Arizona - Phoenix - Mystery Castle

The story behind the Mystery Castle in Phoenix, Arizona is so fantastical and fairy tale-like that its hard to believe it's real.  One afternoon in the early 1930s, Boyce Gulley went to a doctor's appointment and found out that he had tuberculosis and probably only months to live.

Stricken by the news and not wanting to infect his family with the extremely contagious disease, he simply left his job, family and life without a word to anyone and went away to wait to die.  After travelling a bit, he ended up in Phoenix where he decided to use his last days fulfilling a childhood dream of his 7 year old daughter Mary Lou.

Saddened as her sand castles were washed away by tides at the beach, she used to ask her father to build her a real castle.  This is what he set out to do, armed only with 2 years of architectural training and much ingenuity, resourcefulness and determination.  Making bricks out of local sand, cement and goats milk and using found and disposed objects such as windshields and hubcaps of old cars, wagon wheels, refridgerator panels, pyrex dishes, coloured glass and tiles, he began to build a castle.  Inside, he filled the rooms with all sorts of oddities and souvenirs from his travels and scavanging excursions.

It seems the heat of Arizona healed him of his tuberculosis, but still he did not go home or contact his family.  Instead, year after year he continued to expand the castle until he passed away of cancer in 1945.  Upon his death, Mary Lou, now 22 years old, received word that Bryce had left her an 8000 sq. ft. castle with 18 rooms and 13 fireplaces (although no running water or electricity).  Mary Lou and her mother moved into the castle and gave guided tours to generate income.  Business picked up when Life Magazine did a feature on the castle and its owners.

There was a trap door at the entrance of the castle, guarded by a metal crocodile.  Mary Lou was given strict instructions not to open the door until 1948.  When she finally did, she found a deed to the castle, two $500 bills, a piece of iron ore, a photo of her father right before his death, and a valentine that she had made him when she was 7. 

Mary Lou continued to live in the castle until she died in November 2010.  As much of an eccentric collector as her father, Mary Lou seems to have added many whimsical items to the castle.  As we continued the tour, room after room were stocked full of Southwestern art (probably Bryce's contributions), stuffed animals (probably Mary Lou's) and other knick knacks.

Dining Area

Kitchen

Dungeon?

Parlour - Items from Madame Jenny's Brothel in Jerome?

Bedroom

There is a Cantina/Bar area down in the basement, and a wishing well up on the top level patio.  The well acts as a dumb waiter where you could place your order for drinks in the bucket, and the drinks would be sent back up to you.  The bar is made up of half of an old stagecoach wagon.

Mary Lou loved cats and the cat motif shows up repeatedly in sculptures, paintings and even rocks painted to look like cats.  She kept a pet cat up in one of the towers who might have been named "Agatha Christie the Cat of Mystery " based on this pillow painted by "Picatso".

Portraits of both Boyce and Mary Lou are scattered throughout the castle, as well as  clippings of articles from Life Magazine and other newspapers that have visited the castle.  Many celebrities have toured the castle including Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne.

Bryce Gulley left his daughter a unique expression of his love, which she embraced and made the centre of her whole life.  Somehow I think she would have traded it all to get back those 15 years with her father.

Arizona - Phoenix - Biltmore Hotel and Condos

On the Taliesin West tour,  we learned that Frank Lloyd Wright was a consultant on the design of the Biltmore Hotel.  We were shown a beautiful photo of it, prompting us to go see it in person.  We did not realize until we got there that the Biltmore was also owned by gum magnate William Wrigley and was situated right next to the Wrigley Mansion, which we also planned to tour.  In fact we intended to see the Wrigley Mansion first but our GPS led us right in the middle of the Biltmore complex and insisted that "we had arrived", even though the mansion was actually further up a hill.

Frank Lloyd Wright's influence was obvious both inside and outside the hotel.  In the gardens, the Asian sculptures that he designed featured prominently, and were the same ones found at Taliesin West.
Inside, there is a bar named "Frank and Albert", named after Frank Lloyd Wright and architect Albert Chase McArthur.  The decor prominently featured Wright's favourite colour, a deep orange-red that he used frequently in his furnishings, as well many of his cars.

It was over 36 degrees celsius in the blazing sun in Phoenix (quite a difference from the -2 low in Grand Canyon a few days earlier), so stopping in the bar for a cold drink and air conditioning was top on our agenda.

William Wrigley invested in the construction of the Biltmore just before the Great Depression.  When the markets collapsed, all the other investors went bankrupt.  Wrigley never believed in banks and kept his money stored in vaults on his property, so he was not affected by the stock crash and ended out buying the Biltmore all on his own.

Wrigley was both an altruist as well as an excellent business man.  During World War I, he could not produce enough gum to supply both the troops and the general public, so he decided to send all supplies to the troops.  However he continued to advertise his gum, building excitement so that when the war ended, there was an explosion of pent-up demand for the gum.  This was truly an amazing man as well as a wonderful family man.

