Arizona highways

  Casa Grande National Monument

We drove the "back roads" from Scottsdale down to Tubac yesterday.  I can remember when towns like Chandler were just dusty crossroads with a few gas stations and motels-- now these places are sprawling cities with uniform housing developments and strip malls planted on the desert.  Where are all the people coming from? Still, there are long stretches of classic Arizona highway, with cactus, rock and views as beautiful as any garden planted by man.

We stopped at the Casa Grade Ruins in Coolidge and toured the mysterious Great House.  (John was pleased with himself because he bought an "America the Beautiful Senior Pass" for me at the desk, and now he can visit all National Parks and Monuments free, as long as he is accompanied by this senior citizen.)

The adobe building was completed in 1350 and is an impressive four stories high and 60 feet long.  No one knows the exact purpose, but a circular hole on the top level aligns with the setting sun at the summer solstice.

The Great House was just one of many large, walled villages sited along elaborate irrigation canals. This Classic period of civilization lasted until the 1400's when the people mysteriously and suddenly declined.  By the time it was "discovered" by Europeans in 1694, it was just a ruin.  In 1892, it became the first National Monument and the steel and concrete canopy was built in 1932.

Speaking of great houses, we're staying the next few days in this lovely upstairs apartment.  It's giving me an idea of it might be like to spend the winter months in Arizona.  Nice!  No wonder they are turning the desert into a condo-land.

According to the brochure, Tubac is where "Art and History Meet."  Needless to say, this artist colony is all about shopping.  It fills with tourists during the day and empties out at night.  We are only 30 minutes from the Mexican border, but the temperature this morning was in the low 30's.  The altitude here is 3,000 feet.  But the sun is coming up in a cloudless sky and by late afternoon it will be close to 80.  We're off to find art and history today. And hopefully some new birds.