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On this Arizona road trip, prior to making our way to the Old Pueblo (Tucson), we spent a night & day in Chandler, AZ. My uncle was participating in a Senior Olympics track meet in the afternoon, so we had the whole morning to find food and fun things to do in Chandler AZ.
Breakfast
Breakfast was taken care of at our hotel. The Drury Inn & Suites Phoenix/Chandler Fashion Center has one of the best complimentary hotel breakfasts that I’ve ever seen.
Playground
After breakfast, we searched online for a cool park playground to take the kids to. We came across Tumbleweed Park as one of the best in the area. I was skeptical just because of the name! We gave it a try anyway, and it was great! It is an expansive park with an amazing shaded playground area. The best part is just outside the shaded area…a zip line! We’ve been on road trips all around the western U.S., and the only other playground where we’ve seen a zip line is at Luther Burbank Park on Mercer Island in Seattle.
Coffee
After the kids played for a good long while, our breakfast coffee had worn off, and it was time to search for a local coffee shop. One of our favorite things to do when we travel is to find great local coffee. We can enjoy an iced Americano (our baseline for any coffee place) immediately and buy a bag of coffee beans as a consumable souvenir.
We found a gem (thanks, Yelp!) in downtown Chandler called Peixoto Coffee Roasters. Pei-what, you might say? Pay-Sho-Tow is how it’s pronounced. And dee-lish-us was the iced Americano. They have an in-house roastery, and although they weren’t roasting when we were there, the kids had fun looking at all the machinery & the huge bags of raw coffee beans.
Lunch
With coffee in hand, we needed a quick lunch before heading to the Senior Olympics event. Just a few blocks away from Peixoto, we found Ghett-Yo Taco. Quirky and delicious is this place. The street art is fabulous, and so is the food!
Chips & queso aren’t on the menu. Make sure you order it! The chips were light & crispy, and the queso rivals some of the best we’ve tasted. The street tacos were full of meat, not just a bunch of lettuce/cabbage. Yelp, yet again, helped us find a place to eat that we would totally frequent, if we lived in the area.
After a morning of food and fun things to do in Chandler AZ, we were off to the track meet and then on to Tucson!
How do you find great local places on your travels? Please share in the comments below!
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Day trips are always the best, and I love the Drury Inn! I have never seen a zip line at a playground… how fun!
Looks like so much fun, the street art is beautiful pop of color from surrounding area!
Small local places are the best to shop and dine. We have a local coffee shop that roast in shop and the coffee is great. Their opening was long due in my neck of the woods.
I love the name of the taco shop! Had to show it to my friend because it was so amusing! The kids zipline is pretty cool too. Those are typically costly when you do the adult versions haha! Seems to be a cute fun town to visit! 🙂
I’ve never been to Arizona but it looks beautiful and my girls would love that playground.
I never seen a park that has a zip line. I should probably visit there. A day trip were always been fun and your trip looks so promising. I will bring my family to Chandler one of these weekend and experience personally what you have told me.
Thanks for sharing your day trip and all the cute stops you made. I’m glad the playground has some shaded areas. It’s something you don’t always find in playgrounds. Sure, you want lots of light but you also need some shade to cool off. That iced Café Americano looked delicious. I’ve been drinking Americanos for a couple years now and it’s a favorite, hot or iced.