Thursday, September 28, 2023

Return To Casa Grande

Today I went to another place that I first visited in 2002, Casa Grande National Monument in Coolidge, Arizona.  Like then, the day was cloudy, but the lower light levels didn't ruin my pictures.  Unlike then, I have a digital camera and can put the photos on the Interwebz.  (Yes, south central AZ has cloudy days.)  The park and its largest structure are both called Casa Grande, which is Spanish for "big house".  The largest structure is also called Siwañ Wa'a Ki:, which is O'odham for "big house", and which can also be rendered Sivan Wahki.  (There is also a city named Casa Grande about 15 miles southwest of Coolidge, but that's not where this national monument is located.)  Here's the "big house" seen from its east side under its protective ramada.

This shot is from the south side of the "big house", and includes a few traffic cones.

Most of the ruins in the park were like this, with the short remains of walls and a few sections where the walls are taller.

I decided to get a closer shot of the south side of the "big house".  From what I understand, parts of the "big house" have four levels.

This structure seen in the foreground here was close to the east side of the "big house".  The holes probably held wooden beams.  Unlike the Besh-Ba-Gowah ruins, which were made of stones and mud-based mortar, these ruins appear to be made primarily of mud-based material.

Here are some more of the park's ruins.

And here are yet more of them.

I took a look through an opening in the east wall of the "big house" and through another opening saw a bird, which I thought was an owl.

As my luck would have it, the sun came out when I decided to leave, so I decided to take one last pic of the "big house" from the monument's parking lot.

Besides the monument's website above, go to The American Southwest, Roadside America and Afar.

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