Today, for my first week's "artist date" in my current go-round with The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, I visited the Casa Grande Ruins in Coolidge, AZ. This was a true spiritual experience -- I felt the presence of the ancestral Sonoran desert dwellers who not only built this four-story adobe "palace" but also created the biggest irrigation canal network in the ancient Western Hemisphere.
Due to a local community resurgence of the coof, masks were required, so I reluctantly masked up. As I was leaving, however, I experienced a sociopolitical thrill as a couple refused to enter when the rangers said they would have to mask their young kids. I should have been so principled.
Visited there many times as a kid. My Uncle lived in Casa Grande. I spent a couple of Summers there back in the late fifties. There was no visitor center or anyone on duty at the site back then.
I should revisit The Artist’s Way as well…it’s been a while.