The Ghosts of Casa Grande
Timothy Egan for the NY Times examines our broken love affair with national parks, questioning why they’re increasingly becoming more like forgotten relics than favored destinations. Case in point: Casa Grande, Coolidge, Arizona. Casa Grande was the nation’s first archaeological preserve, an earth-colored fortress of wonder set aside in 1892. For years, visitors flocked to this desert monument, as much a part of the culture of our land as anything built by bewigged colonists in Massachusetts. But like most other units of the national park system, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument has been a lonely place of late.
“Overall, the number of people who visit national park sites has been on a steady decline for almost 20 years — with a handful of exceptions. For years, the complaint about parks was a variation of that old Yogi Berra line: nobody goes there anymore because they’re too crowded. But now the treasures of original and scenic America have the opposite problem.
Some people say we’ve outgrown the national parks. We’re a nation of sloths who watch “Biggest Loser” while sipping from a Mega-Gulp, the complaint goes. National parks? Dude, that’s so yesterday! Others blame the Internet, or technology. Why bother with bugs or the searing sun when you can get close to Half Dome on hi-def through the Discovery Channel?”
Errant Aesthete
Q: What natural gift would you most like to possess?
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