text: Arizona is hot. If that's your thing, great, but it ain't mine. I grew up in Powell, Wyoming, a little mountain valley town where winter lasts about nine months out of the year and you're lucky to get through it without getting snowed in at least once. I have never owned a pair of shorts as an adult, because I prefer to stick to climates where they're not needed. Unfortunately, sometimes visiting the people you love involves putting up with temperatures you don't, so when Boyfriend and I were killing an afternoon in the Mill Avenue district in Tempe and stumbled across Paletas Betty, I jumped at the chance to duck in someplace air conditioned for a cool, sweet treat.\n\nSome people will probably balk at the idea of spending $3 on a popsicle. I, on the other hand, am very much a believer in the idea that you get what you pay for, and these pops are no exception. Betty uses fresh, natural ingredients to make her delicious frozen creations, with flavors ranging from standards like strawberry and lemon to unusual ones like Mexican hot chocolate (spiced with cinnamon!) and even chicken stock and peanut butter pops for your canine companion.\n\nThe personal touches to Betty's paletas, like the mold she uses to create a bite-shaped indentation in each pop and the peel-off stickers on her labels, add a bit of whimsy. As others have mentioned, the store was uncluttered, very clean, and brightly lit through huge windows facing the street.\n\nBoyfriend and I sat at a table on the patio (which was refreshingly free of sticky goo--try finding a non-gross outdoor table at most frozen treat places!) and enjoyed people-watching while we munched on our paletas. As soon as the clerk got around to describing the spiced chocolate pop, I knew exactly what he was going to order. I went for the melon, a delicious combination of cantaloupe and basil that was amazingly refreshing after traipsing around shopping in the heat. \n\nWe had just eaten lunch at a local brewery and were in for a huge dinner that night with family, so I was glad that the pops could satisfy our jones for a little treat but didn't fill us up. We traded bites and each enjoyed the other's selection very much, although I can safely say Boyfriend would not have been up for a trade.\n\nWhile I probably won't be making my way out there just to have another, I will readily admit that knowing I could stop in for a paleta here would make a trip back to America's oven much more tolerable.