Isn't It GRAND!?!

If you’re planning a driving vacation this summer and the Grand Canyon (northern Arizona) is within your range, and you haven’t seen it yet, do it. I was there only once, when I was 10, and I’ll never forget our local sheriff stumbling in pebbles at the rail, grasping the bars for dear life, then bolting for the restroom. The good sheriff never was in real danger, actually. He and his family were traveling with ours (my father was a deputy and sort of his right-hand man, in our small hometown back East) on our venture to the West Coast to visit my brother Clayton. We also saw the Painted Desert, a ghost town or two, and the entire breadth of Texas, among other things. Of all our southwestern remembrances, the canyon stands out. It’s truly grand.

A few facts to stir your interest: The Grand Canyon is almost a mile deep and, at its extremes, 18 miles wide. We tend to think of it as a great gorge in a fairly level landscape, but the surroundings are anything but level. Remarkably, the elevation drops almost a quarter of a mile from the canyon's northern to southern rims. Formidable snows close the northern heights to tourists fully half the year.

If you have time to take the mule train downward or lunge through on a wild Colorado River rafting excursion, but all means do. But if nothing else, just go. Stand at the edge and survey God’s art. It’s a destination for individuals and families alike, and it’s for a lifetime.