4 Downtown Tempe Things I Showed Off to My Best Friend
Tag: Blog • Shopping & Leisure
Recently, one of my best friends from home (Minnesota) ventured to Tempe to spend a long weekend with me. This was her first time ever visiting Arizona, so I wanted to make sure it was a good one.
We stayed pretty busy despite the triple digit temps (which she mentioned was more tolerable than the humidity happening back at home) both inside and outside of Downtown Tempe. She finally understood (and fully adopted) the phrase "but it's a dry heat!"
Here are the few of the Downtown Tempe things I showed off to my MN friend, all of which were great tactics in my overall plan to convince her to move here to Tempe. :)
1. The Downtown Tempe Brunch Crawl
The brunch crawl just so happened to be going on during my pal's visit, and it was definitely a highlight!
The crawl started at Delice Bistro, where we enjoyed a chocolate croissant, laughing at everyone's awesome brunch shirts, and some photos in front of the DT backdrop.
We hopped onto the trolley with our group and proceeded to Ncoutner for breakfast tacos (OMG) and a bloody mary. Not a bad way to start the crawl!
After Ncounter, it was time for chicken and waffles at Blasted Barley. Don’t even get me started on this… I’ve been dreaming about them ever since. True love does exist.
Lastly, we enjoyed a refreshing peach bellini and ciabatta french toast at Postino.
The brunch crawl was great because not only did she get to sample some of Downtown Tempe’s drool-worthy food, but she also got to “tour” the city… on an air conditioned trolley with a mimosa in hand – the best way possible, basically.
2. Open Swim at Mission Palms Rooftop Pool
Swimming at Mission Palms has been on my to-do list all summer, but I just haven’t gotten around to trying it out yet!
Talk about impressive – we arrived early, so we were able to score one of the cabanas. We enjoyed our fair share of beers, great music (thanks Mission Palms!), photos of the ridiculous rooftop view, and cannon balls.
3. Morning Spin Class at The Madison
All of those mimosas and beer had us feeling some guilt, so we needed some sort of workout to ease the pain.
The Madison, a health club located in The Yard that offers phenomenal “party on a bike” classes, offers a drop-in option for $15, so we went for it!
The music was BUMPIN’ super loud, the room was pitch black with the exception of the colored bulbs which flickered to the beats, and the instructor was full of high energy and encouragement! We both got our butts completely kicked by the workout, but it felt like a one hour dance party. We loved it!
I heard you can work off up to 1,000 calories in just one spin class, so naturally we mozied right next door for…
4. Provolone Fondue + Photo Booth Fun at Culinary Dropout
If you haven’t had Culinary’s soft baked pretzels and provolone fondue yet, you are seriously missing out. I find myself dreaming about these things! Shareable, dip-able, and seriously addicting.
Photo: Culinary Dropout
We also took advantage of the photo booth they have setup on the patio. It takes 4 really fast snapshots and sends them to your email address. We may or may not have done 5 sets… ;)
Call me crazy, but I have a feeling that the amount of visitors from my mid-west squad will be rising once the winter months roll around. ;) I’d love to know which #DowntownTempe spots you show off to your visitors when they’re in town... let me know by commenting below, or sharing a photo of your go-to's on Instagram and Facebook and tagging #DowntownTempe !
Culinary Dropout at The Yard Tempe
149 S Farmer Ave
Tempe, AZ 85281
Daily Jam
310 S Mill Ave
Tempe, AZ 85281
Postino Wine Cafe
615 S College Ave
Tempe, AZ 85281
Tempe Mission Palms Hotel & Conference Center
60 E 5th St
Tempe, AZ 85281