Travel Blog

Phil and I finally visited the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument yesterday. We walked from our RV park as it was only about two miles or so, and the weather was, as usual, lovely and temperate. (Sorry, my family and friends in Pennsylvania who are getting buried in snow, snow and more snow.) We had to walk about another quarter-mile to get from the entrance gate to the Visitor’s Center, and we came across this cool tree along the way:

It reminded us of the worm guys in the break room in the movie Men in Black.

And I liked these cacti, so I took a picture of them. I’m a big cactus fan for some reason, even though I’ve ended up killing a few in my time. (Talk about not having a green thumb, eh?)

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument preserves an Ancient Sonoran Desert People farming community and "Great House." Created as the nation’s first archeological reserve in 1892, the site was declared a National Monument in 1918. (I took that passage from the NPS website.) If you want to read more about the history and culture of the monument, visit the NPS website at http://www.nps.gov/cagr/historyculture/index.htm.

After we paid the entrance fee and before we went outside to the ruins, we watched a short video and then got to browse a really nice, little museum they had in the Visitor Center. I’m recommend spending some time in there if you get the chance to visit, even though most of the folks skipped all the info and went right outside.

The main event is what they call the “Big House.”

Around the Big House are all the little walls and enclosures that they figured were other smaller houses. They have no idea what the Big House was used for, but Phil and I formulated some opinions. Phil thinks since there used to be a 7-foot wall around the entire compound, they were going to great lengths to protect something inside. We don’t think the Big House was anyone’s house. We think it was like a temple or some other religious site wherein something pretty important resided. But that’s just our guess. The park encourages you to come up with your own theories since no one’s ever going to know for sure.

Our entrance fee receipt is good for a week, and we’re really glad about that because next weekend they’re having a special tour where folks get to take a walk with a Ranger to places that are usually off limits to the public. We’ll be going outside the main compound area to a ball court, where it’s surmised the games were such that the losers would be offered up to the gods (ah, the good old days), and to another nearby compound. We can’t wait, and I’ll be sure to take plenty more pictures.