I compose this after spending the day at the Grand Canyon. Glenn has taken the boys to the arcade, so I have the RV to myself and my thoughts. The only word I can come up with the describe the Grand Canyon is majestic. I have obviously seen pictures through the years and have often been told that pictures don't do it justice, but I never imagined anything like the beauty I saw today.

We got a late start this morning. It was tough to get going after being on the road for the last few days. We are staying about 50 miles away, so immediately the boys started complaining about being cramped into the back of the car. They are so spoiled by traveling in the RV. I thought the terrain or topography would change as we got closer to the canyon, but it remained the same throughout the drive. We found a parking space at the Visitors Center, took entirely too long on our potty break and started the trek to the Rim Trail. They are doing construction around the Visitors Center, so paths were blocked off and fencing made the paths that were there more narrow. Then we finally got the the Grand Canyon. I looked out over it and the mom in me started to panic slightly. The last think I wanted was for one of my boys to get too close to the edge and topple over. There are no guard rails where we were standing and I was imagining the worse. It only took me a few minutes to get comfortable with the idea of getting closer to the edge. I had a heart to heart chat with Sean about how important it was that he listen and only step where mom or dad step. He was nervous about being so high up that he gladly complied. Soon we were scaling our way down the side of the canyon to an offshoot below. There is something exhilarating about being on a rock overlooking the Grand Canyon. We took lots of pictures, which don't do it justice, and stood in awe of the beauty of the landscape.

I haven't mentioned my mom and her husband Herb yet. They joined us this morning with their little dog Scruffy. Having a dog with them limited their ability to do much of anything, though I doubt my mom would have been scaling down the canyon wall. They hung out up top for a while before they got bored and decided to head back to the campground. I'm not sure when we'll cross paths with them again. They don't want to go to the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest with us tomorrow, so maybe we'll see them on Monday. They're enjoying their time camping, so I guess that should be good enough. I was hoping they were a little more interested in spending time with my boys since they only see them a couple times a year. Oh well, I have to let that one go.

Back to the Grand Canyon. After spending a few hours on the Rim Trail we desperately needed food. We brought plenty of water with us, so fortunately that was not an issue. We boarded a bus to the lodge and found a cafeteria. It was great to sit, relax and refuel. After lunch we went to the Visitors Center and talked to a Park Ranger about the Junior Ranger Program. The Grand Canyon program doesn't require any crazy stuff like the Gettysburg program. The main part of the program was having to participate in a Ranger led activity. There was a program starting in a few minutes so we got back on the bus and went to the Shrine of the Ages so the boys could do a fossil program. They had a great time and Glenn and I were able to sit back and enjoy the fresh mountain air. They completed the program, did a few written exercises and received their badges. Have I mentioned how much I love the Junior Ranger Program?

Next we drove over to the Verkamp Visitors Center so that we could walk more of the Rim Trail and end up at Bright Angel Trailhead. If we were crazy enough to want to hike to the bottom of the Canyon, that is where we would start. We aren't. The sun was starting to go down at the point, so the shadows on the canyon walls were gorgeous. Truly breathtaking. Reluctantly, it was time to leave.

I am so grateful I was able to experience the Grand Canyon first hand. It has been an item on my "to do" list for at least the last 30 years. I would joke with Glenn that if I died before I got to the Grand Canyon I wanted him to have "...and she never saw the Grand Canyon" put on my headstone. Now I have to come up with a new catchy line for my headstone. How about "...and she never saw Tahiti"?