Yesterday we visited the Casa Grande National Monument. They are ruins left by the HoHokam Indian Tribe. The ruins became protected in 1892 but there was already damage done to the site, including graffiti. The Hohokam Indians are considered to be the "First Masters of the American Desert". They lived in permanent settlements by 300 CE (Common Era) and became villagers around 1150 CE, their Classic Period. This is when they built a central plaza with a "Great House" completed in 1350. They built along large canals of the Gila River. They were able to grow crops that withstood desert conditions such as corn, beans, squash, and cotton. The Classic Period lasted until the 1400s and they are not sure what happened to them after that.
The building material used for their buildings is called caliche. It is a concrete like mix of sand, clay and calcium carbonate (limestone). It took 3,000 tons to build the Great House (the ruin under the canopy). Caliche mud was layered to form walls four feet thick at the base, tapering at the top. They used hundreds of juniper, pine and fir trees floated 60 miles down the Gila River to anchor the walls and form ceiling and floor support. The roof was made using Saguaro cactus ribs, layered across beams covered with reeds and topped with caliche mud. They were amazing architects! In the bottom 3rd picture from the left, the small hole near the top showed the sun on the day of the summer solstice. On the other side was one for the equinox.
The desert flowers are so beautiful at this time of year! The Saguaro Cactus is 50 to 90 years old before they will grow arms! They can be up to 200 years old!
After we visited the ruins on the east side of Casa Grande, we decided to drive to Maricopa which is on the west side of Casa Grande. There is a glider port that Ted had flown out of many years ago. We thought we'd check it out to see if it was still there! On the way we saw a Cracker Barrel and pulled in for lunch, or in my case, breakfast! I had 2 eggs, bacon, grits and biscuits with molasses! It was yummy and was also dinner!
We got to the Estrella Sailport and Ted said it looked pretty much the same, with the addition of parachuting. We saw a glider do a fly by of the runway. It "blew" through at a very high rate of speed! I had not seen that done before. We watched two gliders take off with the help of a tow plane.
From there we headed home!
A fun day sightseeing in Casa Grande..."Ain't Life Grand!"
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