Now that students know how to ride the light rail, there’s nothing more fun than a day of exploring to find the best light rail stops. There are plenty of bars, restaurants, museums and shopping to explore outside ASU’s campus. ASU students’ new favorite hang out might be a mere 15-minute ride on the light rail.

Here are some of SPM’s suggestions:

4th Stop Get off at 7th Avenue and Camelback Road
Mary Coyle’s Ol’ Fashion Ice Cream
5521 N. 7th Av
Phoenix, AZ 85013

To top off a long day of riding, drinking, eating and exploring, a tasty dessert ends a light-rail-exploring day right. Coyle’s is an old-fashioned ice cream parlor that has been operating since 1951.

The ice cream is made on the premise and there are more than 25 flavors. ASU students can also get non-fat yogurt or sugar-free ice cream. One of the shop’s most popular specialties is “the Suicide.” The Suicide, as explained on the menu, is vanilla ice cream covered with caramel and marshmallow toppings, chocolate chip ice cream covered with hot fudge and penuche nut ice cream covered with caramel. The whole thing is garnished with cashews, almonds and pecans, and then topped with whipped cream and a cherry. This much ice cream could be suicide.

ASU students can also try the creamy, thick milkshakes. Or if students are still hungry after Irish grub and coffee, they can skip the dessert and try one of their delicious sandwiches, salads or soups. This ice cream parlor is a flashback to the ‘50s that is well worth the long ride to the end of the light rail.

Visit marycoyle.net/ for more information.

There are plenty of other spots in walking distance of the light rail. The best way to find a new favorite spot is to jump on the light rail and start exploring.

Fair Trade Café
1020 N 1st Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Before jumping back on that train, ASU students can grab a cup of coffee to re-energize the train riding festivities. Fair Trade Café is, obviously, Fair Trade Certified. Basically this means that the coffee beans are farmed in environmentally safe conditions, with fair working conditions, fair pay for the workers, and the beans are bought at a fair price without a lot of price-inflating middlemen.

Not only does this café offer great coffee and yummy sweets, but it is also a compassionate, green company. Rosela Martinez, an ASU nonprofit leadership and management sophomore and an employee at Fair Trade Café, explains that “Fair Trade Café gets all of their coffee from one roaster, who is a fair trade roaster. A lot of it is from small farms and indigenous people all over the world.”

The café offers lattes and brewed coffee, Italian sodas, fruit smoothies, muffins, stuffed croissants, quiche, sandwiches and other light foods.

Martinez’s favorite drink is the Zoey. “It’s a sweet, cinnamon-y drink,” she says. They make their pastries fresh every day, and Martinez especially likes the homemade banana bread.

The café hosts open mic nights, art galleries on art walk nights, and other events to keep people excited and interested in their venue. “It’s a total hangout spot,” says Martinez, “people come here with their laptops because we have free wi-fi.”

The Fair Trade Café is a mom and pop shop that offers something for everyone, even exhausted ASU students looking to study or relax with a good cup of joe.

Visit fair-trade-café.com/ for more information.

3rd Stop Get off at Central and Roosevelt
The Lost Leaf
914 N. 5th St,
Phoenix, AZ
(also the stop for the Phoenix First Fridays Art Walk)

The Lost leaf is a quaint little bar and a charming art gallery. It’s easy to miss Lost Leaf because it’s housed in a residential Phoenix house. Without the glowing Open sign, it might as well be someone’s home.

But inside, the local artist owned and operated Lost Leaf is a thriving and undeniably endearing bar and gallery. The walls are decorated with paintings from local artists, there are often Djs and other musicians playing in the corner, and the beer selection is fantastic.

Riana Riggs has worked at the Lost Leaf for over a year.

“It’s right in the middle of the art district so it’s a really wide and eclectic crowd.” she says. Riggs says that the bar offers a huge list of beers and wines, including a lot of organic beers.

It’s the only bar in the area that is open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. every single day. ASU students can catch happy hour from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and get a dollar off all beers over four dollars.

As far as the gallery goes, all art sales go straight to the artists. They feature national and local artists, and the gallery changes frequently. ASU students who like a calm, artistic atmosphere to drink and chat with friends should check out the Lost Leaf.

Visit www.thelostleaf.org for more information.

2nd Stop Get Off at Van Buren and First Avenue
Seamus McCaffrey’s
18 W. Monroe
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Casey Moore’s and Rula Bula have will some serious competition once ASU students start visiting this Irish Pub and restaurant. Seamus McCaffrey’s is usually filled with an eclectic assortment of gray haired men smoking pipes, thirty-something arsty Phoenicians and the ever so important drunken twenty-something. There’s also a sketchy collection of suspicious looking leprechauns hovering on the restaurant walls.

ASU students can try out a basket of delectably crispy fries or indulge in an authentic Irish Boxty (pastry filled with yummy things). There are also other Irish favorites on the menu such as beef and cabbage, Shepard’s pie, beef stew and fish ‘n’ chips.

Hopefully, visiting ASU students will get a chance to meet Erin Boylan, McCaffrey’s pretty, witty and fiery waitress,
“For some grown-up time in the city, Seamus is where you can put hair on your chest,” Boylan says like it’s her mantra. It’s the only pub downtown and it has the largest selection of single malt scotches in Arizona. So stop by for a Guinness, Smithwicks, scotch or just some beef stew. Be sure to catch Boylan chanting at her tables “ya big boy!”

Visit www.seamusmccaffreys.com for more information.

1st Stop Get Off at 3rd St. and Washington
The Arizona Science Center
600 E. Washington St
Phoenix, AZ 85004

The Arizona Science Center offers a wide range of exhibits and activities that often aren’t found in a normal museum. Ever since it opened in 1984, the Science Center has been growing in popularity every year.

The exhibits include an IMAX theater, a planetarium, a human body section, an electricity section, a forces of nature section and a space travel section. Every couple months the center is home to a special traveling exhibit. Currently, Star Trek The Exhibition is luring many space and sci-fi fanatics of all ages to the Science Center’s main gallery.

Tickets are seven dollars with a student ID, but prices go up slightly for the IMAX, Planetarium and the main exhibition. After a few hours of walking around, be sure to curb a famished tummy at the City Bakery located inside the Science Center.

Visit http://www.azscience.org/index.php for more information.