Grand Canyon: International Superstar

[madlori]

I'm a friendly sort of person, so when I was in London and having lunch or what have you, I often struck up conversations with strangers.  Two different Londoners, upon ascertaining that I am American, asked me if I'd been to the Grand Canyon.

This just supported my theory, formulated some years ago, that the rest of the world is fascinated by the

Comments

[aiela]

That's really interesting!

(And I totally agree about the gaping. My husband took hundreds of photos of the Canyon when we were there at Christmastime, and not one of them does it justice. You just can't wrap your head around something that BIG.)

[madlori]

Just about everybody comments on the fact that after you look at it for awhile, it starts to look fake...like a matte painting backdrop. I think it's because your brain actually has trouble wrapping itself around the sheer expanse, so it starts pretending it isn't real.

And it is totally one of those things were you take a million photos that all look the same and none of them remotely convey what it actually looks like.

[shygryf]

is it really only 17%? I guess it just seemed like more.

I lived on the south rim for six months and never got used to it really. and being from Arizona, it was confusing for people that tucson is six hours away and i had never been to the south rim before i moved there and only to the north rim on a family vacation when i was 8.

[amandioka]

Interesting.

The only thing people from other countries think about Brazil is soccer. Then they think of bikinis and waxing. LOL

[fabrisse]

People are often surprised at the sheer size of the US. I like your theory about why it's the Grand Canyon they all love.

[madlori]

Oh yes. I knew a lot of international students in grad school who'd never been here and were shocked to discover that it's nine hours from Columbus to New York...they'd thought it was around three.

[trekfan]

wow I didn't know that the Grand Canyon was such a big thing for foreign tourists. I've never been there so they'd be SOL if they asked me for details. I have been to Niagara Falls (on the Canadian side)

I wonder if Yellowstone or Yosemite get as many visitors? Or Carlsbad Cavern (or Devil's Tower, I mean it did get a lot of exposure in "Close Encounter of the Third Kind.")