March 31: The Grand Canyon

[dawn_felagund]

Saturday, March 30, we picked up Bobby from the drop-off spot after he was done snowboarding and then had supper at a California Pizza Kitchen that was right across the street. The next day was an early one--our Grand Canyon trip!--so we kept it low-key that night and went to a neighboring casino, Mandalay Bay, to walk through their Shark Reef

Comments

[allie_meril]

*beams* You've made it to my favorite place in the world. The Canyon is so special to me, when I see others enjoy it and revel in its beauty, it makes me feel like standing in a patch of warm sunshine.

Park rangers hold a wonderful talk about the Condors at the Lookout Studio. When I was there in 2008, we were lucky enough to attend one, and it was completely fascinating! We saw quite a few birds, maybe 5 or 6, but then they're easier to see around the South Rim in the summertime.

Elves Chasm is one of those places that looks magical, like it could belong in Middle-earth. Another for my endless Grand Canyon bucket list! q

Naturally, I have a long recommended reading list on this subject, if you or anyone else are interested. :)

[dawn_felagund]

Your favorite place is spectacular! :D

I would love a reading list if it's not too much a pita to post it here. (Because I'm mid-semester, so if it ain't ancient or Renaissance literature, it has to wait till June, so it's not like I'm in a hurry. :)

Our guide told us a story about a group she took along the canyon. There was a California condor perched in the tree along the path. One of the guys in the group couldn't see it. They kept trying to direct him to where it was perched using landmarks and, finally, frustrated, he said, "All I see is a guy in black standing next to the trail!" I would love to see one up close; we periodically see bald eagles around here, and of course our turkey vultures, so to imagine a bird bigger than those? Is pretty incredible.

Elves Chasm! Wow! Our guide mentioned the waterfalls but not the name. The name totally fits the place. I'd love to visit it in-person too.

[heartofoshun]

More fabulous pictures! I love the desert trees. Alex would love the Cars town.

Condors! I adore Condors. I saw giant Condors in the Andes half a lifetime ago. They are really big. Not sure how big because I only saw them in full flight among those incredible peaks. Took my breath away is not an exaggeration.

[dawn_felagund]

The desert is so weird and wonderful. Bobby wants to move there. He might convince me (no more cold winters! my hands are like ice even as I type this!) once we get the house paid off.

I thought of Alex and also of Rhapsody's kids in Seligman, wondering if they liked that movie and would recognize the characters among the cars there. I saw Cars ages ago. I had to look up Mater's name for this post!

The condors were numbered, apparently; I could make out where the numbers were on their wings, even from the ground--they're that big!--but couldn't quite read the number itself.

[heartofoshun]

I adore Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I went at least twice a year for ages before my ex- and split up. His mother lives there. But there are no jobs. But I know that is not the only place to live in the desert; just the most expensive. It's so lovely though, if you can handle the preciousness of it--when I first starting going there it was not quite as precious as it is now.

[dawn_felagund]

The preciousness of where we live now is part of it! The cost of living in B'more is insane, for one of the most violent cities in the country and one with some of the worst traffic. It's not as bad up in Carroll County, but it's still expensive (not violent, but the traffic is getting awful even up here because so many people commute from southern PA into Baltimore for work, and we have only one road in the county that isn't a one-lane road, so it don't take much to get clogged up). If I could get a teaching position in Carroll County, I'd be fine--but then I'd be wrangling with my conscience because privileged kids aren't the ones I want to teach. (We do have a public alternative school, and Bobby and I laugh sometimes that I might be the only teacher in the county who would get into a cushy gig like where I student-taught with an eye toward transferring to ... the alternative school. O.O

[engarian]

I love the Canyon. I noticed that you and Bobby are staying a sensible distance from the edge - I've spend too much time on mesa tops and am too familiar with the feeling of crumbling rock below my feet to want to be anywhere close to that rim. But it is amazing and fantastic and so close to home that I'm totally homesick. I'm so pleased you had the chance to experience one of the truly phenomenal places of the world.

- Erulisse (one L)