Plants and fruits, Mexican food and BBQ

Another nice and sunny day started out with a visit and tour at True Garden Urban Farm. This is a quite unusual vertical urban farm which produces healthy organic food using no soil and sell it on their farmers market and to restaurants. Plants are grow nin the solar-powered True Garden greenhouse, but they also sell "growing towers" (see pic), a clever system of towers with water being sprinkled on the roots of plants growing in little holes with coconut-shell substrate avoiding insects and such. E.g. salads or peas or herbs can be harvested several times. Owner and compound pharmacist Troy Albright, PhD can grow up to an acre of fresh vegetables using 1/10 of the land and a fraction of the water.

Arizona has deep roots in the citrus industry and in Mesa, farmers began planting citrus crops in the late 1800s. The Orange Patch is a fourth-generation operation and we met with the owner, who not only showed us the process of picking and sorting, but also explained "taste fashions" and the different varieties of citrus fruit. In the store, where they sell all their produce, visitors can taste different fruits. In summer they switch to squash, melons and other annual fruit.

Jalapeno Bucks is situated between citrus groves, too. The family serves hearty meals in huge portions on their covered patio, outside. Best is the home-made salsas in different varietions, e.g. mango, which are also sold to customers in quarts and pints.

Mesa Arts Center - now in downtown Mesa - is a modern complex for performing arts, visual arts, and arts education , the largest and most comprehensive arts center in the state of Arizona. At the same time it's sort of a central gathering and event space on Main Street where every kind of culture – from art exhibitions to performances to studios for art education - is offered. The design and color scheme reflects the Sonoran Desert. The campus includes four theaters, Contemporary Arts’ galleries and exhibition space,classrooms and a plaza.

Arizona Museum of Natural History. our next stop, is proud of “Dinosaur Mountain” - the largest (mechanized) dinosaur exhibit west of the Mississippi River. Also presented are Hohokam Indian dwellings and a re-creation of the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine. Paradise for dino-lovers and worth-seeing fassade of the building!

At the end of an interesting day, we went for a downtown stroll - notice the street car which runs straight into Phoenix! - with stops at the Book Gallery and at Milano Music. Never have seen such a music store before! It started in 1946 as an accordion studio and became a huge, one-of-a-kind showroom and repair facility.






Time to eat again: Dinner at Rancho de Tia Rosa (pics above) – a traditional Mexican hacienda. Loved their Margaritas and had a filling meal of typical Mexican food. Last stop: 12 West Brewing Tap Room & Restaurant for a final IPA.

"Visit Mesa Limitless"

Mesa is a city located about 20 miles (32 km) east of Phoenix with a population of about half a million. Though it's a city of it's own technically, the whole Greater Phoenix area melts together and it is huge and spread out! Only today we drove 105 mi. just to get to few different points on the so-called "Fresh Foody Trail", which is the main focus of our visit.

Nobody would really expect farms, citrus, peach and olive plantations, veggie gardens and wineries in this urban area. To support family farms and family-owned restaurants and other places in and around Mesa, which are providing and using a bounty of seasonal goods year-round, and, to promote them to visitors were main goals by creating this Foodie Trail.






Our first stop this morning for a delicious breakfast-meeting with Visit Mesa was Queen Creek Olive Mill Arizona’s only family-owned and operated working olive mill and farm. Olives are grown and pressed for the production of high quality extra virgin olive oil. Also, a lot oils are infused with natural other ingredients, like lemon oil, orange or rosmary, and there are fancy vinegars as well. The shop and café, all in one building, carry produce of different other producers in the area, like honey, flour or baking goods.

Schnepf Farms offers "Agritainment", entertainment for everybody in different implementations. As a fourth-generation working family farm it is mostly known for its many events year-round and its organic U-PICK garden with a selection of seasonal produce. Especially popular are the peaches (right now in bloom, see pic). Also, one of the owners renovated old Airstream RVs, which can be booked for overnight stays at The Cozy Peach (pic below).

Horseshoe Park and Equestrian Center, our next stop, is a large equestrian event center and we were fortunate: extra for us, they had set up a Cowboy Mountain Shooting presentation with participants of the competition taking place on the next weekend. What a treat! Have only seen this sport on TV before, it's to some degree similar to Barrel Racing, just with shooting involved.

