A Grand Vacation to the Grand Canyon
A few weeks ago, I went on a short trip to the Grand Canyon. A friend of mine and I had planned a trip to Las Vegas, and really just threw the Grand Canyon in there as an additional “why not” type thing.
It ended up being unbelievable, and without a doubt the most memorable part of the trip – Las Vegas doesn’t even come close.
A quote from the recent Ken Burns special on PBS works well:
When the Creator made it, he forgot to create a word to describe it.
I don’t necessarily believe in a Creator, but this still fits. There are no words.
We went to the South Rim, to Grand Canyon Village, where you can go to various different spots to look around (or if you are so inclined, hike in). Our first view of the Canyon was around 5am, right as the sun was about to come up, and it truly took my breath away. We all felt a need to whisper, we didn’t want to disturb the beautiful peace in front of us. Even my pictures look amazing, and I’m a pretty lousy photographer using a fairly old camera (the friend I went with IS a photographer, so most of my pictures for posterity are hers), although the majority of my sunrise pictures didn’t come out due to low light.
The first time I went to Paris, I felt an instant connection, an immediate need to spend more time there. And I did – a few years later I spent over a week in Paris staying at a friend’s apartment and simply tooling around the city like a Parisian. I hope to do that again, many, many times.
I feel the same way about the Grand Canyon, even though the experience is completely different. I want to spend more time there, not staring at it from above, but inside of it. I want to go down the Colorado, see the things that you can only see by river.
What amazed me the most, and I think a large part of the reason I need to go back – its not want, its need – is how untouched it is. Even up on the Rim, it’s not a huge resort town with lots of cars and hotels. It’s a very bare National Park, with basic cabins and campgrounds everywhere you look. There isn’t any entertainment – the entertainment is all around you, miles and miles of nothing.
It’s not just a big hole, as Chevy Chase said. It’s a spectacular look into history, at something created by the earth itself. It is amazing to think that something like this wasn’t planned, that it just happened, and yet, it did.
I am already looking into taking a river run sometime in 2010/2011 (these things have to be booked ages in advance), I want to plan and book it before the magic feeling the Grand Canyon created in me goes away. I know it will – feelings like that wear away with distance and time – but as long as I’ve already planned my trip back I can maybe keep some little piece of it alive.
Years ago, a woman around my age stepped up to the edge of the Rim, looked at the Grand Canyon for the first time, and was so stunned by the view that she fainted, falling in. As sad as that story is, I totally get it. The feeling is that incredible, your breath is taken away, and I can’t wait to feel it again.
You can see all my pictures from the Grand Canyon here.
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By Jeanine, October 5, 2009 @ 7:36 am
I have to say this was definitely the best vacation we have ever been on together. I wish we could’ve been there longer, seen more, hiked a little bit.
I cannot wait until we go back on that rafting tour. I promise to not let you forget our experience there or the magic that we both felt. I think, what’s most memorable about this trip for me, is that my experience is the same as yours, though you were able to put yours into words. I haven’t been able to find the words to describe it, without getting a big goofy grin on my face follow by an “it was… WOW”.
I’ve already started looking for waterproof camera cases