Still in Arizona

28^th Oct – Travel to Casa Grande

We said our goodbyes to our neighbours Bill and Shirley and set off east along I-8 to Casa Grande.  We stopped on the way at “Dateland”.  General Patton had a couple of training camps in this area in the ‘40s including an air-strip . 

 

However the construction of the runway could not cope with the B25 Bombers.   This place is now home to a Date Farm as it has ideal weather for growing dates.  So we stopped and had a Date Milkshake before continuing to Casa Grande just south of Phoenix.

29^th Oct – Casa Grande Ruins NM

We visited Casa Grande Ruins National Monument an ancient dwelling built around the 14^th Century.  The local people living here at the time had built irrigation ditches along the valleys where  the rivers flowed and it is estimated around 2000 people may have lived here in those days. Stonehenge was mentioned as there is a window in the building of this dwelling which aligns with the summer solstice sun.

We got back in time to join residents of the RV park for Happy Hour.

We had considered driving to Picacho State Park for a hike up the mountain there, but having seen the weather forecast of ‘bad air quality’ due to dust we decided to leave it until later in the week.  We were glad we had made that decision as later we heard on the evening news of a fatal accident involving a 19-vehicle pile-up on the I-10 by the State Park.  Where there is bear earth the breeze had created a cloud of dust across the interstate which was as thick as fog.

30^th Oct – Az State Fair, Phoenix

Phoenix was just over an hour’s drive so we spent the day at the Arizona State Fair.  There were the usual attractions; fair-ground rides, craft displays, farm animals.  We sat in on an Ice carving demo, a talk about wolves and some Native American Indian dancing.  The highlight for Alison was the Star  Trek Exhibition. (Paul was conned into going) It was one of the largest exhibitions featuring sets and costumes from all five TV series and 11 films.

Alison even got to sit in Captain Kirk’s chair. 

Unfortunately photography was not allowed.

31th Oct – Picacho Peak

The weather was just right for our climb up Picacho Peak – and we do mean “climb”.  The Peak is only 3374ft high; 1500ft above our starting point.  However the trail took us up to the ‘saddle’ at 2960ft, we then had to climb back down 200ft the other side of the mountain, with the aid of cables, to discover we had to climb straight back up again with the aid of more cables.  The 2 miles up took us an hour and 40mins and almost the same coming back down.  At the top we had 360 views all around the valley.  The state park was surrounded by agricultural land and one of the crops is cotton.

Picacho Peak is of historical significance in that it was the only place in Arizona to witness a battle during the American Civil War.