Tootsie on Tour: Tempe, AZ

**Disclaimer: The content of this post reflects my own personal views, opinions, and experiences.
This post does NOT express the views or opinions of my employer.**

The venue: ASU Gammage (the guys say it's nicknamed "The Birthday Cake")


(stock images)

Covid Tests to Date: 70

TL;DR TikTok: CLICK HERE

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Monday, what a nice travel day!

No delays, Southwest flight, direct flight! Couldn't ask for anything more.

We arrived super early, but it felt super late thanks to Daylight Savings and the time zone change.
I think we were at the hotel before noon, but they somehow did have our rooms ready for us!

(photo courtesy Graduate Hotels but this is EXACTLY what my room looks like, wall art and all)

This hotel is on the Arizona State University (ASU) campus, and it's dorm-themed.
Lots of hipster, desert-y art on the walls.
A rotary hotel phone!
A particle board desk with a little corkboard section, like you're a student who might pin photos and such up.

The keycards for the doors are made to look like student ID badges.

The doors themselves are a toothpaste shade of mint, and evoke a sort of vintage feeling.
And the "do not disturb" door hangers are little pennant flags! Awww!


The hotel concierge caught me taking this photo and gave me an extra one to take home.
Jameson is gushing over it, I think he wants to put it on the bedroom door. Like I said, adorable.

Since we had access to rooms so early, I dropped my luggage and took a walk to a dry cleaner to get my peacoat cleaned (it's WAY overdue).
It's been a long time since I've been in a desert environment, but my body remembers this strange sensation of sweat evaporating as soon as it forms; of a stark temperature difference between shaded and full sun areas; a cloudless sky and scrubby low trees and clean streets with a haze of dust and sand.

Immediately I remembered that I need to get sun lotion, because although the olive-toned skin cells inherited from my mother protect me from becoming a lobster, it's far too easy to burn quickly out here. So, a quick dip into Walgreens and a light slathering before walking to Mango Rabbit.

Mango Rabbit does boba tea and bubble waffles in a very over-the-top, Instagrammable style.
They have special theme nights and limited-run treats based on anime characters and K-pop stars.
I've never had boba tea, mostly because it's high calorie and a lot of milk teas are made from powdered mixes that contain loads of bad stuff like condensed milk, lactose and whey, and dyes and preservatives. But Mango Rabbit uses all natural ingredients, many sourced locally or made on-site. They still use condensed milk, but sometimes you just gotta make an executive decision and suffer the consequences.
If I'm gonna try boba tea for the first time, this is probably a really good place to do it!

CLICK HERE to see the crazy drink that I got!

I chose the Ube Frappe: house-made ube ice cream drizzled with ube paste, ube blueberry milk tea, honey boba, whipped cream, topped with two Pocky sticks, blueberries, and gold dust. Insanely decadent.


I found the texture of the ice cream fascinating. Very thick, with large ice crystals.
The starch from the ube (ube is a purple sweet potato) must have something to do with such an interesting texture.
The flavor was earthy and just slightly sweet.


In fact, the whole thing was less sweet than I was expecting (thankfully!).

I ate the whole thing (I had planned for this in my calorie counter) and it was delicious.
Totally hit the spot! Did I have a lactose attack later, yes. Was it worth it, yes! Lol.

On the walk back I was in a crosswalk and nearly stepped on an adorable white robot heading in the opposite direction.
Turns out ASU has a robotic food delivery service!
CLICK HERE to see their cute little wheels and the sweet little flag!! DAAAAW

In under a mile I saw three of these little dudes scooting around. They must be popular.

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