Casa Grande, AZ: Cactus Fly In and Chili Cook-Off Contest

What a great day in Casa Grande. Mary Lynn and I went riding with Larry & Shirley, our motorcycling friends, on our Harley's. It was a beautiful day for a ride; in fact the only disappointment was the fact the airport was not very far away!

We spent several hours enjoying all of the various planes that have flown in for the Casa Grande Cactus Fly In. What an incredible variety of planes. It really was a perfect day: bright, sunny, not too hot, not too cold. Truly beautiful.

Larry and I viewed almost every aircraft there while MLA & Shirley 

waited for their boys, I mean men, to finish drooling on the planes. Anyway, after watching a few of them take off & land, we decided to head over to the 31st Annual Chili Cook-off, also being held in Casa Grande today.

One thing about this relatively small town of 45,000 residents, Casa Grande always has something going on. Native American exhibits, car 

shows, chili cook-offs, art shows, food contests, etc. Every weekend there is something to do (and yet another way for the snowbirds to spend money in support of the local community). 

Back to the chili cook-off. In addition to the chili there were lots of vendors selling their wares and food stuffs. But we came for the chili and for a very reasonable cost of $4, you received a tasting bowl and a spoon. 

After the contestants turned their bowl of chili into the judges at 2 pm, 

the chili chefs began serving up samples of their chili. I'd estimate ~20 chili wizards were in the competition, trying to deliver to the judges the best chili possible.

Of course the challenge is the fact there are so many ways to make chili. Some insist it's only chili if you use diced beef, others insist you need ground beef, and a few say no beef at 

all. Some with beans, some without. In fact, many chili competitive chefs will tell you it's not chili if it has beans it the mix. That said, probably half of the chili's had beans. 

And the heat. Some were spicy and some were not.  And one was advertised (thru big warning signs) as the hottest chili in the world. I don't know if it was the hottest in the world however there were plenty of people brought to tears, if not screams, by this chili. Most would simply taste a very small portion of a spoonful and then the fun would begin. 

Several people claimed to be able to eat any spicy food only to have this 'World's Hottest Chili' bring them to their knees, begging for the pain to stop. At least one lost his lunch, the chili was so hot. How hot was it? Don't ask me; I'm long past proving my manhood by eating more super spicy food than anyone else; It's been months since I did anything that immature.....

Then we headed back to Palm Creek to catch the end of the mixed doubles Pickleball competition and to enjoy the spaghetti dinner offered as a fund raiser for the Palm Creek Pickleball Club. Mmmm, good.

All in all, just another perfect day here in paradise.

See Ya!