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).
While at the Mayo Clinic conference last week, we saved mega bucks
rather than venturing into the luxo locations on site at our resort. 
Among these, one of our favorites was the Garden Island Grill, 
where, between 6-8 pm on the weekends, Larry Rivera entertains his friends, 
family, and new friends (whoever happens to be passing through).
Larry is 86. The day we visited, he was celebrating his 60th anniversary with his lovely bride and says he’s still on his honeymoon! They have 6 kids, 17 grand kids, and 18 great grand kids. Furthermore, he can say all their names in 35 seconds (±). Want to hear his story? 
Larry was born in 1931, the sixth generation in a long line of Hawaiians born in Kauai. He started working at the Coco Palms Resort at 20, was called to serve in the Korean War, and by 24 (1955), he was back to work at the Coco Palms singing with his group called “The Beach Boys.” He says the ones we know today “stole” his band’s name and ended up with all the money and glory, but who cares? “I’ve got all this love!” he beamed, his arms sweeping the audience where his wife sat smiling and then flying out and up to embrace his island and the sky, where His Father sat smiling. (Rivera is an ordained minister as well as a musician.) 
Larry’s long musical career included such highlights as teaching Bing Crosby how to sing (Hawaiian style), watching Frank Sinatra nearly drown on Wailua Beach (surfers rescued him), having John Denver join in a hula with his daughters while Larry sang, and having Elvis Presley and Patti Page sing background vocals for him while they were visiting at Coco Palms. (Actually, Larry said Elvis was an unusually sweet person. He would bus tables just to be kind if things got to hectic at the restaurant, and he paid $500 for one of Larry’s songs!) In 1961, the wedding scene from Blue Hawaii, starring Elvis Presley, was filmed at Coco Palms. Larry was 30, and Elvis was 26. Very sadly, Elvis Presley died just 16 years later at age 42 from “cardiac arrhythmia” (caused by an overdose of a pain killer, Codeine, and a nonbarbituate sedative, Quaalude). He was divorced by then and only had one child, Lisa Marie. He has four grandchildren (whom he never met), and no great grandchildren at this time. 
I don’t know about you, but I would personally choose Larry Rivera’s life over Elvis’s any day. Larry has lived more than twice as long, is still fit at a fiddle (balanced on one leg and did other tricks for fun), working hard, living well, and full of love and joy. Alan and I were both totally delighted and inspired. If we make it to 86, we’ll have been married 64 years. (That’s 20 more years; think we’ll make it??) Would I ever love to be able to work a few hours singing and sharing the love of God and man with those around me at his age, wouldn’t you? 
How did he do it? Well, for one thing, he chose the slow life. He chose to stay in his homeland among his own people. He chose to stay with his wife. He chose to remain faithful to His God. To me, those are admirable choices! What do you think? Would you rather have fame and fortune, or love and happiness?
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the 
I’d been thinking a lot about those baboons sitting on top of the fence posts when I took a walk down our lane after the last big snow storm, and it occurred to me that I don’t have monkeys perched on my fence posts, I have snow! Lots of snow!
Of course, I didn’t really place the snow on top of the posts, God did! Still, it made me think about the fact that—symbolically—we each have posts in our life. 
As we begin 2017, what’s on your post? What’s on the top of your pole? Snow? Something that comes and goes with every gust of wind and change of weather?
I’ve been examining my life and thinking about priorities…what I value and what I want as my highest priority…at the top of my pole. I don’t want it to be pleasure, or wealth, or even happiness or being loved by others (although those are all good things). I want God—the living, personal God who created the universe and everything in it, and yet who loves us with everlasting love—I want that most wonderful of all gods to be at the top of my pole. How about you? 
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the 
Summer Setting 