Casa Grande National Monument

Some Spanish explorer stumbled upon this place out in the middle of the desert and said, "Whoa."

The doors and windows are placed specifically to align with the soltices and some other astronomical events. One guess is that it was used as an observatory in addition to a home. For some reason I had a very strong feeling that it served as a temple--used for some time of spiritual worship or religion. Just my feeling. No proof.

Mesa Arizona LDS Temple

We headed to the Mesa Temple to do sealings. What a beautiful place! We had a wonderful, spiritual, lovely time and I'm so thankful I have a husband who likes to attend the temple. He even cleaned our temple a week or two ago...from 10 p.m.-12 a.m. (no way could I stay up that late and teach school the next day). It was a beautiful end to a beautiful day of learning and memory-making.

Tonto National Monument

Tonto was my favorite of all 8 NPS sites we visited in Arizona over Fall Break. I think I connected to the land because the trail is steep and strenuous (but only a third the length of the Timpanogos Cave Trail) and it leads up to a limestone cave (cave!) in which the ancients built their dwelling. The other thing that grabbed my heart was all the stately, noble, enchanting, mesmerizing saguaro cacti. Yes, charmed by a cactus!

Seriously, while we were driving toward Tonto, we began to see the saguaro. We were both "oohing" and "aahing" over them. And then we got to hike amongst them! Did you know that a saguaro spends the first 75 years of it's life just growing straight? Only then can it think about branching out. So these cacti are 200-300 years old (or older!).

After Tonto we drove a narrow dirt road called the Apache Trail for 44 miles. When we came out at the other side, we found a stinky vault toilet in which to change clothes for our next outing.

Toozigoot National Monument

The museum at Toozigoot's Visitor Center had a very nice collection. The pottery was stunning!

Montezuma Castle

Most impressive multi-family cliff dwelling. HUGE! And that tree bark is from the Arizona Giant, a member of the Sycamore family...looks like desert camo!

Husband Bashing

I'm not really bashing my husband. This is merely something common among women through the ages, I believe.

So far this morning I've gone to the temple to be baptized and confirmed by proxy for one of my own direct ancestors as well as for five female names for Brother So-and-So. I came home and changed clothes in order to work out at the rec center for 36 minutes. I've had breakfast, read the Book of Mormon, and have started a load of laundry. I'm now blogging. My husband is still sleeping.

He thinks he knows, but he doesn't really know how much I pack into one day.

Montezuma Well...Prime Real Estate!

Montezuma Well is part of Montezuma Castle, but you have to drive between the two sites. There's this huge spring in the middle of the desert with millions and millions of gallons of fresh water so...you know, it was all the rage and naturally folks built their homes right there to ensure they could monitor their water rights. Impressive. Also, some ruins are obvious, but others look like a pile of rocks until you take a second glance and suddenly realize...this used to be someone's home.