There's doin's a transpirin'
Another weekend has entered the history books, and all told, not a bad one at that. According to My Yahoo!'s weather, Phoenix has most likely seen the last 100+ degree day. We're looking at highs in the low-to-mid 90's this week. I spent some time today breaking down tree branches for bulk pickup tomorrow, and it was quite pleasant out. In short time, we'll be able to turn off the AC and leave the windows open. I don't think we'll have 4 months of great 75-80 degree weather like we did this spring, but it'll be nice while it lasts.
On Saturday, Ron, Elizabeth, Paul and Maureen made the trek down to Chandler, and we decided to check out the Tempe Oktoberfest. Admission was free, parking was $5, you got 25 tickets for $20 (although Paul lucked out and got 25 for $10) and most beers cost 4-7 tickets for what amounted to a bottle's worth.
You might think I go to beerfests all the time, but in reality, this is only the second one for me (if you don't count the Scottsdale Culinary Festival we went to in late spring). Compared to the beerfest in Tucson, this one positively sucked. The selection of beer was much smaller, the crowd was significantly larger, and the organization was poor. They had double-decker buses that shuttled between the parking area and the festival. We sat in our completely full, non-air-conditioned bus for close to 10 minutes, while our driver went to chat with the driver of another incoming bus. At the festival, we discovered that there were essentially 2 beer booths, and it took us close to 20 minutes to work our way from the back of the line to the front. Waiting is, in fact, the hardest part. We were able to order two beers at a time, so Beth and I used 20 of our 25 tickets right there.
We quickly decided to burn through the remainder of the tickets (and beer) as fast as reasonably possible, just so we could leave for eats on Mill Avenue. We made our way to My Big Fat Greek Restaurant, a place which is one of our favorite places to eat in Tempe. Excellent Greek food and excellent ambiance. We had the very tasty saganaki for an appetizer (flaming salty cheese served on pita bread), and I had the "award winning" gyro dinner and the Marathon beer. I honestly don't recall what the others had, only that it was generally good as well.
Their menu advertises the "Meat Lovers for Two" - a "symposium of ecstasy", "definitely a couple pleaser." The jokes practically write themselves. :-)