GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, AZ — An iconic Arizona lodge is now reportedly gone after being burned down by the Dragon Bravo wildfire.
According to the park superintendent, the fire destroyed multiple structures, including the Grand Canyon Lodge, the only lodging inside the park's North Rim.
When former Grand Canyon Lodge employee Jody Brand heard the news from her son, memories of her time there came flooding back.
"I met his dad at the Grand Canyon,” she said with a smile. “And so that's how he came to be...It's definitely been a life-changing choice and an experience for me working at the Grand Canyon."
Brand worked at the lodge in the 1980s as a housekeeper and porter, helping guests with their bags. After a time, she got to know the place inside and out.
“You get into the lodge, and the actual dining room, again, was beautiful. It had windows that looked right out onto the Grand Canyon, and so, of course, those were the best seats in the house, being able to sit on those huge windows next to them and look out while you ate," she recalled.
Brand says she not only met her husband at the Grand Canyon, but also connected with her fellow employees and park enthusiasts.
Even after she finished working there, she kept coming back.
“We have lost history,” she said. “So many people have gone there and sat in the saloon or in the sunroom or on the veranda... they can rebuild it, but they will never get it back, not to the way it was.”
Even though the lodge is gone, Brand says the impact it had on her life, and many others, lives on.
“It was very magical,” she said.
