The day Raven and I went to Tuzigoot was supposed to be the last day of our big road trip. However, Raven's mom was tired and didn't think she could drive us safely all the way to the city where Raven lives. We ended up staying another night and leaving for Raven's home the next morning. The extra time meant that we could visit another National Park site- Casa Grande Ruins!



Casa Grande is a large, four-story building that was made by the Ancient Sonoran Desert People over 1,500 years ago. Can you see it behind Raven? It has survived until today, but it now has a shelter to protect it. You can't go inside it, but you can walk right up to it. There are lots of birds living in it, but no people. Many people through history have also carved their names into the wall. That is vandalism, so you can't do that any longer.



Of course, we did the Junior Ranger program at Casa Grande Ruins. Luckily, most of the work we had to do was in the museum portion of the park. It was really, really hot there! I thought it had been hot at Sunset Crater, but it was even hotter at Casa Grande Ruins. We were only outside for a little while before I turned pink. We had time to walk around the ruins and see some cacti before we went back in. Back in the museum, there are cool exhibits that teach about the Ancient Sonoran Desert People and the native peoples that live there today. There was also a table full of different things for kids to touch; I thought that was really cool.



When we finished our booklets, we took them to the park ranger to have them checked. The ranger was really nice and asked us lots of questions about what we had seen and which other parks we had visited. At Casa Grande Ruins, like some other parks, you only have to do part of the activities in the book. Still, Raven and I did the entire activity book! The ranger rewarded us for our hard work with an extra badge, sticker, and pin, in addition to the regular patch! We were really excited and glad we had done the extra work. After the ranger swore us in, we each picked out something from the gift shop. I got a keychain with little charms of a ranger hat, ranger badge, and park service logo!

Casa Grande Ruins is a really fun little park. The rangers are very nice and their Junior Ranger program is really fun. If you have the chance, you should definitely visit! I'm glad we did the extra work and were rewarded!