The Grand Canyon

That magical chasm representative of heaven, earth, and man. The Abyss- a precipice of soft earthy colors embedded in rock with natural light and shadows playing with the textures of the various formations.
Caught a glimpse of the once endangered condor bird, with a wingspan of 9 feet. It casts a large shadow over all as it quickly soars past. The sun and shade bring out the rich colors of the walls of the canyon; blues, greens, black, rust and variations of brown. We do a combination of walking and driving the approximate 10 mile stretch of the South rim. Children and adults of all nationalitilies pass us- Indians, French, Germans. Accents are abound. Everyone is joyfull in the setting of this incredible show of beauty. The rock formations have various names like Vishnu Temple, confuscious Temple, Angel’s Gate, and Zuni Point. Hmm…. wonder where those names came from. Maybe representative of the people walking the rim. They also range from 270 million years old to 1.68 billion years old. I remember how much I liked geography in college a lot.
We had dinner and drinks at the El Tovar Inn overlooking the rim and passed on the Imax movie of the Canyon and called it a day. A wonderful day. The canyon runs 10 miles wide and 5 miles deep, and is postcard picture perfect. The park is well laid out- unlike Yosemite. There is a good mix of shuttles, cars, and people so there was a feeling of spaciousness. We were fortunate to get a Golden Access card and so were were able to go places with the RV that only tour buses and walkers could go to. Almost all of the people I saw in wheelchairs were young- possibly war vets. One fellow had both legs amputated above the knee. I suspect he is waiting for his prosthesis. I am humbled by them, and I feel very fortunate to be able to walk around with a cane although not far and for not very long.
May all beings be free from suffering and the root of suffering………