Casa Grande Ruin, Coolidge, AZ

December 19, 2016

We have been at this wonderful resort now for a little over a week and have been busy participating in activities.  This is a very active resort with something for everyone.  There is exercise classes (walking, water aerobics, lap swimming, bicycling, dancing), golf, games (dominos, bingo, etc.) radio controlled car track, pickleball, bocci ball, dance classes, cards, and for me the greatest thing is the quilt room where I can sew to my hearts content and get advice from other ladies.  Ron is enjoying the golfing group and will attend his first golf event on Thursday of this week.  There is also a photography club which looks promising.   The resort has ticketed meals (breakfasts on Saturdays, one day a week lunch, and dinners) as well as  dances with live entertainment and trips out of town.  What a great place we found and will return to next year for three months.

Yesterday Ron and I drove to Coolidge (about 20 miles to the east) to see the Casa Grande National Monument which is an Indian ruins dating back to the 1400’s.  While we have gone to many ruins over the years, the village here is not enclosed as we have seen at places like Mesa Verde and other southwest Anasazi villages.

Here the structures were covered with roofing materials but much more open.

What the roofing of homes was like

This may be because this area is warmer than some of the other areas we have viewed.  The Hohokam people lived in this area prior to 1350 A.D and lived here for many centuries prior to the construction of the Casa Grande four story building but left within a century after its construction for unknown reasons. 

The Great House was made from caliche mud (a concrete like mix of sand, clay and calcium carbonate limestone) layered to form four foot thick walls at the base with hundreds of trees either carried or floated 60 miles down the Gila River to the village.  These timbers formed ceiling or floor supports.

Front view

Back Vuew

Side View

Inside Wall

Other Ruins near the Great House

Another partial structure

The walls of the ruin face the four cardinal points of the compass.  One opening aligns with the setting sun in summer and others align with the sun and moon at specific times.  The people would gather at these sites to study the position of the celestial objects in relation to times for planting, harvesting and celebration.   The Hohokam too were responsible for digging with sticks and stones the many miles of canals leading from the Gila River to their planting sites.  Amazing.

In 1694 the ruins were viewed by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, a missionary, when led to it by the Pima Indians. 

The Monument today consists of the large Casa Grande ruin, and two other partial structures as well as a ball court and outlines of what were probably living areas and a museum featuring information about the site.  Much of the ruin suffered from souvenir hunters damaging the site to the point that in 1892, this site became America’s first archeological reserve. 

An interesting afternoon visit on a cool day in the desert of Arizona. 

A View to the Mountains in the distance

Some Saguaro Cactus at the Monument

Kerrville to Casa Grande

December 1 – 10, 2016

We left Kerrville, TX for New Mexico and Arizona stopping in Las Cruces for 5 days, seeing good friends from our Good Sam Staff days one night and spending two other of those 5 days in Albuquerque so I could see my breast surgeon for a follow up visit.   Everything was good and I am so thankful.  Took care of some errands on Monday afternoon and had dinner with friends and spent the night in their “guest house to the West”.  Tuesday morning we had breakfast with Ron’s son Kent and fiancée, Dede before my doctor visit and then returned to Las Cruces.  Whew!  What a world wind visit.  Ron was tired of driving since he drove for two days to NM, then a day up ti ABQ and the next back to Las Cruces then leaving the next day for Benson, AZ.  Decided to stay two nights in Benson at the Escapees Park to catch our breath and rest before moving on to Casa Grande, AZ where we will spend the next month. 

Ron and I spent a week here in Casa Grande in December 2014 after picking up our current RV and thought we might like to return for a longer stay during the winter.  Interestingly, my roommate Julie at the University of Arizona came from this small (then) farming community where her family had moved to while she was in high school.  I remember making several trips to her family home on the two lane highway for a home cooked meal that her mother prepared for us.  We came with two other friends one of whom owned a Volkswagon Karmengia.  Julie got to sit in the front since she was 5’11 but I was in the back seat with my long legs for those 65+ miles.  Getting out was quite a feat.  I was young then (the early 1960’s) so could manage those contortionist twists and turns to get out.  Julie would not recognize Casa Grande now as it has become quite a snowbird location with lots of big name stores, RV Parks and 55+ communities.  Today the population is 51,000 year round with an extra 15,000 during the winter months.

Casa Grande, AZ began as a settlement in May 1879 when the Southern Pacific Railroad had a temporary work stoppage and set up a temporary camp.  The camp was called Terminus (meaning end of the line).   Construction on the railroad began again in January 1890 with the town of Terminus having three buildings and five residents.  One of the buildings was a railroad station.  In September 1880 the Railway executives renamed the community, Casa Grande after the prehistoric ruins located 20 miles to the east.  The first post office was established in 1881.  By the second decade of the new century, the railroad still dominated the headlines in Casa Grande.  Four trains a day stopped each day leaving from 20-25 persons arriving and staying with each train.  The boom was on for Casa Grande. 

We arrived at this very nice RV Resort (about 710 spaces) and were assigned to a spacious spot with gravel and other RV’s nearby. This Park like others has a large number of park models including some across the street from our location, but they are nicely spaced and all very well kept.  So far we have no one on one side of us and a couple from South Dakota on the other.  Behind us are other RV’s.  This Park is on the west side of town and a bit north from the downtown area making it quiet (well not quite since it is close to the railroad tracks with trains still rolling through town on a very frequent basis all day and night.  However, the trains are not constantly blowing their horns for crossings as we have found in so many other places including Gallup, NM  If you can sleep in Gallup, you can sleep anywhere.)  There are lots of activities each day and friendly people to enjoy.  We have met several of the neighbors and I have met some ladies in the quilting room who are eager for me to join them. 

Entrance to the Resort

Our Site

We hope to do a bit of sightseeing while here and to see some friends who are in Sun City north of Phoenix.  Not sure when the next blog will be, but stay tuned.