This year has marked more domestic travel than I have ever done! Every month I am in a different locale, either for work, volunteering, or seeing family and friends.
Now living in Richmond, I go to DC often, and have also visited Baltimore, Delaware, Philadelphia, NYC, upstate New York, San Diego, Seattle, Knoxville, Pompano Beach in Florida, and most recently, the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
Below are pictures of my Grand Canyon visit, but I will tell you now that if you have ever seen the Southern Rim, you know how laughably insufficient these are. If you have not, look at the pretty pictures to prove I was actually there, but understand that you MUST experience it firsthand. There is no image I have seen to date that captures the majesty of that place.
It is comforting, in a way, that this can be true. Sure, you look at the photos and wish they were a better representation of the grandiose beauty that made you lose your breath. But at the same time, I'm kinda glad. Glad that that moment only exists because I was THERE. Presence is a prerequisite to this experience, and of how many things is that true in this age? I work from home because everyone I need to interact with and all the information I want is online. I can watch movies on my phone in an airport. I can see aerial shots of festivals, wars, and geological wonders such as the Grand Canyon. So really, there are few things in my life that require me to be physically present in order to appreciate the experience.
Thus it is surprising, and refreshing, when you realize that no picture you have ever seen did it justice. That view is yours, and yours alone in that moment. It is awesome in the way awesome is meant to be used. It conjures the inexplicable feeling of both the infinitesimally tiny, and the ungraspably huge. You can physically descend into the greatness, and be swallowed by colors you don't understand or know how to describe.
It is no wonder, then, that the Grand Canyon is the most visited Natural Wonder of the World. It has to be. So while many tourist traps may bring a sigh of disappointment (the mosque in Córdoba) or a shrug of acceptance (the Leaning Tower of Pisa), the Grand Canyon is one destination, I have to say, that lives up to the hype.
Now living in Richmond, I go to DC often, and have also visited Baltimore, Delaware, Philadelphia, NYC, upstate New York, San Diego, Seattle, Knoxville, Pompano Beach in Florida, and most recently, the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
Below are pictures of my Grand Canyon visit, but I will tell you now that if you have ever seen the Southern Rim, you know how laughably insufficient these are. If you have not, look at the pretty pictures to prove I was actually there, but understand that you MUST experience it firsthand. There is no image I have seen to date that captures the majesty of that place.
It is comforting, in a way, that this can be true. Sure, you look at the photos and wish they were a better representation of the grandiose beauty that made you lose your breath. But at the same time, I'm kinda glad. Glad that that moment only exists because I was THERE. Presence is a prerequisite to this experience, and of how many things is that true in this age? I work from home because everyone I need to interact with and all the information I want is online. I can watch movies on my phone in an airport. I can see aerial shots of festivals, wars, and geological wonders such as the Grand Canyon. So really, there are few things in my life that require me to be physically present in order to appreciate the experience.
Thus it is surprising, and refreshing, when you realize that no picture you have ever seen did it justice. That view is yours, and yours alone in that moment. It is awesome in the way awesome is meant to be used. It conjures the inexplicable feeling of both the infinitesimally tiny, and the ungraspably huge. You can physically descend into the greatness, and be swallowed by colors you don't understand or know how to describe.
It is no wonder, then, that the Grand Canyon is the most visited Natural Wonder of the World. It has to be. So while many tourist traps may bring a sigh of disappointment (the mosque in Córdoba) or a shrug of acceptance (the Leaning Tower of Pisa), the Grand Canyon is one destination, I have to say, that lives up to the hype.
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