoenix valley some 1000+ feet below or simply relax on our patio and admire the stars.

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