itinerant foodies

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.

And when life gives you a free house to stay in – complete with lemon and orange trees in the yard – within driving distance of Phoenix, Sedona and Jerome, you take the opportunity. Most of my destinations as of late have been food-driven, and while the Phoenix area isn’t necessarily known as a culinary haven, I was grateful for an opportunity to get away for a long weekend in December. In the next few days, I’ll give a tiny look into some of the interesting (and edible) parts of my Arizona trip.

The views trump the food in this area of the country, even though I tend to prefer lush deciduous forests to Arizona’s vast rust, sage and eggplant-colored landscape. (My mind requires something nearby to wrap my eyes and thoughts around, and well, anything close enough to touch in this world is likely to sting, poke or bite.) Nonetheless, even I quieted my mind long enough to appreciate the view.

Both of these landscapes came from Sedona, a place starving for tourists. Twenty minutes on a Sedona street resulted in half as many attempts to sell me a time share, a golf club membership or a jeep tour. (We did succumb to the latter of the three.) It turns out that each day of the trip got progressively better; while we found Sedona to be lackluster and fake, Cave Creek and Jerome were gems. Not only did they offer interesting food options, but they both gave my mind something tangible to cling to, with history and character alike. Stay tuned.