Feb 20 - Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Coolidge, AZ

  We spent the morning on the computers.  Me updating, finally, my blog and Peter doing his Forbes blog and Margaret Fuller Documentary stuff.  After lunch, we drove to the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.  They had a really good film about the ruins, then a guided tour by a rather knowledgeable volunteer guide.  The ruins were built around 1350, and were a 3 story earthen structure, surrounded by a walled village.  The building was constructed by the Hohokam, proficient desert farmers who built hundreds of miles of canals to irrigate their crops.  The engineering of this building was impressive, as it took massive amounts of clay-type mud, and wood poles from far away, as was 3 stories high.  They had a thriving trade route.  Shortly after the Casa Grande was built, they abandoned the village, for reasons unknown.  The history of the area was very interesting.  We were told that the Sonoran desert is actually full of edible food, year-round, if you know what you are looking for.  And, if you settle by the rivers that flowed year-round, you could survive and farm. This area actually grew, and continues to grow, cotton.  Which takes a lot of water to grow. 
  We returned back to the campgrounds, and I went swimming in their pool, and then used the hot tub.  Ah, how relaxing.  Dinner, then we watched the John Wayne movie, Fort Apache, which was shot here in Arizona. 

Casa Grande National Ruins photos: