Grand Canyon National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site—a true treasure!
It encompasses an area of almost 2,000 square miles.
4.73 million visitors came last year (2023) to take in the majesty of this world wonder!
It’s ranked as the #2 most visited national park in America in recent years.
The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long.
At its widest point, it is 18 miles across from rim to rim.
The Colorado River runs through the bottom of the canyon,
and at its deepest point, the Grand Canyon is over a mile below the rim: 6,093 feet deep!
Alan and I visited on our recent Travels with Allie adventures, and we had a fabulous time hiking along the Southern Rim Trail.
We had a couple of gorgeous days with perfect weather, and all the photos (except those from the Colorado River taken on my son’s trip, which will be obvious to you) were from that visit.
But, just for the record, this visit was my fourth trip. I went as a child with my parents. I went after graduating from college. I went with Alan and our children when they were little. And this time, we went as a retired couple.
Every time we went, I wanted to hike down to the bottom, or ride on a donkey down, or go white-water rafting . . .
but on every trip, time, or money, or child care, or allergies and motion sickness for Alan, or aging issues, made it impossible to fulfill my dream of getting to the bottom of the canyon.
I think it would take a week or a month or a lifetime to really know this vast canyon well.
After 60+ years of wanting to experience more, I’ve made peace with the great privileges and pleasures I have been able to enjoy over the years!
My son Jonathan was able to go on a study trip while white-water rafting.
He shared awesome photos and wonderful stories of all he learned on that trip.
What a blessing to have my children get to experience some of the awesome things I always wished to do but didn’t!
For sure, one of main reasons I blog is wanting to share with others what I’ve been able to do that some others may not.
But, I can only share what I know.
Or, what I’ve studied and seen from afar!
In a thousand lives—maybe a million lifetimes—we could never learn all there is to learn or understand all there is to understand!
I have to make peace with the limitations of my life.
My spiritual mom taught me this verse to help me find contentment despite all the mysteries I cannot fathom:
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).
Isn’t that comforting?
God illuminates many things for us—although at different times and seasons in our lives.
Over time, we learn a vast amount about life, and we can share those experiences with our children and other loved ones.
However, we never learn it all, and we never “get” it all.
Our lives end before we’ve solved all the mysteries.
Still, the Lord provides all the clarity we need to understand his laws,
and all the power (through faith in Christ’s redeeming work in us) to obey them.
Isn’t that enough?
“And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
Summer Setting 