4/27/08 La Posada Resort, Winslow, Arizona

While in the Watchtower at the Grand Canyon, we read that architect Mary Colter had also designed the fabulous Harvey House resort for train travelers stopping at Winslow, Arizona in the 1930's. After the demise of train travel, the resort fell into disrepair and was made into a 1960's style office building for the Santa Fe railroad. A few years ago the corporation wanted to finally demolish it, but preservationists heroically rallied to save and restore this gem (and when you see the rest of poor Winslow, their effort is even more astonishing).

We toured the grounds and interiors of this grand resort of yesteryear. The interior, which we flaked on photographing, had wonderful spaces to relax and socialize in. It was also interesting to see how buildings of this scale were built to provide their own natural air cooling schemes to keep their guests comfortable in a very hot climate.




Alexa would like to come back and stay awhile if it wasn't in Winslow....




And finally, because we were running late, we ate lunch near the sign at the entrance to the Petrified Forest on our way to Grants, New Mexico. Maybe we will actually visit the Petrified Forest next year...