On the same "compound" as the Biltmore Hotel were the several condo complexes built around a golf course.  We thought it would be fun to take a tour of the model suite to see how the millionaires live.  To our surprise, we did not get a huge sales pitch or have to fill out any forms or personal information in order to see the suite.  Neither did we get turned away for not looking rich enough to warrant seeing the place.

So we were allowed to wander around on our own through a 3500 square feet, $1.5million condo, imagining where we could hang our art if we lived there ... I think we would have to buy more art!  There was a huge open concept living room/dining room/kitchen area, 3 large bedrooms, each with ensuite bath and walk-in closets, other offices and studies and a large covered ground floor terrace with a view of the golf course.  The place was so large that I kept getting lost.

Continuing further down the road from the condo development, we started getting into the designer homes.  Finally after being in suburbs of Phoenix where cookie cutter homes all looked identical, we were able to see huge houses each with unique design, landscaping and personality.  It was also interesting to note all the Mexican gardeners busy at work on the lawns.  Despite all that effort though, the grass of these upscale homes were still slightly brown from the sun and heat.  There's no escaping the power of the desert, even if you are extremely rich!

One house in particular had a definite Frank Lloyd Wright feel to it with the patterns on the gates.

Arizona - Phoenix - Botanical Garden

We were lucky enough to go to the Phoenix Botanical Garden on National Public Gardens Day, which gave us free admission, although it was probably unusually crowded.  When we took our tour of the Red Rocks State Park in Sedona, we learned a lot about cactus and desert plants.  Unfortunately many of the plants they described as having colourful flowers were not in bloom at the time.


At the botanical garden finally we saw proof that beautiful lush plants and flowers actually could thrive in the desert.  There was an entire trail devoted to desert wild flowers.

Some of the varieties of cactus also produced flowers including the hedgehog as well as the prickly pear, whose fruit provides a sugary syrup that is used to make candy, ice tea, sweeteners, etc.


On the guided tour that we took, we learned about the Saguaro cactus which can grow up to 40 feet high, weigh over 6 tons and live for several hundred years and may not grow arms for the first 80+ years.  The Saguaro is an endangered species so you need a permit to take any part of this cactus out of the desert (even a dead cactus is not allowed).  We heard about a couple of guys who caught with a saguaro and were fined by the inch, resulting in a whopping $75,000 fine.

We were shown a sickly looking stick and were told that it was called the "Arizona Queen of the Night", which seemed like a lofty name for this stick.  But apparently this plant blooms a beautiful flower for just one night, which then dies in the heat by the next day... blink and you'll miss it! 

We also saw a tree aptly called the Palo Verde, that had green bark, tiny leaves and small yellow flowers.  The leaves were too small to provide enough food for the entire plant, so  photosynthesis also takes place in the bark to help out.

Arizona - Phoenix - Wrigley Mansion

Rich always displays mock annoyance at other husbands who go out of their ways to please their wives, saying that "they are bad influences and set the bar too high".   When we heard the history of William Wrigley Jr, the founder of Wrigley gum and his acts of love for his wife Ada, Rich knew that he was way out of his league.

Wrigley bought Catalina Island and built a home with 360 degree views on Mount Ada, named after his wife. 

Then for their 50th wedding anniversary, he built Wrigley Mansion, again up on a hill with panoramic views of Phoenix including the Biltmore Hotel (which he also owned), and Camelback Mountain (also known locally as Praying Monk Mountain due to a small mound of earth that seems to represent that shape).

We took a guided tour of the mansion which included lunch at Geordie's, the in-house restaurant.  The mansion contains 24 rooms, 12 bathrooms, spans 19,000 square feet and cost 1.2 million dollars when it was built in 1930.  In the ballroom sits a Steinway piano that was rigged to play automatically via remote control.  Wrigley arranged for George Gershwin, Ada's favourite musician, to record 10 songs for the piano.  The remote control had a long cord so that Ada could listen to the music while curled up by the fireplace.  The tour-guide played us a sample of Gershwin's Rapsody in Blues and the acoustics were amazing.

Wrigley owned the Catalina Tile Company for a few years and all the bathrooms in the mansion are walled with ceramic tiles made from this factory. 

We learned that Wrigley was a very kind and generous employer.  He treated his 14 servants like family and gave each of them their own bedroom and bathroom.  The sample room we saw was lavishly furnished and not what you would expect for a servant's quarter.  At his company, he gave provided life and health insurance for his employees and was one of the first to support 5 day work weeks.

After William and Ada Wrigley had passed away, the mansion was up for sale and possible demolition when it was bought and restored by millionaire stew maker George (Geordie) Hormel.  Geordie was an eccentric who liked to wear his hair long and dress like a hippie.  He was known to play the piano at the mansion during Sunday brunch and was often thought to be a homeless man by the restaurant patrons, which he thought was hilarious.  It was interesting to see old photos of Geordie as a young man, including his wedding photo with his first wife, actress Leslie Caron! 

We had lunch in the restaurant named after Geordie, where I had a mahi mahi fish sandwich with truffled french fries and Rich had a "caprese salad" although it was made with spinach instead of basil.

