The Grand Canyon - Day Three

This was it! The main reason that we went to Arizona to begin with! One of the truly biggest and most inspiring natural wonders in the world!

I had always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, but had begun to wonder when, or even if, it was going to ever happen.

Now, it was happening!

It was really getting exciting now!

I do not want to get into just how this particular trip came about. At first, I was supposed to spend my vacation time in Poland with my girlfriend. But when we could not find anyone to watch the diabetic dog, that trip fell through (for me, not for her). Strike one. Then, I began to flirt with the idea of going somewhere entirely new, and St. Petersberg seemed a great option. I had a friend who was a Russophile, and he seemed interested. But he also did not have a job, and could not do it. Strike two. I began to look at domestic trips, and it seemed like maybe it would be a good idea to capitalize on my son's still strong interest in geology, particularly in rocks and minerals. So, a trip out west began to be the leading candidate. A trip that combined two of the biggest natural wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park, began to look more realistic. But such a trip would require a lot of time and money, and when I found out that the days that I was looking for were not open, and that, on top of it, my vacation time expired a week earlier than expected (it goes by anniversary date, which happens to fall in August), I really hesitated in using all of that vacation time almost immediately after obtaining it.

Strike three.

Crap, thought I.

So, it would have to be one or the other, not both.

The trip to Yellowstone as I imagined it would look like this: take a flight out to Denver, visit Pike's Peak, drive along Rocky Mountain National Park, and then make our way to Yellowstone National Park, stopping at the Grand Tetons along the way. It would be at least a week, but that, too, took up probably more vacation time then I felt comfortable with right now. Also, the drive from Denver to Yellowstone was a full day there, and a full day back. Assuming the first day was no good because of the flight out there, and the last day was no good because of the flight back, four days would be wasted, just like that. That was too much.

So, the Grand Canyon seemed like the best option remaining, and this was hardly a consolation prize. I always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon, and this would be great for my son!

Plus, a trip out to Arizona would allow us to see the southwestern desert, a first for both of us. Add to that the possibility of traveling to the Mexican border (see the blog entry a few days ago on our trip out to Nogales), and the mountains of Flagstaff, and it was looking like one hell of a trip! On top of it, as I was doing research on the trip, I discovered that we could visit the Petrified Forest, and when my son heard about these fossilized trees that had turned to crystalized stones over the course of millions of years, he definitely wanted to go. 

But it all centered around the Grand Canyon, first and foremost. And now, it was here!

What can I (or anybody, really) say about the Grand Canyon in words that do justice to what you are looking at? 

Really, you cannot. It is beyond words.

The Grand Canyon is more, far more, than simply some "big, damn hole in the ground," as one fellow hotel goer in Flagstaff tried to put it.

Regard the colors, and the enormity of it. Contemplate how these layers of rocks are essentially the closest thing to a recorded natural history of the planet that we have, as you are looking on billions of years of geological history.

In our modern society, we often regard the inevitable lines on our face indicating age with some measure of horror. But here, the lines of age etched into stone are beautiful, inspiring, and allow us to gain better perspective on our own smallness, and the tiny fragment of time that our lives actually occupy. Like when we regard the countless stars and galaxies in the sky, and recognize just how small we are, you come to this place and recognize that you are only one among millions of visitors per year, and you cannot help but wonder how many visitors this place has had, and will have. Lives briefly pass through here, but this place, by contrast, feels eternal. It is not, but it is one of the places here on Earth that feels eternal. 

This is beyond words, indeed.

So, let the pictures do the talking. And I promise that the pictures from the better camera will go up on this blog page sometime in the near future. It will happen. 

But for now, here are some of the many, many pictures taken from the old cell phone:

I mentioned that words cannot do justice to a site such as the Grand Canyon.

True enough. But that said, one man in particular was instrumental in allowing this, and many other sites, to be preserved for future generations (that means us!).

Of course, I am speaking of none other than Theodore Roosevelt.

So, here are some quote from the man himself that seemed appropriate:

"There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children's children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred."

"I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us."

"In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which is in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is. I hope you will not have a building of any kind, not a summer cottage, a hotel or anything else, to mar the wonderful grandeur, the sublimity, the great loneliness and beauty of the canyon. Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it."