Photo Journal/ A-Z Photo Challenge: G is for Glorious Grand Canyon

It is that time of the week again, as we join Frizztext’s A-Z Photo Challenge. Letter this week is G – perfect letter, as I am excited to share with you a few of my photos and share little story-snippets from our Grand Canyon Experience in Arizona. This must be one of the greatest highlights of our trip in the States this year. It is an unparalleled visual experience as nature takes hold of you for a few moments, nudging you to gaze at the grand expanse of rocks and more rocks and feel God’s hands at work.

Grand Canyon, Arizona

Meet Kathy, everyone. She is our sassy bus driver who definitely made our experience even more memorable. She is one tough cowgirl (complete with the drawl) who knows her stuff and drove our huge bus all the way from Las Vegas, Nevada to the Grand Canyon Park in Arizona (with a short side trip as well to Hoover Dam) and across that bumpy, unpaved, dusty 7-mile stretch as we got near the Park. She has this tough, exuberant, free spirit that easily drew me to her.

We left the hotel at 730 in the morning and arrived around 1020 at the Park. While I could have used the time to sleep, I thought that it would also be wonderful to capture the breathtaking view as we were traveling.

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” 
― Robert Louis Stevenson, The Silverado Squatters

I love how my husband was able to capture the dust from the car ahead of us, the clouds on the horizon, and the varying shades of brown and greens from the rocks on the side of the road. Can you taste the dust and sense the blister-inducing heat?

Our first stop was Eagle Point. Do you see that stretch of rock in the middle with its wings spread out like an eagle? Makes you wonder really about such natural craftsmanship that is so pure, simple, unsullied by man.

That extension that you can see is called the Sky Walk. It’s a see-through enclosure that allows you to touch the heavens for a few minutes, gazing at the expanse of the Grand Canyon from a different height and perspective – one that is suspended in space and time. Whoever thought of creating this was brilliant. They did mention that the natives of the region had a lot of stipulations even before it was built – that it should be done without marring or altering the face of the Canyon in the least.

As cameras are not allowed in the SkyWalk, we had to purchase this picture from official photographers for 30 USD. Quite pricey, but as this is our only testament to walking the sky, I thought it was worth it.

“…because he had no place he could stay in without getting tired of it and because there was nowhere to go but everywhere, keep rolling under the stars…” 
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road

“The journey itself is my home.” 
― Bashō Matsuo

I actually have a few more photos from Guano Point and Hualapai Ranch, but I thought that I’d save those for later. How about you dear friends, what is your G Photo Story this week?