A Grand Crevace

Just spent 4 days walking and hiking around the Grand Canyon.

Yep. I know. It's quite a crevice. 

It's truly remarkable. Stunning. Moving. Knock-your-socks-off-feel-like-a-hundred-bucks amazing! (see gallery on the left)

Next stop, Zion National Park! Glacier National Park! Hell, the La Brea tar-pits right by my house! Sadly, I'm told that attendance at National Parks is on the decrease.

Wwhaatt? Yep. It's true.

Interestingly enough, visits by foreign tourists to our own national treasures are on the rise (thanks to the record low of our fantastic dollar- or perhaps because seeing natural wonders are more highly regarded in other cultures? Namely Japan and China).  Why is that?

Which got me thinking, what does that mean for us when we don't visit our own national parks? What else are we spending our time doing?  What's the value and importance of national parks and natural spaces? I was struck by how easy it was to forget how beautiful our own country was...how I've been more inclined to reach for a trip abroad than in my own backyard.  So much more glamour and "cultural experience" in traveling abroad, I had thought.  

What a silly little girl I am.

To overlook the trunk-load of incredible natural wonders in our own backyard is truly a tragedy not only to the individual, but to our nation.  What a lost opportunity for understanding more about our planet and our place in it. Everyone needs to see these incredible landscapes, see deer walking by and watch the sun play along

the canyon walls - if we don't fall in love with it enough to preserve and protect it... who will?If we don't enrich our lives by seeing the vastness of the American landscape, how will that change the America we give over to the next generation? What will be lost? Are we bringing up a generation who will value nature and understand their place within it? What's at stake?

So what started out a silly blog turned serious. 

Know the Canyon's History, See Rocks Made By Time. -Grand Canyon Motto

Booyah! A canyon billions of years in the making... what tiny little blip-of-a-life we all have.  Humbling? Empowering? Inspiring? Daunting? Go and decide.