Thursday, May 22, 2008
mama duck and ducklings
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Grand Canyon - Tour
In the early '90s my younger sister and I decided to go to Sacramento, California to a Star Trek Convention. It was as good an excuse as any to go traveling. We have relatives in Sacramento so naturally invited our Mother. my aunt and my daughter Jo along so they could visit the kinfolks. Until she got too old to drive Mother was always burning up the highways going somewhere, usually to visit our far flung relatives. She was on the go so much that our father named her the "Go-Go Girl".
Mother loved to travel but I discovered that she was a much different traveler than I was. In order to actually attend the Star Trek Convention (and why not, since we were going to be there anyway) we had to be in Sacramento by a certain date. I planned our itinerary very carefully, to exploit all the scenery and sites we could on our trip. and yet arrive in Sacramento on time.
Among other great sites like the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, the Crater, etc., the Grand Canyon was tops on the list. We had one day to spend at the Grand Canyon when I would like to have spent no less than a week. I had planned to see IMax, the museum, then tour the South Rim. So much to see and do, so little time. Up at sunrise, preparing to begin, Mother added to previous frustrations by announcing she had to have new walking shoes and demanded that my daughter Jo take her to Williamsburg to shop. They returned at almost mid-day!!
Mother sported her new walking shoes as we did IMax, then on to the mini-busses to tour the rim. At the first - FIRST - stop we exited the bus and walked to the overlook. As the rest of us gazed in awe, Mother spent about one minute looking over the rails then announced that she was ready to go, she had seen the Grand Canyon!! My sister Ruth restrained me, insisting that I could not toss our mother over the rim; Auntie volunteered to take Mother back to the car, leaving the rest of us to tour a little leisurely from overlook to overlook.
It was wonderful, even though a rushed esperience. Following are commercial photos of that great cleft in the earth.
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Mother loved to travel but I discovered that she was a much different traveler than I was. In order to actually attend the Star Trek Convention (and why not, since we were going to be there anyway) we had to be in Sacramento by a certain date. I planned our itinerary very carefully, to exploit all the scenery and sites we could on our trip. and yet arrive in Sacramento on time.
Among other great sites like the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, the Crater, etc., the Grand Canyon was tops on the list. We had one day to spend at the Grand Canyon when I would like to have spent no less than a week. I had planned to see IMax, the museum, then tour the South Rim. So much to see and do, so little time. Up at sunrise, preparing to begin, Mother added to previous frustrations by announcing she had to have new walking shoes and demanded that my daughter Jo take her to Williamsburg to shop. They returned at almost mid-day!!
Mother sported her new walking shoes as we did IMax, then on to the mini-busses to tour the rim. At the first - FIRST - stop we exited the bus and walked to the overlook. As the rest of us gazed in awe, Mother spent about one minute looking over the rails then announced that she was ready to go, she had seen the Grand Canyon!! My sister Ruth restrained me, insisting that I could not toss our mother over the rim; Auntie volunteered to take Mother back to the car, leaving the rest of us to tour a little leisurely from overlook to overlook.
It was wonderful, even though a rushed esperience. Following are commercial photos of that great cleft in the earth.
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Labels: Grand Canyon Tour
