To prepare for a suddenly planned trip to multiple national park sites during the next weekend we decide to buy a national pass today, just in case. We have bought one in Casa Grande NM before and it is roughly on our route to Mt Lemmon, our goal for the day so we decide to divert toward it on the way. We find the route easily, thanks Google Maps, and then it is time to buy the pass.
And then…failure. The rangers patiently explain to us that Casa Grande NM has become free entry (since 2019 we find out) and as such it does not sell National Park annual passes anymore. But as we are here already we decide to do a short visit to the small national monument starting from the museum in the visitor center
Outside it is the time to see the Big House (Casa Grande) the major attraction of the national monument. We remember how impressed we were the first time when we saw the weather covering and it is even more impressive now as it seems to be the only one through the US National Park system, while such coverings are more common in Europe for example.
The one change versus our previous visit, at least as far as we remember, is the number of pigeons. They are everywhere in the House and even though we see many attempts at deterring them, they do no seem that successful.
We explore a bit more both the main house and the surrounding ruins before returning to the car to drive towards Mt Lemmon where we naively hope to be able to buy the card at the visitor center.
