Grand Canyon

Growing up our only family vacations were to visit relatives in New York and Philadelphia. We never went to "the beach". We lived a couple hours from one of the best amusement parks of the 1960's and we never even drove in that direction.

I did go to summer camp every summer starting when I was 9 and youth group events in Erie and Buffalo. But other than camp, and the Lake Erie coast, NY and Philly constituted my travels in America until I moved to Cincinnati for rabbinic school.

Now, I've been to 46 of 50 states, Israel, London, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Mexico, Canada, Jordan, Italy, South Africa and most of the islands in the Caribbean, but until today I had never been to the Grand Canyon. I have seen  many of the great wonders of the world but the Grand Canyon overwhelmed me. The shapes and colors, the way the light reflected odd the rocks, the layers of rock on top of rock on top of rock, the emennsity and emptiness left me awed, inspired and overwhelmed. I felt creative and calm, inspired and peaceful (feelings that usually do not occur at the same time in me.) I could see myself sitting on the rim and writing taking breaks only to get up and find another sublime view.

What took me so long to get here?