The morning came and went as Jason and I caught up on sleep. When we did wake, our bodies ached from visiting the Canyon. Being sore, however, won't stop us from adventuring or exploring. Today we would explore Tempe! We were very excited.
After showering, we looked at the map of restaurants and decided to eat lunch at Fresh Med (Turkish food). It was within walking distance, so we set out on the street to find it. Jason said he had seen it the night before and was somewhat familiar with where it was. We arrived right after they had just opened. Below are pictures of our delicious food:
Jason's Iskender Kabab:
My Chicken Kabab:
Our baklava with ice cream:
The food was just delicious! After paying our bill, we decided to walk around the town of Tempe and check out the cute stores. We went into an Indian store and browsed a bit. The man behind the counter showed us these small wooden animals that held a wooden stick in its mouth. They were a sort of musical instrument that made the sound of the animal it was made to look like. I picked up the frog and he told me to pull the stick out of the frog's mouth. Then I was instructed to rub the stick over the frog's bumpy back--it sounded just like the croak of a frog! He then picked up the dolphin and blew into its mouth, making the noise of a dolphin! They also sold clothes, bags, and other knickknacks. After a few minutes we left and then headed back to the hotel to plan our day.
We decided on visiting Desert Botanical Garden. A friend said it was worth the visit and we weren't sure what else to do, so we gave it a go. While driving, we stumbled across huge rock formations that fascinated me. They were so large and look like lumpy mountains. Many of them had holes in them as well. As we drove past these rocks, we noticed that small specks of people could be seen standing in some of the holes. We thought it might be fun to climb up those ourselves, but it was extremely hot today (96 degrees). We just admired them from afar instead:
Finally at the Gardens. We paid for our tickets and made our way inside. It was extremely hot and we had zero water or hats this time. We decided to pop into the gift shop to see if there were drinks or something we could use for shade. They sold mostly trinkets so we left empty handed. Jason, however, did find a vending machine that sold water. We purchased two bottles and made our way through the gardens. They were very wise when designing this place. They created many shaded areas to rest and had numerous water fountains throughout the area. Jason and I weaved through the different paths and were amazed by all the plants. I had never seen cacti this large or plants this... spiky! It was beautiful and amazing. It was an endless maze of paths that all connected and ran into each other. We weren't sure we could finish visiting each area, but we did. We also came across some really, really adorable prairie dogs, which I originally thought were chipmunks because they were so small! Below are pictures of our trip:
Cute little animal!
So huge!! I asked Jason to stand in between so we could remember how large they are. The pictures don't do them justice!
As we made our way to the middle back of the garden, we stumbled across a butterfly exhibit. We were lucky because it was the last day they would have it. It was a large tent set up in an open field. We went in and were reminded of Calloway Garden's butterfly house. Here are some pictures:
After the butterfly house, we made our way to the other side of the garden. At this point, we were getting overheated. Jason was starting to feel dehydrated and tired, so we took a break and had a seat in the shade for a little while. Then we set back out to see the rest of it:
We went through the rest of the gardens rather quickly, as we were so hot and tired. As we left we stumbled across these glass sculptures by Chihuly! We love his work, but these were rather special:
Once in the car, Jason gets a text from a friend of ours that's from Arizona. He saw that I posted a picture of the gardens on facebook and told us to purchase Cactus Candy if we were still there. They apparently sell it in the gift shop. Although we already left, we weren't far. Jason offered to run in and grab us some. We then tasted it and took pictures of it, because that's what we do:
It was SO good! We're really glad he texted us! After the gardens, we were a bit tired and worn out from the heat and walking. We made our way back to the hotel. I did take this random picture because I thought it was so weird! I've never seen stop lights like these before:
Once back, Jason asked me to look at his neck to see how badly sunburned he was from our time out. Well...
After resting a bit at the hotel, we realized we needed some food. We both wanted to try Whataburger and In and Out while in town. Everyone always talks about these two places and we wanted to see what all the hype was about. We got a burger and fry from each place and split it to compare. We decided we liked Wendy's better (although In and Out was pretty good):
After sampling the food, we drove around town for a while and got gas at a nearby Quicktrip that we were surprised to see. I noticed every home had a carport instead of a garage. I also realized that tons of buildings had awnings on them. In Georgia awnings make no sense because of the humidity, here they made perfect sense! Now I can understand why people say they enjoy the shade! It never made sense until just now.
Jason and I headed back to the hotel and tried to find something else to do. Unfortunately, by this point most things were closing. So, we decided to check out the sunset on a nearby roof. The one thing I have always heard about Arizona was how beautiful the sunsets are. Jason noticed this rather large parking garage and recommended we take the elevator to the top to see the skyline. We did and his suggestion was prefect. I have to say, I'm very thankful to have a husband who was willing to stand on the roof of an unknown building with me, especially when I know sunsets aren't really his thing. It was very sweet and very pretty. Below are pictures:
Pictures of the town:
The sunset:
We then went back to the hotel and relaxed. Above all else, rest and food was on the list today. That Grand Canyon really took it out of us, and with each step I could feel defeat in my muscles. After a while, we decided to get dinner. We always try to eat BBQ when in different states to compare it with Georgia's. We found a place called Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que. At first we thought it was an original BBQ joint in Arizona, but come to find out it's a chain. Still pretty good though. Below are pictures:
Handsome:
My favorite thing about this place is the outside eating area. We sat under twinkly lights and felt the cool breeze roll in. In the picture in the bottom, you can almost see the water sprinklers they rigged up to the awning. In Georgia this would only make things more humid, but here it cooled us off and felt really refreshing. It was a lovely dinner. After dinner we rested back at the hotel and eventually decided to go walking around Tempe a little. We stumbled across an ice cream shop named Sparky's Old Town Creamery and decided to give it a go:
While there, two small children sat next to us on a bench. They were extremely excited about their ice cream. They really took to Jason and continually offered him a taste of their ice cream cones. He responded by pointing back at the kids and telling them they should eat it. The kids would laugh and then offer him another bite while pointing at him. Eventually their parents told them to sit quietly and eat their own cones. It was adorable and very generous of them. The little girl's mouth was covered in chocolate ice cream as it dripped toward the edge of her chin. So cute! After finishing our dessert, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.
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