The Big House

My second morning at the Grand Canyon, I woke up to rain and abandoned all hope of a sunrise photo. I turned on the t.v. to hear that it was snowing in Flagstaff, which was on my route south, so I hightailed it out of there, hoping to get through it before it got too deep.

Sure enough, a few miles west of Flagstaff, I drove into a blizzard. Fortunately, I was only in it for about 45 minutes before it turned back into rain. Lots and lots of rain. By the time I got to Casa Grande, it was clear and warmer. I pulled into the hotel and there were hubby and his friend smacking balls on the driving range. AND, a bunch of people over by the practice putting green getting ready for a wedding! It was pretty cool, actually. I went back up to our room and watched it from the balcony. When the ceremony was over, the bride and groom started back down the aisle to the traditional music. Suddenly, it fizzled out, made the scratched record noise, and everyone went awwww. But then, on came James Brown's "I Feel Good," and the couple danced the rest of the way down. Then I watched them take wedding photos, which I have done, but not outside in the wind. Quite educational.

The next day, I took the camera and went to explore Casa Grande and the nearby monument. The monument preserves the ruins of the Hohokam farming community, especially the Great House.





After hanging out there for awhile, I went back to Casa Grande and snapped pictures of things that amuse me. As you can see, I'm easily amused. By such things as . . .
orange trees in January.



Or this quaint little eatery. I figured they probably had good food, but I knew I was going to be driving the next day, on a road with few places to stop, so I passed.

We headed for home the next morning, via southern New Mexico, which is where I grew up and went to college. It was fun to visit the old haunts. Speaking of haunting, we had a couple of fairly creepy experiences there . . . .