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Missoula, Montana Architect Jim McDonald of A&E Architects fulfills lifelong dream restoring Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone

Jim McDonald was just another ranch kid visiting Yellowstone National Park with his family in the 1950s.

Like most of the tens of millions of tourists in Yellowstone over the years, the McDonalds of Cascade placed Old Faithful geyser near the top of their list of attractions and, afterward, their memories. But for young Jim, there was also the Crow’s Nest.

A series of catwalks and stairs led to a perch in the rafters of Old Faithful Inn, where a four-piece orchestra played. The story goes that Robert Reamer, the inn’s architect more than a half century earlier, had built it to fulfill a childhood fantasy for a tree house.

"Before the earthquake in ’59 you could go to the top of it," McDonald said last week. "That’s one of the things I remember is climbing up those stairs."

Look where he’s climbed to now.

A&E Architects – http://www.aearchitects.com/

By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/news/local/architect-jim-mcdonald-fulfills-lifelong-dream-restoring-old-faithful-inn/article_b117152a-3f3a-11e1-9211-001871e3ce6c.html

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