seeing something new

There's comfort in the familiar...but there's excitement in the new.  As the days counted down to this trip, it was hard to contain my excitement.  As we were wrapping things up in Phoenix, getting ready to head north to the Grand Canyon, it was hard not to smile.
In a few hours I would be standing on the rim of a mile deep, 277 miles long, and up to 18 miles wide canyon.
The Grand Canyon.

As a very flambouant Ranger Ron put it, there is only one Grand Canyon.  It's not the grand canyon of someplace.  It's The Grand Canyon.  Period.  It's the Canyon that other canyons want to grow up to be like. 

On our way in to the park, I started wondering if it would be as grand as it's name.  We had come all this way, made a long drive sort of out of the way to just see it.  "What if's..." kept running through my head.  Those doubts couldn't dampen my excitement, though, but for only a second.  Then I'd be smiling again.

We entered via the south entrance.  It was closer than any other from where we were, so we went with it.  Sometimes you have to go on what works for the moment.  We only had a few hours to enjoy seeing what we could before moving on to the Hoover Dam and to Vegas for the night.

There was a haze in the distance, but the wind was brisk and the sun bright.  A beautiful day to be hiking around the rim.  With every step one direction or the other brought different light to the same view.  It made the crevices, the rock walls, the canyon look new with each step.  Add the wispy clouds that made a rainbow shape over the Grand Canyon and one has a memory to remember. 

We spent quite a bit of time at the rim and at the visitor center...the IMAX movie they showed was breathtaking and informative...in a good way.  We hiked to another view point on the rim before heading to the geology center to hear a ranger program so the boys could get their Junior Ranger badges.  Ranger Ron's 13 minute talk may just be my favorite memory of the visit.  He was hilarious and made the view of the Canyon behind him come to life. 

One word to describe my visit...grand!