That’s what I said when I first looked into the canyon. Don’t get me wrong, I, as well, was impressed by the free Internet access, but it was not the first, second, or third item on my list to tell about to folks.

Even though I’d seen 50,000 pictures of the grand Canyon, because I knew it had been carved by the Colorado River, I was still picturing this steep drop on one side, river, steep drop on the other side. I was not picturing many, many canyons, erosion upon erosion. The magnitude of the place is amazing. I think back to being in the Black Hills of South Dakota — a place I loved visiting — and seeing Mt. Rushmore — what a disappointment that was. Again, I’d seen so many pictures and replicas, but this was a very different experience.

I was only sad we did not get to see any coyotes, yet. We did see many ravens — Poe would be proud. We did do the hike Sujal described below — and where Sujal describes it as relatively easy, I am going to describe it as relatively difficult. (Relative being the key operative in both.) Clearly many, many people hike this trail, but it is not for those wildly afraid of heights, like me — walking down snow and ice covered switchbacks. As a rule, I usually try to avoid plummeting to my death. Alas, once we got past that, actually once we got about a mile into the canyon, I could have gone on for a long time. It was really beautiful. The depth is very deceptive. What looks like it could not possibly be that far away, is very far. One needs binoculars (or hawk-like eyes) to see the mini-hikers on the trails. Part of me expected to see hundreds of sheep grazing on green plateaus, but that would have been from seeing to many movies of Ireland or New Zealand. I also have to commend Sujal on his supportive and helpful “easing” me down the first switchbacks.

Going up gave us many opportunities to “stop and smell the roses” as it was a hell of a hike out of there. Hoo-boy, were we huffin’ and puffin’ — and not blowing anything down. Actually, it wasn’t bad at all with frequent breaks. I would do it again, particularly if someone carried me down those first few switchbacks, where perhaps not only the mules soiled the path.

The Hoover Dam was an earlier stop. It’s dang big as well, but I’m always more impressed with non-human created large views. It was interesting, and I could not stop wondering about the many workers who surely lost their lives on such a big project (one of my non-blood relatives died many years ago building the Grand Island Bridge).

Today we leave and head up to Bryce Canyon, my mama’s favorite.