February 24, 2007 by Jen.

So, I came to Scottsdale, Arizona to receive my teaching award, and little did I know that when I walked into the room, my dear father would be there waiting to surprise me!!! It was such a surprise! I didn’t even see him at first because there were several people in the room and I wasn’t really looking at anyone. Then I almost sat down one seat away from him and saw him smiling at me! I almost cried!! (But, being the responsible, mature professional that I am, I managed to control myself.) He had flown crazy hours to and from Arizona just to be there with me for a few short hours and share in my moment. How sweet is that?!? Anyway, the evening went well, and we had a lovely time. Unfortunately Daddy had to leave all too soon to catch his all-night flight back home.  A big thanks to Laurie and Carmie for making this possible!!!

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February 24, 2007 by Jen.

Wow!!! The Grand Canyon!!

I just wanted to add some thoughts to Jen’s “Wow!” up above. Wow indeed. I was mentally unprepared for what I saw when I walked out to the railing for the first time. My eyes ate up the landscape, my head swaying back and forth, devouring the unbelievable scene in front of me. These pictures, while awesome, do not, no, can not reliably represent the experience. It really is a wonder of the world.

Some observations:

Walking along the edge of the railing while looking straight out into the canyon is disorienting, but not for the reason you might think. When we walk around in daily life, down the street, or in our house, our view changes. As we walk, the objects and matter around us change position, either becoming closer or farther away, or showing us a new angle as we move past. On the edge of the canyon, as you walk along, nothing moves. It’s as if you are in front of a giant painting. The edge of the canyon on the other side is 10 miles away. Even the closest features are much further away than almost anything you see on a daily basis. I guess the closest thing to the experience would be walking along at night staring at the moon and noticing that it doesn’t move position no matter where you walk. Same principle.

Jennifer is terrified of being out of control near the edge. She can walk around the edge just fine, but get in the car to drive to another lookout and it gets crazy. Megan can probably back me up from their experience at Glacier National Park. Anyway, enough about that.

The food we ate at the Grand Canyon was delicious! We ate in the Arizona Room in the evening and it was fantastic.

This is Jen again, commenting on the fear-of-being-out-of-control thing. I guess the main thing is that I keep seeing Toonces the Cat steering the car crazy out of control and plunging over the cliff. And I can’t help but ask, could that be me? What would I do? It is a situation with no escape. (And I am one who must always have a plan.) And why can’t the park rangers in these places (Grand Canyon, Glacier National Park, etc.) invest in some better guardrails along the sides of these certain-death plummets? It sure didn’t help that we looked at a book in the gift shop entitled Death at the Grand Canyon. Apparently, people fall all the time. So, I am a bit paranoid, granted, but isn’t it better to be safe than sorry? Yes, that’s what I thought. I trust Megan’s driving. I trust Jason’s driving. I just don’t trust the other crazies on the road (including Toonces), and I sure don’t trust slippery roads. ‘Nuff said.

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February 24, 2007 by Jen.

Well, we’ve certainly seen a lot of Arizona during the last few days. We arrived in Phoenix late on Wednesday night, then drove to the Grand Canyon on Thursday, by way of Sedona. We drove back from the Grand Canyon to Scottsdale on Friday. There are a lot more mountains than I expected, and we saw some beautiful countryside!

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