Well, a state full of sun and heat, cacti and mountain clusters, sometimes you’d think you’re in Hawaii because of palm trees silhouetted in the background against the mountains. No rainforest though! It only rained three times in the last five months we’ve been in the area. It’s peaceful and sometimes ghost townish with few people out, sun faded old main streets, but many times, shockingly surprised, stepping in to find fashionably trendy coffee shops, bakeries and restaurants bustling inside. ? ! LOL. I guess Phoenix is in the middle of the dessert! Not a lot to do outside. Also neat are, hidden lounges themed of prohibition days below the street shops in various places around the city.
On a more serious note, I’ve never seen more police force, swatt teams or helicopters at day and night working the city. Constant daily shootings, stabbing, police brutality, missing people, wrecks or fires. Also, people dying from heat exposure on hikes?! And dog attacks. Sometimes people are really nasty from their vehicles too. Not a place I would feel safe living in. We did however, find done gems in the rough, some very kind people that we are thankful for and will miss.
Here is a little bit of Phoenix’s connecting cities we found ourselves in and things we enjoyed. Mostly a food blog!
Mesa
We were parked in Mesa. Many times we enjoyed the coffee shop down the street called “Pair.” They had Mexican beans there too. My favorite new drink was an iced chai bergamot coffee that the barista made special just for me when it was out of season. The coffee shop shared space with an apple cider brewery, “Cider Corps,” and a decent wood fired pizza place. Mikes Pizza. The “apple pie” cider is the best apple cider I’ve ever had. Yum.
Noah loves to sit in the coffee shop and do school while dad works.
Noah also enjoyed spending time at a community workshop down the street, called Heat Sync. His new hobby is building computers. Dad also used a laser cutter to custom cut a window attachment for a portable ac unit. We were thankful for that shop and the nice people volunteering to help there.
A bakery we enjoyed many times as well was, Proof Bread. They have delicious pastries, focaccia pizza and bread. All made from local grain grown in uncontaminated soil. Seriously, it just doesn’t get healthier than that and I am going to miss having it conveniently down the street. (Comparable to Maine grain and Standard bakery but no yeast, all sourdough.) I am sad to sad I didn’t take any picture of the bakery?!
This was a new hidden lounge in Mesa called, Alchemy 48. There are no signs. Rob read about it and knew what to do. You go to the back of an arcade building, down to the basement. Inside is a sort of lobby…the bookcase is the door to get in and you’ve stepped back in time. Yummy crafted drinks too. A really neat experience.
A short desert hike in the middle of the city called, Whole in the Rock. lol.
Gilbert
On this historic strip lined with shops and restaurants we found a neat, small concession, called Topo Arizona, serving Mexican style foods, brisket burritos, etc., and this unique ice cream, flavored, Prickly Pear and Lime dip that I think is a must try.
Chandler
After checking out the Saturday morning farmers market we checked out this cool coffee shop. Really enjoyed their toasted coconut iced coffee. Yum!
Hawaiian donuts from the farmers market.
Lastly, a couple restaurants worth noting are: Taco Chelo-I always get a rice and bean bowl and the shrimp tacos. The shrimp ceviche is nice too. They made great drinks too. Bacanora is a small, expensive place, but it’s a special treat in flavor profiles centered around food cooked over wood coals. Sicilian Butcher has great homemade pasta dishes and Bella Gusta has great napoleon pizza. Cheers!
Bacanora
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