Saturday - January 17, 1998: Grand Canyon, AZ
The Harvey Girl...
We write this tonight not more than 20 yards from the very rim of the canyon, which then drops precipitously some 7000 feet down to the canyon floor. Should there be an earthquake of any respectability tonight, it would seem almost certain that we would receive the "quick tour" down to the bottom. On the other hand, if you're reading this, the chances are that we've made it through the evening without any sudden losses in elevation.

We're staying this evening at the Bright Angel Lodge right in Grand Canyon Village one of very few lodges that are actually within the National Park here.

Aside from the canyon itself, a wonder of the world with which most people are probably well acquainted, the story of the day for us, is the story of the Fred Harvey Company (remember MGM's The Harvey Girls with Judy Garland?) that still run most everything in this park today! Had no idea they were still around, even if it's mostly name only.

But the larger story within that story for our money is one Mary Elizabeth Colter, the architect of six of the major structures within the park, including the Bright Angel Lodge (built in 1935). Aside from the unusual fact that a woman was chosen by Harvey to take on such important projects, in such a prestigous location, we find her buildings to be absolute ingenous designs here in the Canyon. She does not imitate the local Indian structures, but rather dreams up her own structures, using both the native influence, the suggestions of the very terrain in which the buildings will live and finally they are built with the materials existing in that terrain.

The Hermit's Rest is our favorite; A small gift shop, snack bar at the end of the Western Drive on the South Rim. When you walk in, your jaw drops at the enormous fireplace flanked by several huge painted wooden chairs, built as the centerpiece of a half-dome like room, all constructed with very large stones from the canyon itself. For such a tiny structure, it's indeed awe-inspiring and many pictures were taken there, in hopes that we might steal from it if someday we're lucky enough to have an architecht building a home for us from the ground up. Don't miss it if you visit the park. Mary Colter is Brad's new hero.

We'll definitely be stopping in at two more of her buildings tomorrow before moving out of the park and continuing our trek towards home...it won't be long now we're sad to say...