The Grand Canyon

"Why do I need to read this chapter about erosion when I'm sitting in the Grand Canyon!? I mean the chapter has a picture of the Grand Canyon and I'M THERE FOR GOODNESS SAKES!" 

Touché. 

We may have hit a bump in this whole road schooling thing. It is admittedly hard to take the tradition out of a certified teacher, but I seriously feel I am coming up with some cool lessons, experiments, and journal assignments all while hitting grade appropriate standards and this week all of the above were crap according to my students. I quit. Crap. I can't.

And who knew place value was so hard to teach. I mean can I get some help? A You Tube video? Oh no, that's right, I can't. I have no cell service. Props to our teachers back in the day who had no internet or SMART boards. Props to elementary school teachers in general. I mean ALL the subjects, ALL the time. Bless. 

Time to throw in the towel and lean on my new and trusted friend, the park ranger. You want to teach my child about Grand Canyon erosion, animal adaptations, and the history of the people who inhabit this area? Please. I seriously love these people!

This was my favorite ranger. He was a great sport and taught the girls all about the smartest creature in the park...the raven. We are now all officially obsessed with ravens. They can unzip your backpacks for food, they love to play tag and other games with fellow creatures, are not afraid of wolves and will even lead them to a dead meal they need a better crack at, can mimic human speech, and even recognize human faces. I could go on...Obsessed. 

So the Grand Canyon... I actually had no strong desire to see it except for its popularity... been there, done that. Well, I was mistaken. This was beyond a fine educational example of erosion and a check on the bucket list.

Look down and you are staring into billions of years worth of deposition and erosion. The Yavapai Geology Museum and the many rim trail plaques are fascinating, but can't even begin to dumb it down for the mere onlooker. I cannot imagine being a geologist here. For the visitor, it is something to sit for a minute on a precipice and consider the sights and sounds of this area, covered in ocean, receding, then again covered in ocean, or better yet covered in its earliest layers of sediment still connected, then to imagine the Colorado Plateau's uplift and the Colorado River beginning its descent, even to consider it as it appeared to the earliest inhabitants when all was quiet and theirs. When you look to the bottom and learn the river erodes the canyon 1 mm a year it puts into perspective billions of years in the making. Powerful.

We listened to a geologist speak about the canyon and he framed his presentation by questioning why we come to the Grand Canyon. He said we don't travel to national parks like the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion and others to see the rock. We go because of what the experience of seeing the rock does inside of us. He said when we first see it, we gasp, but then we quickly try to focus on something familiar because it is too much for the senses. We go to the Visitor Center, eat at the lodge, etc. He challenged us to SEE the canyon and to stay in our moment of awe. 

Did you know the majority of visitors only spend 20 - 30 min looking at the canyon and leave? Hard to believe. Only 15% hike below the rim. We vowed to be in the 15% and not lose our sense of wonderment. 

We chunked the South Rim into 4 days, heading out to the end, Hermits Rest, day 1 for a ranger led hike. Our ranger didn't show so we showed ourselves to the rim and hiked down a bit. It was gorgeous! We used the park's shuttle system and hoped on and off to a few overlooks as well. Beautiful. 

Day 2 we explored the visitor center, saw their IMAX welcome movie, and hiked the rim trail. 

Day 3 we did a 2 mile round trip hike below the rim on the famous Bright Angel Trail. The trail is narrow, on the edge, and no joke. 2 miles was my anxiety limit with littles.

Our favorite sign in the Grand Canyon!

Daddy was inspired by the many hikers returning to cheers or descending with full packs and excitement and decided he would attempt the 19 mile hike to the bottom of the canyon and back. We dropped daddy off at 5:30 am and wished him well. Momma worried. All. Day. 

The girls set off to explore and had a blast, but the day was off for me. After three months of traveling with Dad at the helm of all things safety I felt a bit uneasy. I always recognize how much he does for us, but today I tacked providing sense of peace, companionship, and protection to his list of admirable duties. Was the RV ventilated enough to keep the dog alive, was the water off to prevent flooding while gone, were the compartments all locked, propane, keys, should the awnings be in or left out due to wind... The decisions! Yesterday he was taking apart the panels over my passenger seat to ensure the next bump didn't dislodge the tv onto my head... He does love me. 

So without daddy our day was missing something, but still fun. We cut it short, grabbed the dog, and went to the trailhead to eagerly await his return. We spotted him after an hour of watching no bigger than an ant. Wow, do the girls know their daddy! We all hid and surprised him as he crested the top! He was so happy! He thought he was taking the bus back to the campsite as we couldn't estimate his return time. We were so proud of him! We all sat on the El Tovar porch and had the best beer and Shirley Temples we'd enjoyed in a long time!

We leave tomorrow in the top 15% and very much in awe of this big "crack in the Earth!"