Hello everyone, we are currently in Coolidge, AZ, for a 2 night stay at a Passport America 1/2 price stay. Our next port of call will be our last for 2018.
Richard just came back from the pool. Today it is 74 degrees. Cooler than yesterday, but a perfect temperature for going on walks. I chose not to go to the pool because of the itchy eczema on my hand. It flared up the last 2 days. I thought this diet was going to get rid of it. I keep reading where people say they had relief right away when they cut dairy, or gluten, or whatever.
Anyway, on to this morning's adventure. I'm going to start with a picture I took on the road as we were leaving the area. Then ta da! Those cactus with the arms came into view! I've been waiting to see them. Miles and miles. They are called Saguaro cactus. I did see them once before in 1984.
Casa Grande Ruins. National Monument. I'm discovering there are lots of National Monuments around Arizona. They are usually one attraction with a small museum, gift store and picnic area.
From the National Park Service Web Site: Archeologists have discovered evidence that the ancient Sonoran Desert people who built the Casa Grande also developed wide-scale irrigation farming and extensive trade connections which lasted over a thousand years until about 1450 C.E.
The Casa Grande was abandoned around 1450 C.E. Since the ancient Sonoran Desert people who built it left no written language behind, written historic accounts of the Casa Grande begin with the journal entries of Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino when he visited the ruins in 1694. In his description of the large ancient structure before him, he wrote the words "casa grande" (or "great house") which are still used today.
When you first arrive you enter the gift shop -what else? Richard got his stamp and sticker for the Passport book. Then you walk through a small museum. The pottery pictured was recently made. I really liked the one with the hummingbird. The picture on the right shows some pottery from the ancient peoples time. They corn shown here with the rock to grind it reminded me of the grinding corn song I always sang with the Kindergarteners. I would also pass around "Indian" corn with the colored grains because the song sang about the colored grains. We would "grind our corn" to the music.
I wish I would have stood further back to get the full picture. They were showing what the inside of their dwellings was like with items inside. Once again, here is a woven basket, and a drop spindle. When I was in Ethiopia a local girl showed us traditional skills like weaving baskets and using a drop spindle. Seeing the cotton in the exhibit, and the cotton fields around Coolidge makes me wonder where did cotton first come from? Well, it and drop spindles seem to have happened at the same time in warm climates around the world. One thing that didn't happen here in the Sonora Desert area were wheels.
This is a creosote bush. Driving in we noticed how green they were. Richard was curious, thinking they should be brown now. I assumed they just were always looking this way. So we asked. Due to recent out of season rains the bushes were green and blooming. Wow. Do you see the bee on the right? He's probably thrilled with the recent rain. Do you see Richard in the picture on the left?
There's that man again. hee hee hee. This picture just doesn't give Casa Grande enough justice. They erected the roof over head back in the 30's.
This is a panorama of the inside of Casa Grande. It was taken through a doorway that was blocked for no one to enter. This is about 4 stories tall.
I took the picture on the left of ruins from another dwelling. I realize from looking at these two pictures I should crop them more, or hold the camera higher. I'm short. If you enlarge the pic on the right you would see a man to the right of the building......you can then use that to gage how large this building is.
This is another plant that just looks like sticks unless there has been recent rain. The ranger at this monument mentioned that the area gets only 9 inches of precipitation a year. Richard mentioned that Fairbanks has low precipitation also. That, of course, brought me into research mode.
From https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/fairbanks/alaska/united-states/usak0083
I heard it once that Fairbanks was considered semi-arid. Richard said it is considered arid. The month for the most precipitation is July, the least is March. We do worry about fires in Alaska.
I did purchase this pin at the gift shop, plus a matching magnet. It says, "National Park Geek."
When I turned around I thought maybe you'd like to see the other side of the park. This side was pretty empty. There were several homes like you see in the center boarded up waiting for their snowbirds to fly in. The other side of the park had very few open spaces.
And here is Artie saying goodnight to you all. He had grabbed my slipper when I came in from the sunsets. He was holding it in his mouth until I grabbed my phone. The couch belongs to the dogs.
