Fresh Oranges!

Our travelogue about Phoenix wouldn't be complete without a short note mentioning the citrus trees! They were everywhere - lemons, varieties of oranges, tangelos, grapefruit . . . it really made us want to have some fresh-off-the-tree oranges to take home with us.

We were perhaps the closest to picking our own when we were at the restaurant (see post below) eating under the canopy of an orange tree. We asked if we could take a couple and received permission from our hostess, but the fruit was too high to get without making a big commotion. In the parking lot were a few trees, but they had already been picked over and didn't leave us much good fruit.

We determined to find a grove the next day. Apparently, the large old groves in the greater Phoenix area are mostly gone, victims of development and urban sprawl, but we were able to find one only a little out of our way called "The Orange Patch" in Mesa, AZ.

The Orange Patch has an old country-story feel with acres of orange and citrus groves behind. Walking into the clap-board store front we were hit with the smell of fresh off-the-tree citrus. We tried a few sample slices they had prepared by the door (Britta like the Arizona Sweets best, while I liked the Navels) and ventured through the rows and rows of fruit ready for the picking.

Perhaps what most excited me was the size of the fruit (especially the navels); they were the size of small melons! Really! I took some pictures.

Here's one with a watermelon to give you an idea -



So, what?! I didn't have a REAL watermelon - we didn't pick any of those! I thought you'd all know what a standard JellyBelly bean size was, and could compare . . .

Okay, lemme put Grace in this one:



Britta suggested a tennis ball and a ruler would help:



I thought a collegiate football was a better idea:



Anywho~

Here's the bunch that we got - Britta's smaller, sweeter (and seeded :) Arizona Sweets, and my HUMONGOUS Navels, side-by-side.



They are SOOOOO good!