Spring Break: free time, fantastic trips, lazy days, non-stop laughter and a time of too many sleepovers. Or at least, that would be how I define spring break. Currently I can sum up the first 5 days of my spring break in, well, three words: The Grand Canyon. Myself, my mother and my father went on a three day, two night backpacking excursion to the bottom, oh yes, the bottom of the Grand Canyon. And when I say bottom I mean, there was no where else to go but up. Over the course of the three days, we hiked approximately 20 miles, with packs that contained our daily necessities. With a guide who reminded me of Steve Martin and who insisted upon the hike being easy, it was a nutty three days. Upon meeting Eric, our-steve-martin-remake-of-a-guide, he explained the tent situation. I would be sleeping in a single person tent, and my parents would be in a double. After learning I would be carrying said tent as well as learning that Eric planned to sleep without a tent after laughing when I dad asked, "Which one of us is sleeping with you?" I decided I would sleep under the stars. BEST DECISION EVER. end of story. Although the Grand Canyon was phenomenal, and I mean gorgeous beyond belief, what really took my breath away were the stars. The never-ending sky with its thousand bright twinkles and endless possibilities. I love stars because when you feel as though the world seeks to bring trouble to your door step, stars remind me of the vast possibilities there are in this world. And that it's up to us to find what makes us "shine".
Thus, the Grand Canyon taught me more than how hard it is to hike with a 30 pound pack on your back. I realized I am just one pygmy ( as my guide would say), oh and translation: small person, in the scheme of things. Now, I'm not saying what we do and the things we say don't affect the world around us, because they absolutely do. But however, the world has an order and a way of working that keeps it balanced and this order is much bigger than a single person or "us". None the less, I believe and have always believed, that one person or a thousand people can make a difference. It's just that not every moment of every day is about me me me or the direct affect of everything on me. That sometimes it's about just the opposite, it's about how things around us are affected. Quite a humbling experience, really.
Finally, I must sadly proclaim the, well for lack of a better word, crappyness of my photos. I realize this is a photography blog, but, since I was backpacking and roughing it out for three days I was simply carrying a small point and shoot compact camera. That along with the fact that I don't own a nice camera, I use the always awesome and talented Kelli's camera, equals not even close to impressive photos. Kelli is also an "owner" of this blog and posts frequently. Her posts are not to be missed I assure you. And for that matter, neither are Emilie's, the third and final "owner" of this blog. I am beyond lucky to be sharing a blog with these two amazing people who constantly inspire me. Alright enough with my babble, and onto the pictures.
Enjoy your Grand Canyon journey!! :)
If you look closely, you can see the trail I walked up, all the way from down at the inside of the canyon to a few feet below on a switch-back!
More trail below, man was that a hard up climb!!!
What do you think? gorgeous and inspiring isn't it? Now it only seems fit to end this extremely long post (sorreeeeyyy) with two fantastic pictures that really need no explanation other than, yes, that is me.
Goodbye until next time friends :)