Agritopia, in neighboring Gilbert/AZ, is the utopic brainchild of a guy by name Jim Johnston. Where Joe’s Farm Grill, a ‘60s-era diner, is situated today, there was originally the homestead of the Reber Family (1927). In 1960, Jim and his wife purchased the farm and built a home. The Johnstons operated the florishing farm, and by the late 1990s the vision of "Agritopia" was born. Collaborating with a land planner, landscape architects, the Town of Gilbert, and community developers they came up with a community surrounding urban farmland, a place where people live, work, eat, shop, create, and come together. (Organic) farming still is the backbone of Agritopia. Lots of different veggies and fruit are being grown and sold in the farm store, on farmers markets and to restaurants throughout Greater Phoenix. Also, there is a community garden (pic below), where we chatted with one of the garden owners, and a chicken coop in the center, a coffee shop and Barnone, a craftsman community including Garage-East micro-winery (had a tasting there, on pic), 12 West Brewing, restaurants, retail and more. For lunch we enjoyed great BBQ at Joe's - the portion on the pic was for one person!

By the way: Arizona is up & coming in the American wine industry (Garage-East Winery and one of the owners on the photo). Grapes mostly come from southern AZ, the Sonoita or Wilcox region. And, they got good breweries in the meantime, too. After our Agritopia tour and after a quick stop at the Outlet Center at Chandler ("quick" here, in general, means like a 10-20 mi drive and 1/2 hour of time in dense traffic), we stopped by at Beer Research Institute (what a name!) with at least half a dozen of different IPAs (also a hazy, a dark and a red IPA).

Then we drove through downtown Mesa and back to the hotel with a stop at closeby Riverview Park (pic below).

Deserts and Mountains - Welcome to Arizona!

Flights to the mainland were smooth and on time, nevertheless, didn't sleep and lost a full night's sleep. Got our rental car (a new Nissan Versa - seems like we are stuck with Nissan this time: Rogue, Sentra, Versa,,,) and drove from Phoenix Airport directly east, into the impressive Superstition Mountains. What a change: desert-like landscape now, rugged mountains instead of rainforest, volcanos and ocean, dry air and cacti, crazy drivers and 12 lane traffic. And, much cooler at arrival, only about 60 deg. F., but warming up to about 80 deg. during the day.

Fresh air and vistas is what visitors (and many motorists) get on the scenic Apache Trail, U.S. Route 88. This road through the Superstition Mountains and Tonto National Forest winds in narrow curves with switchbacks and on one-lane bridges. It starts just east of Mesa and was more than a century ago built to provide access to the Roosevelt Dam construction site. Completed in 1905, the trail is named for the Apache Native Americans who helped pave the path.

The first attraction on the way is Superstition Mountain Museum with gold mining artifacts connected to the nearby Lost Dutchman Mine. Next stop: Goldfield Ghost Town (pics below), more of a family fun destination, a collection of old wood buildings in an old silver and gold mining community. A general store, cactus shop, bakery, photo studio, saloon/steakhouse, a narrow-gauge train ride, horseback rides, a gold mine tour, gold panning and a zip-line are offered, too. And, it was extremely crowded due to President's Day!

We didn't have time, but would have loved to go on a hike at Lost Dutchman State Park, where several trails lead into the Superstition Wilderness and Tonto National Forest. Named after the fabled lost gold mine, it is located in the Sonoran Desert, at the base of the Superstition Mountains.

It became even curvier on the way to Canyon Lake (felt like a racecar driver and would have gotten sick if not driving), one of four lakes created in 1925 when the Salt River was dammed. It's used for recreation, too, and especially boating on the lake - unfortunately, also with noisy motor boats - is popular. We had a 90-min. tour on the Dolly Steamboat - together with many retired "snowbirds" - and saw plenty of bighorn sheep.

Tortilla Flat is where the paved road ends, located two miles east of Canyon Lake, is an Old West-style village with gift shop, ice cream/candy store, museum and Superstition Restaurant & Saloon. Tortilla Flat is often called the “last surviving stagecoach stop on the Apache Trail", because it has started out as a stagecoach stop in 1904.

Checked in the Sheraton at Wrighleyville in Mesa at 5 pm, one of these typical "brown-beige, no windows to open" modern business hotels. Had burgers and a beer at the hotel's sports bar and called it a (looong) day. What a change to the days before, in every regard!

A hui hou Hawai'i - good-bye Hawai'i!

I love Uber. First, you always know the exact fare in advance - no need to watch the meter nervously ticking in traffic jams or detours of the driver. Second, fares changes depending on number of requests/time of the day, etc. and if you have time (like we had) you can pick the right moment on the app and get a cheap transfer. Third, drivers are usually interesting people. This evening we had a Navy soldier from Oregon, stationed at Pearl Harbor, who is earning some pocket money as a driver on the side. He has already put in ten years of service and plans for another ten till retirement.
Of course, we arrived early at Honolulu Airport, at around 8 pm for a 10:50 pm departure for LAX. Being so used to the hectic and grumpiness in other airports, it's so relaxed, friendly, airy here, no crazy hustling and bustling. Helps a lot.

