Tortilla Recreation Site

This morning I made the short drive to Casa Grande National Monument. The movie and vc were really well done. The tour was not. Curse you Rebekah! I can't enjoy tours anymore. It was just an old volunteer guy sputtering facts. No purpose, no engagement and there were a bunch of kids bored out of their minds. As was I. I was brainstorming themes for him as he was blathering on. Anyhoo the great house itself was pretty cool. It's 4 stories tall and 700 years old. And great horned owls nest at the top! The people's who built it were really interesting. No one knows what they called themselves or why they built this giant building. But they farmed in the middle of the desert by making this giant irrigation system. There was no hiking there so I drove you Lost Dutchman State Park and did a short but steep hike. Itbwas really pretty there. I'm a big fan of the cacti/ mountain landscape. I'm not a fan of the crazy heat. 85 today. Too hot. So I got nice and sweaty and then drove into Tonto National Forest to find a place to camp and possibly another shortish hike when it cooled off a little. Turns out there's an awesome lake. So I took a dip. It felt so good. It's been a long time since I've swum (swam?). There was that one time Sam and I floated in circles in the Salmon but I don't think that counts. Anyway I went out to the bouys which conjured up all sorts of memories of camping at lake Mendocino every year in my youth. I floated around and enjoyed the refreshing water for a good while. Then I sat on the shore and bird watched until my butt went numb. So many coots. A really fun spontaneous day!

More adventures tomorrow!Read more