Richard just came back from the pool. Today it is 74 degrees. Cooler than yesterday, but a perfect temperature for going on walks. I chose not to go to the pool because of the itchy eczema on my hand. It flared up the last 2 days. I thought this diet was going to get rid of it. I keep reading where people say they had relief right away when they cut dairy, or gluten, or whatever.
Anyway, on to this morning's adventure. I'm going to start with a picture I took on the road as we were leaving the area. Then ta da! Those cactus with the arms came into view! I've been waiting to see them. Miles and miles. They are called Saguaro cactus. I did see them once before in 1984.
Casa Grande Ruins. National Monument. I'm discovering there are lots of National Monuments around Arizona. They are usually one attraction with a small museum, gift store and picnic area.
From the National Park Service Web Site: Archeologists have discovered evidence that the ancient Sonoran Desert people who built the Casa Grande also developed wide-scale irrigation farming and extensive trade connections which lasted over a thousand years until about 1450 C.E.
The Casa Grande was abandoned around 1450 C.E. Since the ancient Sonoran Desert people who built it left no written language behind, written historic accounts of the Casa Grande begin with the journal entries of Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino when he visited the ruins in 1694. In his description of the large ancient structure before him, he wrote the words "casa grande" (or "great house") which are still used today.
When you first arrive you enter the gift shop -what else? Richard got his stamp and sticker for the Passport book. Then you walk through a small museum. The pottery pictured was recently made. I really liked the one with the hummingbird. The picture on the right shows some pottery from the ancient peoples time. They corn shown here with the rock to grind it reminded me of the grinding corn song I always sang with the Kindergarteners. I would also pass around "Indian" corn with the colored grains because the song sang about the colored grains. We would "grind our corn" to the music.
I wish I would have stood further back to get the full picture. They were showing what the inside of their dwellings was like with items inside. Once again, here is a woven basket, and a drop spindle. When I was in Ethiopia a local girl showed us traditional skills like weaving baskets and using a drop spindle. Seeing the cotton in the exhibit, and the cotton fields around Coolidge makes me wonder where did cotton first come from? Well, it and drop spindles seem to have happened at the same time in warm climates around the world. One thing that didn't happen here in the Sonora Desert area were wheels.
After the museum we ventured outdoors to where the buildings were. Richard walks on while I play with my camera.
There's that man again. hee hee hee. This picture just doesn't give Casa Grande enough justice. They erected the roof over head back in the 30's.
All the National Parks were celebrating bats this week. This is a picture of a bat finger puppet. Richard said, "You don't need that." When I was teaching I had the coolest bat songs this would have gone with........they also had a book called "I Know an Old Coyote That Swallowed a Flea." I had sooooooooo many books called "I Know and Old________________that swallowed a __________"
From https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/fairbanks/alaska/united-states/usak0083
| Average annual precipitation - rainfall: | 10.83 inch |
I heard it once that Fairbanks was considered semi-arid. Richard said it is considered arid. The month for the most precipitation is July, the least is March. We do worry about fires in Alaska.
I did purchase this pin at the gift shop, plus a matching magnet. It says, "National Park Geek."
When I first made reservations for this site they told us that where we will be parked we could see the sunset very well. So I went out there at 5:35 to take pictures. There are these bushes in front of a chain link fence blocking the sunset. If I had crawled up on the roof maybe... Here is an example of the flowers on the bushes all along the fence.
When I turned around I thought maybe you'd like to see the other side of the park. This side was pretty empty. There were several homes like you see in the center boarded up waiting for their snowbirds to fly in. The other side of the park had very few open spaces.
Richard was surprised that I didn't have this blog done, yet. I asked him if he knew the real reason why it takes me so long. He thought it was the amount of pictures. I said no, it is the amount of time spent googling. Let's see, I googled Casa Grande, the history of cotton, precipitation in the Sonora Desert and in Fairbanks, cactus, creosote, and National Parks. I was an avid encyclopedia reader when I was younger, were you?
Good post and pics....good pano of that room too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dom!
ReplyDeleteTell Richard we appreciate all the pictures...and the results of the googling! 🤣
ReplyDelete