Tempe, AZ: ASU's campus, Mars Space Flight Center, Town Lake

After we finally made it to Phoenix, checked into our hotel and got a bit of rest, we headed out to  downtown Phoenix to get some lunch. (After 7 years, I finally gave in and bought a smartphone and data plan, and it was basically the best thing ever. We used it a lot on this trip; here, to find some food!)

In downtown Phoenix, we found a neat lunch place called the Coney Island Grill. I was lame and forgot to take any pictures, but it was decorated old-diner style with tons and tons of New York memorabilia on the walls, including a lot of photos of the Brooklyn Dodgers. I had a the gyro picado sans jalapenos, and Eric had some kind of Hawaiian chicken barbeque that tasted good.

After lunch we had the whole afternoon to wander around. We decided to take the light rail ($2 one way) over to Tempe to check out Arizona State University's campus. It was supposed to be really pretty and we didn't have anything else to do, so why not? The light rail takes you over the Tempe Town Lake and you get quite a lovely view of the desert oasis. Later on, we came down to sit for a while by the lake at Tempe Beach Park.


We also passed by Sun Devil Stadium while on the light rail on the way to the campus.


Once on campus, we walked around a little bit and I got weird looks because I was wearing a sweater and it was like 70 degrees outside. Whatever, it was still cold in the shade. :) They have orange trees on campus. I did not see anyone picking the oranges to eat as snacks, though. Seriously, if I went to school somewhere warm all the time and had orange trees, I would never get any work done.

ASU also is home to the Mars Space Flight Facility, which I randomly found out about thanks to a travel app, so we went over to see the exhibits. Since we weren't part of a scheduled tour we could only walk around the lobby area, but there was a lot of interesting information. They also had a replica of the Mars Rover, which was super cool. Of course I only took this random picture of links we were going to check out later (in my defense my battery was running out big time; I had yet to master battery-saving techniques), but you should go to their website and learn more about it. (Both of us are interested in space stuff. Heck, we met at an internship at an aerospace company.)


Also kind of cool is this giant A on the side of a mountain by campus (behind Sun Devil Stadium).


Tempe looked like a fun college town. Very walkable and new-looking and there were a gazillion restaurants and stores on the main street area near campus.
Tempe, AZ: ASU's campus, Mars Space Flight Center, Town Lake Tempe, AZ: ASU's campus, Mars Space Flight Center, Town Lake Reviewed by Maria on 9:53:00 AM Rating: 5

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