Ben and Sue Day 50

Friday, October 26, 2007, Day 50

. . . We took a tour of the Grand Canyon today -- was much fun.  Went in a big van with four other people.  Our driver/tour guide was very knowledgeable about the Canyon -- took us to some beautiful spots.  As always the view was breathtaking -- I never fail to be in awe of the beauty  our Heavenly Father has created.  There were so many layers of  rock and each one was a different shade or a different color entirely from the layer above and below it.  Our guide was explaining  that there has been a 9 year drought in this part of Arizona and many ranchers are trying to sell their land and move on.  Evidentially land can be bought for a song but to live on the land is incredibly expensive and difficult.  No one digs wells here beause if one is lucky they may find water at 1000 feet but it is risky and expensive.  Otherwise everyone lives in the city  and uses the community well.  He was saying that if you live away from the city well- water you buy your water in tanks much like propane tanks.  If you buy the water yourself it is 15 cents a gallon.  If you have it delivered it is about 25 cents a gallon.  No long hot showers for those people for sure.

. . .The group of people we went with were a lot of fun -- each one having travelled different places and  thus having different stores to tell.  Made the trip more interesting.

. . . The book I bought about  the Canyon explains that the first Europeans to see the Grand Canyon were Spanish Conquistadors in 1540 -- searching for the great Colorado River of which they had been told.  After weeks searching for water in the desert they gave up their search and it was not until 1775 that Francisco Graces once again began to explore.

The Canyon is so vast one feels overwhelmed by its immense size, the strange shapes, colors and variety of landscape.  The stories our guide told about the people over the decades who tried to etch out a living in this harsh desert land were sometimes funny sometimes sad, and  other times amazing.  He told us that sometimes there can be as much as a  40 degree difference in temperature between the bottom of the canyon and the rim.  Many Hopi and Navajo Indians have lived here for hundreds of years.  As I travel and learn little by little more about the Indians and their way of life -- I am beginning to appreciate and admire their way of life, their traditions, their culture.  Much like at Little Big Horn -- all my life I only knew  the Hollywood version of American Indians which is altogether wrong and harmful to teach actually.  I am incredibly thankful for this awesome opportunity to learn so much truth. 

At one point the guide explained to us that for every head of cattle one must have about 40 acres of land because the dry/dead grass just does not provide much nutrition.

. . . Bought a new book today at the Grand Canyon Bookstore -- sometime the titles of books are so -- ha ha I'm taking a break just in the middle of this sentence to tell you that I wanted to write -- . . . so intriguing -- but wasn't sure how to spell it  and since my spell check doesn't work I at first choose  the word "interesting" instead -- then I remembered I do have a dictionary with me so I looked it up -- ha ha!

. . . Let's see, where was I . . . oh yes . . I was telling you about the title of this book "Last Child in the Woods" with a subtitle "Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder".   On the back cover it explains "In his  groundbreaking work about the staggering divide between children and outdoors, journalist and child advocate Richard Louv directly links the absence of nature in the lives of today's wired generation to some of the most disturing child-hood trends:  the rise in obesity, attention disorders, and depression."  So when I get home if I don't answer my phone for a few days hopefully you will understand and be patient with me?

Sue