Depth

Here I am at the Grand Canyon sporting a very attractive "shirt rag" to keep the heat off. It's all about depth here at the GC (that's what all the hip chaps call it, or so I uh...made up). I love the effect looking into a big whole has on the mind. I think it's most staggering because I rarely ever have so much space defined for me. I see freaking huge buildings and am totally impressed. I've seen the zoom-out at the end of Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark when they show the massive warehouse, and been shocked by the enormity of the space. I've looked out of an airplane window and seen hundreds of miles stretching out into a slight curve. But, only at the Grand Canyon am I still freaked out by the sheer amount of space. I had to continually look at it just to make sure of what I'm not quite sure. I don't think my mind could comprehend how much space I was trying to grasp. How many pennies? How much water? How many McDonald's PlayPen balls? How long would it take to fill it with trash? To find the answer to the last one go here. I want to go back and hike down to the bottom, we didn't get to do that this time. It's funny how many signs there are telling you not to try to hike down and back in the same day. My favorite was a poster that asked you if you could run a marathon, and then went into detail about the fate of a woman who could yet died trying to make the round trip. But come on, I've hiked, like, at least once this year, and only had to stop once going up Bishop's Peak, I'm sure I could make it.