Our last day on Hawai'i we spent lazily on the beach. Would be a nice custom, by the way, to spend each Sunday on a different beach,,,



In the morning we had cleverly calculated the weight of our check-in luggage and tried hard to let our carry-on luggage let look light and manageable. It was a bit of a strategic challenge to check out in beachwear, leave the luggage, get beach towels from the hotel ,,, and spend the afternoon at Waikiki Beach. Dressed "properly" in the hotel restroom in the evening after luggage pick-up, but before we had our last delicious pizza at Maui Brewing. All worked out well and we were really grateful for this great hotel and the friendliness of employees there. Free drinks, coffee, wifi and a roomy, comfy lounge,,,

Well, Waikiki Beach is more of a shallow large crowded pool than a romantic beach - with the exception of sunset. Though we enjoyed the ocean our main occupation was to watch people. Boy, how has it come to that absolute ignorance of aesthetics, this self-centeredness, this mobile-phone-addiction? Sometimes got the feeling, young people 1., don't communicate anymore directly, and, 2nd, they don't care about their surroundings, landscapes, people, etc., just are focused on themselves and their looks. Am I getting old?

Waikiki seems to be one of three "gomorrahs" in the U.S. - the others being New Orleans and Las Vegas. Where else in the U.S.A. Americans would walk the streets wet in their bikinis or go to a restaurant in beachwear?

That was it, headed for Arizona now. We hope to be back again next year. Honolulu/Waikiki is fine for two days, but would love to spend more time on Big Island and - new - on Molokai'i, perhaps also explore the northern part of Oahu.

Honolulu and Hula

Saturday morning we bought a Day Pass for the local busses ($ 5,50) and drove into Honolulu, which is separated from Waikiki by a channel (left pic) and which is a completely different world, a regular metropolis with high-rises, condo buildings, markets ,,, and much fewer tourists. First important stop: my favorite fabrics store with fantastic Hawaiian prints for decent money. Bought fabrics for curtains and a dress.

Then we checked out the "government center", with its modern State Capitol Building (pic). The Iolani Palace (pic below) was the place where Queen Liliʻuokalani (statue) ruled, the last sovereign monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom. She reigned until the overthrow on January 17, 1893. What a splendor and what a woman, very eager to keep the Hawaiian culture alive!

Chinatown - again, another world: busy, colorful, lots of shlock "Made in China", but also a good and cheap selection of veggies and fruit and other goods as well as "lei" (flower) shops. We had a late breakfast in Chinatown.

Inbetween downtown and chinatown there is a new neighborhood slowly coming up with a fancier infrastructure with more restaurants and shops, but, still, old and new contrast with each other (pic!). It's easy to picture how Old Honolulu at the time of the queen looked like, with unpaved roads and carriages, dry goods stores and garment shops.

We headed back to the oceanfront and the Aloha Tower. The Aloha Tower is a lighthouse and a landmarks of the state of Hawaii. Opened in 1926, in Art-déco style, it greeted hundreds of thousands of immigrants to Honolulu. At ten stories and 184 feet (56 m) of height it's a wonderful observation point. Always have the impression that not a whole lot of people know that you can take the elevator up for free to enjoy beautiful views of the commercial port, the cruise ship harbor, the coast guard headquarters and the city and mountains.

At the tower's feet the Hawai'i Pacific University and a Marketplace spread out and walking along the piers a lot of exotic fish and coral riffs can be seen with the naked eye. The former Maritime History Museum, on the other hand, is rotting away and closed, unfortunately.

Shopping: Alamoana Center offers high-end shopping, again, and is crowded by Japanese. I think - due to the concentration of shops - that shopping is easier in Waikiki than in NYC! Gigantic spectrum of shops. We watched our first of three hula presentations this day here on the stage, but it appeared a bit touristic. Though it's not necessarily our favorite occupation to buy high-end fashion and brand names for a fortune, we have one destination we love to visit: Uniqlo. Other than in NYC or other cities, they have a special Hawaiian collection here and, of course, we bought some stuff for a summer, which is usually very short in Germany.

On to the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, a city on its own, huge, with several hotel towers, a shopping mall, pools, restaurants, etc. Not our kind of accommodation, though. Took a beak in the shade there before we grabbed a bite during Happy Hour at Waikiki Brewing Company, a brewery without real walls. Good beer, but overprized food.

Next hula presentation took place at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center (closeby the legendary hotel from 1927), at least they gave some historical background and it appeared more authentic.

Bit farewell to the Duke and checked out the oldest hotel in Town, the Moana Hotel, before sunset, which was no real sunset today because of a thick layer of clouds. On the stage on the beach a hula dance school gave a 1 hour presentation after sunset and this was worth to see! Serious and instructive. A good end of a long, interesting day!