To celebrate my retirement my best friend and I made plans to go someplace sunny and warm in February. We chose Phoenix, where the average last frost is mid February, but sunny days and warm temperatures typically prevail. You might know the dates we picked are not too warm. When we landed it was sunny and mild--upwards of 50's but they were below freezing this morning. Tomorrow rain is predicted--which they are in short supply of, but we won't let that stop us. We dressed and packed accordingly.
Our flight was EARLY--we had to be at the airport at 5:10 a.m. I was amazed at how many people were up and about at that time! We were supposed to arrive in Phoenix by 11 a.m., but the second leg of our flight got delayed in Dallas and we didn't leave there until 11:30. Our delay gave us time for a tasty breakfast.
We arrived without further incident in Phoenix by 1 p.m. their time (2 p.m. our time). We rented our car and hit the road. Once we checked into the hotel we were back out on the road heading to Gilbert, Arizona the site of the Farm at Agritopia.
This farm has a long history, but today is a working urban farm with restaurants, winery, shops and a large community garden.
Every Wednesday night, they have a farmers market, so we decided to start our journey here, and we are glad we did.
There were many quaint restaurants, local beers and wines. We decided to eat a quick snack before shopping and touring the gardens. The community garden had numerous plots, with a lot of cool season vegetables growing, but flowers and citrus trees as well. We weren't sure if this was a grapefruit or a Ponderosa Lemon.
By 5 p.m. the farmers market was open selling everything from vegetables (and some really interesting ones like black radishes
and Romanesco)
They also sold some of their local products including bread, sauces and condiments, candy, coffee and tea and candles. The people were delightful.
We also did a wine tasting at the local winery. You got to try six different wines. I have been to other wine tastings but never had them served in test tubes! It was clever, interesting and some were quite tasty.
We made some purchases at the market before heading back to our hotel. It is still early here, but we have had a full, long day so an early night is just what we need. We have big plans for the next few days.