People In Stone Houses Should Never Throw Glass

So a few miles away from the Navajo Bridge over the Colorado River on the Vermilion Cliffs Highway (No. 89A) in Arizona and practically right next door to the Cliff Dweller Lodge Susan and I stayed in with the pups that first night, we were enthralled not only by a bevy of balanced rocks along the roadside, but also by this dwelling built around one of them, like so:

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[large version here]

According to the nearbly informational signage, sometime around 1927 a car driven by a woman the name of Blanche Russell broke down, forcing her to camp overnight. Deciding she liked the scenery so much she bought the property and stayed, and in the 1930s built this unusal stone residence and various outbuildings under the large rocks in this area.

The next morning before the pups and us set out for the site of the condor release area in the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and the north rim of the Grand Canyon, Susan and I took a few minutes to explore the quirky place. Inside the main house (on the otherside of the window pictured above), it was only a matter of standing and kneeling to get a couple different perspectives and subjects from the same portal:

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[large version here]

windo3.jpg
[large version here]

More info on Blanche, her husband Bill and the decidedly quirky home they made can be found here.