"The Gift of Time"

What does one do with 27 hours of pure time a day. Can you imagine the days when you look up and see that it is 9 pm already and you are not done; only to be given the time that you need. I never would have planned a day as filled as our second day on vacation, but because of Monday's fiasco; we didn't really have a choice. On Tuesday, we woke up at 4 AM. I say "woke" in the loosest sense of the word, our alarm went off and Tyler says (in a not even close to groggy voice) "I hope you slept some, because I didn't". Well, I didn't really either, but who's counting?

We arrived at the airport on that pre-dawn morning in time to share a nice hot breakfast in a 1940's diner. Then we boarded our plane at 6:30 AM and were finally on our way to the west coast!

A mere 2 hours later, by the clock anyways, we were landing in the bright, warm, dry city of Phoenix. By 10 AM we were in a nice little luxurious Hyundai headed up to the land beyond to get a glimpse of a not-so-little canyon.

The drive was incredible. In Phoenix the landscaped "lawns" and roadside vegetation looked just as I would imagine it to be in a warm dry climate. As we gained altitude and leveled off on the Colorado Plateau, however, the cacti became rarer and rarer until they were practically non-exsistent. Instead the plants were some short stunted grass mixed with short bushes, and sad stunted pines. It was obvious that the water content was more significant, and yet, not as wet to boast tall trees like we have everywhere in Maine. Honestly, I had never been so interested in plain, ordinary vegetation. But, I found the change to be drastic and entirely riveting.

Something else changed as we broached the plateau and continued our upward travels. The weather was suddenly not as warm, and you could feel some humidity. By 3 PM we were entering Grand Canyon National Park and preparing for our first glimpse...

After four hours of basking in the hazy beautiful view and sharing a wonderful dinner together in the lodge, it was time to enjoy the sunset and hit the sack. After all; flying across three timezones, driving many hours, and walking the ridge of the great abyss all in one 'extra-long' day can be quite exhausting.