{"id":1075,"date":"2015-12-09T02:00:54","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T02:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yourpcgeek.com\/blog\/?page_id=1075"},"modified":"2017-07-11T23:55:06","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T23:55:06","slug":"casa-grande-ruins-part-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/yourpcgeek.com\/blog\/can-you-spell-rv\/arizona-adventures-2015-2016\/casa-grande-ruins-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Casa Grande Ruins – part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Adventure \u2013 Casa Grande<\/p>\n

12\/8\/2015<\/p>\n

We have just completed our third day as Volunteers at the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.\u00a0 It is FANTASTIC!<\/p>\n

The museum and site are outstanding.\u00a0 The museum is well laid out with beautiful and informative displays, even the movie is an award winner (really, it won in 2013!). As visitors go through the museum, they are \u201cblown away\u201d by the history of the Ancestral Sonoran Desert People and their accomplishments.\u00a0 As we talk with visitors, again and again the express their amazement at the accomplishments of these ancient people.<\/p>\n

The park service (at least here) encourages the interpretive guides to create a presentation that reflects the personal interests of the presenter.\u00a0 They have found that the presentations are much more engaging if the presenter has a personal connection to the topic.\u00a0 So Judith and I\u00a0have been poring over the many books and resources available to us to develop our own presentations \u2013 presentations that are both factually accurate and strike a resonant chord for each of us. \u00a0I completed my talk\/outline and actually gave my\u00a0first presentation today to a very small group (four people)!\u00a0 Judith is still finalizing her outline.\u00a0 The staff and other volunteers have been good to work with, and are very supportive and complementary of our efforts and progress.<\/p>\n

We have our volunteer ranger uniforms! Judith with her ALT quilt and standing close to the Casa Grande for perspective.<\/p>\n

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The busiest time at The Ruins is in the winter months after Christmas when there is a great influx of \u201csnow birds\u201d.\u00a0 So we currently have had time to investigate much that the site has to offer and to do our research.\u00a0 We have also been working with the Junior Ranger program \u2013 working with kids age 6 \u2013 12. \u00a0A workbook is provided for\u00a0the kids (and their parents) \u00a0to learn about the site and the ancient people, including puzzles, questions, mazes, etc. that can be answered as they explore the museum and site, watch the movie, and play at the interactive \u201ctouch table\u201d.\u00a0 When complete, we have the child\u00a0\u00a0repeat the Junior Ranger pledge. \u00a0They receive a\u00a0certificate and pin, and have a\u00a0photo opportunity for their parents to snap a picture of their child receiving the award with the Casa Grande in the background.<\/p>\n

The visitors and kids have generally been delightful.\u00a0 Questions lead to conversations, and we have a wonderful time!<\/p>\n

There are three owls who have made their residence in the rafters of the roof over the Casa Grande.\u00a0 Several nights we have heard them \u201cWho-Who\u201ding in the middle of the night.\u00a0 This evening we also heard a pack of coyotes howling and squabbling nearby.<\/p>\n

Within the confines of the grounds are numerous midden heaps where the ancient people had thrown their trash.\u00a0 One of the head rangers walked us around with us and pointed out several of these heaps.\u00a0 On just a short walk yesterday we saw many interesting sherds of pottery lying on the ground \u2013 off the \u201cbeaten path\u201d but right out in the open!\u00a0 And they are just a few feet away from the path to our trailer!<\/p>\n

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Of course, the weather is nearly perfect!\u00a0 Afternoon highs in the low to mid 70\u2019s.\u00a0 Blue skies. And brisk, starry nights.<\/p>\n

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Our Adventure \u2013 Casa Grande 12\/8\/2015 We have just completed our third day as Volunteers at the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.\u00a0 It is FANTASTIC! The museum and site are outstanding.\u00a0 The museum is well laid out with beautiful and informative displays, even the movie is an award winner (really, it won in 2013!). As … Continue reading Casa Grande Ruins – part 1<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1550,"menu_order":61,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1075","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/yourpcgeek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/yourpcgeek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/yourpcgeek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yourpcgeek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yourpcgeek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1075"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/yourpcgeek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2619,"href":"http:\/\/yourpcgeek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1075\/revisions\/2619"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yourpcgeek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/yourpcgeek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}