selenak

And thus we come to the last of my American photo extravaganzas: the Grand Canyon. I think what struck me most about this one was that you really felt the weight of millennia; the impossible age of everything around you, which is not a sensation many things in the US give me.

Well, that, and a lot of warning signs that tell you not to try to hike to the river and back in one day (we didn't). Also a lot of Japanese photographers. And memories of one of my favourite Highlander stories, written by

katallison. But yes, millennia first and foremost. And a Ted Hughes poem about visiting the Grand Canyon with pregnant Sylvia near the end of their time in the US:

...A quarry from which the sculpture
of something
had been hacked, then left there
Too big to move.
America's big red mamma!
Now letting the sun, with changing colours,
Caress her, as she lay open.
We drifted our gaze through - like a feather
Lost in the afterglow of her sensations.

Our first viewpoint was called, appropriately enough, Desert View:

What photos can't render, and the bit of film I posted last week only a little, is the sheer immensity of the panorama. Various European cities fit twice in the Grand Canyon, and from whichever viewpoint you approach it, it slays you. Like this one:

Since it was my mother's birthday, my father presented us with a helicopter ride.

Note about helicopters: currently they're not allowed to drift deep into the canyon, except on rescue missions, but they do get eye level close to the top of everything, and you can see immediately why so many of the individual mountains were named for Indian gods; the structure really reminds one of Indian temples. The doors and windows of the helicopter are of glass/plastic, and you can take pictures through that, even though there is some reflection. But here's what I got out of it. Say hello to the Colorado again:

It being my mother's birthday came in handy in another way, too. The hotel let her have a room with a view over the rim. The hotel in question:

On our last day, we took the bus to Hermit's Rest and walked the rim trail about 12-14 kilometres back to the hotel, which was spectacular all the way through even though the train sometimes was somewhat narrow. But who cares when confronted with sights like this?

Not us!

And then it was time for another magnificent American sunset:

You'd think that was the last I saw of the Grand Canyon for a while, but no. On our flight back to Germany, Arizona happened to be cloudless. And I just happened to sit next to a window. So, goodbye, "America's Delphi" (tm Ted Hughes):