Saturday, February 25, 2012

Pizza, an Organ, and a Casa Grande

Before leaving Mesa, AZ, 8 of us had dinner at Organ Stop Pizza, home of the largest Wurlitzer theatre organ in the world.


The organ boasts nearly 6,000 pipes, and they are powered by 4 huge turbine blowers. The place is packed every day in the snowbird season, and we had trouble finding seats.


These cats entertained us while we waited for our pizza. The pizza was so good I forgot to take a picture of it.


But I did get a shot of dessert!


From Mesa, I moved down to Coolidge, where a dozen WINs are having a small gathering at the Elks lodge. They have rusty stuff at the entrance! I like it already.


The lodge owns the vacant lot next door, and we settled in.


A few miles away is Casa Grande National Monument. The name, of course, comes from the highlight of the site, the Great House, built in the early 1300s.


Originally 35-feet tall, it is protected by a gigantic cover, and surrounded by remnants of other buildings.


It was built without the use of forms, using 3000 tons of Caliche Mud, made by mixing water with caliche, a concrete-like substance found a few feet under the ground.


One of their biggest problems in the preservation of the ruins is this little ground squirrel and his buddies.


Inside the Visitors Center are lots of items recovered nearby, including this gigantic pot.


Another fantastic sunset. I know this looks a lot like the one on my header - that was taken in Florence Junction, not too far from here.

Next - searching for poppies!

9 comments:

  1. I bet that was fun to hear that great sound and enjoy a good meal to boot. Fun spot!! Casa Grande, really interesting looking ruin..LOVE That huge pot...and maybe a new header photo...its Perfect!!!

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  2. Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun packed into a short time.

    http://travelinglongdogs.blogspot.com

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  3. Casa Grande was great. thanks for the revisit. Missed that pizza place, will have to go back:)

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  4. Beautiful organ, I hope to hear it played some day.

    I love that pink sky that you get in Arizona sunsets. I have been seeing the same pink for the last few evenings here at Hot Spring. :)

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  5. Used to enjoy the organ music while roller skating. Great pizza entertainment.

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  6. Glad to see that beautiful organ has been preserved and is being used for people's enjoyment, even if it is in a pizza shop.

    Casa Grande is an amazing place. Almost better than rusty stuff...

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  7. We love going to Organ Stop but try to plan it when it's not high season for snowbirds. We just might have to check out that Elks sometime.

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  8. lovely shots of Casa Grande!..glad that you are enjoying yourselves!!

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