Arizona - Montezuma's Castle

Montezuma's Castle is an example of native Indian architecture dating back to 1100 AD where living units were built into cliffs far above the floor of the valley.  Some rooms were formed from natural caves and some had to be dug out.  Multiple ladders were used to climb up to the various compartments. It is unclear why they chose to live in places so difficult to get to access, unless it was for protection against predators and enemies.

This castle and other buildings were constructed by the Sinagua tribe who lived in this area several hours north of Phoenix for almost 300 years before suddenly and inexplicably abandoning their homes and migrating away in 1400AD.   It is said that many Hopi tribes are descendents of the Sinagua.  It was fascinating to see the remaining structures still standing today, as well as the miniature models depicting what life might have been like back then.

Arizona - Grand Canyon

When we finally reached the Grand Canyon, the breath-taking view met all our expectations.  My earliest memory about the Grand Canyon was watching the Brady Bunch family ride mules down one of the trails.  I was therefore delighted to witness this mule trek in person although I had no interest in trying it myself.  Descending steep narrow windy paths with no guard rails while sitting on a big animal is not my idea of a good time. 

I did however walk down for a little bit on the Bright Angel Trail which winds all the way down to the bottom of the canyon and is shared by both mules and hikers.  Walking down and admiring the sunset was great but coming back up would have been the issue so I didn't go too far down. 

The next morning, we did spot the mule caravan heading down that trail, as well as hikers way down towards the bottom of the canyon.

Starting early in the morning, we took a 5 kilometre hike along the South Rim before hopping on the shuttle bus to get to the rest of the stops.  The weather in Arizona swings up to 20 degrees from morning to midday
so it was a bit chilly when we started but comfortable as the day wore on.  Getting the early start meant we had the trails and views to ourselves for the first few hours before the other tourists showed up.

Along the way, helpful signs explained about the topology and history of the Canyon.  The signs are usually on the trail away from the rim, or tucked safely behind guard rails.  We were surprised to see one sign precariously close to the tip of a cliff with no rails or other protection.  Curious, Rich gingerly eased up to it to read "Danger, don't get too close to the edge".  Ironically he would have never considered even going out on that ledge if the sign had not been there.

Given the expanse of the canyon, it is impossible to rail off the whole thing to protect senseless people from taking careless risks in search of the ultimate photo opportunity.  We saw several candidates for the Darwin Awards, including one man who had scampered down not one but multiple ledges.  Another woman was traversing the trails in high heels.

At the far east end of the South Rim is the Desert View Watchtower, a 70ft structure built in 1933 to provide spectacular views of the canyon while using local stones and materials to blend into the environment following the principals of organic architecture.

Winding staircases lead to multiple circular viewing balconies all the way to the top of the tower.  The walls inside the tower are covered with images depicting Hopi mythodology and religious rites.

It was in the gift shop of this tower that I finally learned the name and legend behind the image that we have seen repeatedly on everything including sculptures, paintings, t-shirts.  The Kokopelli is a fertility deity depicted as a hunch-backed flute player.

Arizona - On the Road

The drive between Sedona, Grand Canyon and Flagstaff was so scenic that even I, who usually fall asleep as soon as a car starts moving, stayed awake for most of the journey.  In particular, one area on Highway 64 between Grand Canyon and Flagstaff has been appropriately named the "Painted Desert". It was easy to believe that you were actually looking at an Impressionist painting made up of hills with streaks of pinks, whites, greens, golds and brown earth and small canyons (only small after seeing the Grand Canyon but actually fairly sizable).
The one time that I did doze off, I woke up with a start when Rich shouted out in surprise.  I opened my eyes just in time to see a large deer standing right in the middle of the highway off in the horizon, staring us down.  I was not quick enough to snap a shot the deer before he scampered off to safety.

Continuing on towards the Grand Canyon, we spotted the cutest little church out in the middle of nowhere about 30 miles north of Flagstaff on Highway 180.  The tiny A-shaped Church of the Holy Dove was built by Doctor Watson Lacy in the 1960s.  The back of the church is entirely of glass, providing a stunning view of the snow-capped mountains.

It is open to the public and many weddings have taken place here, including the marriages of 4 of Lacy's 6 children.  There is a quaint sign pinned to the bulletin board which reads,  "In order to avoid duplication or conflict of day and times of weddings, we ask that you please leave a visible note and call ... to reserve the chapel".

One final unexpected stop was at the Planes of Fame Air Museum, which Rich could not let pass by without visiting.  Rich is an airplane affictionato who can point to a tiny black dot in the sky and name the model, year and history of the plane.  He was most excited about seeing the Grumman F3F, the last U.S. Navy biplane fighter aircraft. Knowing nothing about airplanes, I told him I liked the red one.

At the same location as the airplane museum was a collection of vintage cars and motorcycles.  Included was a 1908 Buick Convertible with an external rumble seat, brass steering wheel and oil lamps as well as a 1906 Reo Roundabout with wooden spoke wheels and a squeezable horn.  One interesting fact we learned was that the owner acquired all these cars, motorcycles, and even a helicopter from sales on EBay!  This worries me since Rich recently figured out how to buy things on EBay...