November 2005

this is real. it is not a joke, a hoax, a fabrication, or a composite image. it doesn’t exist yet, but it’s going to. a glass-bottomed bridge will be built over the grand canyon, arcing 60 feet out with no support beams, letting visitors look straight down beneath their feet to the colorado river more than 1 km below. yes, i totally understand the principles of cantilevering (thanks, frank lloyd wright) but that doesn’t make any difference when you’re 60 feet off the edge of a cliff with seemingly nothing holding you up — a la wiley coyote. doc said “Just for fun, I would be likely to jump up and down on it to see how much it moved… But thats just me.” i reminded him that all spouses have a few “the hell you will” cards over the course of their lifetimes, and this would be one instance in which i would pull one out and play it. suddenly, my idea about a glass bottomed airplane doesn’t seem so crazy.