Casa Grande Ruins

The drive to Casa Grande Ruins was just a short 30 minutes from our RV site and a spectacular scenic route that takes you through sections of desert dotted throughout with the Saguaro cactus.

The ruins are free to all visitors, which is great. https://www.nps.gov/cagr/learn/historyculture/index.htm

In the distance, the tall structure of the "Great House" can be seen.

Adobe buildings greeted us as we pulled up. They always feel like a warm, welcoming hug from nature with their look of earth and clay and the way they blend in naturally with the land.

We walked through the museum, checking out the artifacts and beautiful pottery. There is a really interesting video on the history of the ruins, about 20 minutes long, that is worth viewing before going out to see the ruins. It explains the history, the people, and how they used early irrigation systems to survive and grow crops in the desert.

The size of the "Great House" is deceiving from afar, and as we walked closer to it, one can see why it's called "Casa Grande" as it towers down over you with its eroding walls and beams.

I close my eyes and can hear people working with their handcrafted tools as they farm the land. You can feel the history as you stand there, echoes of voices of an ancient language carried like whispers on the wind.

We walked around the structure examining its walls, appreciating the work and crafting of such a home for its era. It would have been quite impressive in its glory years. To stand there in its presence while it's walls still remain felt like a privilege... who knows, in 500 years from now it may only be seen in pictures as time, wind, and sun continue to erode it back to the sand and clay it started out as.

A new family now resides at "Casa Grande." A mated pair of great horned owls have made the roof erected over the ruins in 1932 their regular roosting place.

"What's old collapses, times change, and new life blossoms in the ruins."

Bill & Cat