Touristing...

 

I was feeling the need... the need to get out in the Roadtrek for a day-trip.  Joan put a few snacks together, I put a couple cameras in a bag, and we headed out.  A general plan of "heading southeast towards Florence."  Because... we have never been to Florence.

We stayed off the main highways as we made our way through San Tan Village and other communities in the furthest southeast portion of the Valley of the Sun.  It was interesting just checking out the developments in that area.  An hour or so later, we rolled into Florence...

 It was a "drive through"... not for lunch, but we didn't get out of the van.  Next stop: Coolidge.  We were just enjoying being in the van...

As we made the turn towards Coolidge, there was a sign for the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument... "Shall we?"  We shall.  This time, we stopped and got out of the van...

I still smile when I can pull it into a normal parking spot.  :-)

It is, literally, just a couple blocks off the main road.  We walked through the Visitors Center...

A model of what the Main House looked like 1,000 years ago...

And then out through the ruins...

The shelter is built over it to help preserve it.  This was a 3 story structure when it was intact.

The Main House was being restored.  Those low level "lumps" you see just above the ground (4 photos above) are what's left of the individual family dwellings.  There were areas for a ball court, as well as communal food prep and art creation buildings.  No descendents to know for sure, but archeologists have pieced things together that make sense.  There are many interesting "communities" throughout the southwest, from these desert dwellings where they had irrigation systems 1,000+ years ago, to the cliff dwellings like Montezuma's Castle (between Phoenix and Flagstaff) and the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings near the 4 Corners area.  This was an interest visit.  We've driving by the sign on the Interstate many times, but this is the first time we have visited the ruins.

From there, we headed towards I-10 to the west.  Some interesting roads and terrain...

Driving north on I-10, heading back towards the Phoenix area, Joan pointed out "This is the first time we've been south of the Loop 202 on I-10 since we moved here a year ago."

We stopped at Outback Steak House for a late lunch, then a stop at Sam's Club to gas up the van... for $2.72/gal.  We saw gas as high as $3.69 on our travels today.  Someone will likely ask: between 15 and 16 miles per gallon on this fill-up.  We could have certainly taken the Equinox for this day trip, but I was wanting to get out in the van.  It was Joan's suggestion to go see Florence and Coolidge, I suggested the Casa Grande Ruins when I saw the sign.  Joan said, "Next trip out is your call."  I'm thinking there will be an overnight involved.