Grand Canyon, Arizona

Our final stop - the Grand Canyon. Birgit and I were very close to the north rim but did not go there. Having traveled across the country, we could not leave this out. It did not start auspiciously - although the main tourist season has ended (I thought) the visitor center and Grand Canyon Village were jammed. I had intended to have breakfast at El Tovar, but we could not even park - we senior citizens seem to have plenty of discretionary funds! We ended up having a snack breakfast at Bright Angel Cafeteria and then headed toward the East Entrance. Below a few typical grand canyon pictures - I am waiting for Nick to winnow them down to a manageable few.

The Colorado - it doesn't look so big from up here, does it?

We think we were very lucky to come here a few weeks after it rained. Look at the beautiful flowers above!

The drive from the Village to the East entrance takes one past a number of excellent view points - as you can see above. But it also includes two interesting places in addition to the views of the canyon itself: The Tusayan Pueblo ruins and the Watchtower.

The ruins of the Tusayan Pueblo gave us an introduction to the many archeological sites and artifacts that exist in the park. This site is one of the few that have been excavated and can be viewed. The pueblo below was only occupied for about 25 years, of course we do not know why it was abandoned after such a short time. A ranger explanation of the site is at this link

Foundations of a kiva

The Watchtower

The second interesting site was the "Watchtower". Below a view of the tower from a few miles away.

The tower is not an ancient building. It was constructed in the 1930's to provide a viewpoint with the maximum amlount of viewing potential that would, however, fit into the landscape. It was designed by Mary Colter, a famous architect who also redesigned the Painted Desert Inn and designed the La Posada hotel in Winslow, among many other important buildings. She based the design of the watchtower on old Hopi towers in the Four Corner Area.

   Mary Colter

Below a series of pictures of the murals inside the watchtower and the artist who painted them: Fred Kabodie a renowned Hopi painter, silversmith and educator.

The Grand Canyon webpage has an interesting slideshow of pictures from the dedication of the tower in 1930.

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