Sce:dagĭ Mu:val Va’aki — Attraction in Mesa

There is parking off of W. 10th street - through the gate- there's a medium sized lot; make sure to check hours though on the website before you go- I think they only open each year after Oct 28th. It was just $5 to enter, super affordable. The park itself is a bit small, but a reasonable admission price so no complaints. There's a compact room with a few encased artifacts and there's restrooms; outside, there's water fountains. From there, there's a trail that encircles the ruins, and there's a path that connects through the center over the central mound. Along the way, there are signs that you can read- and it's like a rectangular prism that rotates with tidbits of info on the area and history on each side. The park features mostly mounds and the dirt foundations of some rooms. There's also a shaded pavilion with some faux archaeological boxes. The only downside though is as you walk throughout, you can still see the city buildings and hear the traffic. It takes less than an hour to see it, but worth it for...

We went there for some special educational event. Not too much to see. Some old man was there on sight, a tour guide or something who bothered us, he went on with his speech following us around, it isn’t a big place, the kids were unable to understand him and lost interest and we couldn’t get him to leave us alone then he started telling us we need to make our kids listen to him. Super odd. He was so strange and irritating we left. It was interesting but whoever that educator was needs to have some situational awareness as to who his audience is. He knew a lot but he was completely oblivious that the group wasn’t interested after five minutes of his unsolicited history lesson. Such a strange experience, we went running...

Teen volunteers from Westwood High School brought the Platform Mound and its history to life in a program called “Blast from the Past.” It was a magnificent program and by using teens, younger children (the future of Mesa) were held rapt by the teens’ stories. Mesa Grande, as the second largest Hohokam Platform Mound, is already a wonderful place to visit and learn; but with innovative programs like this, everyone has a new reason to visit....