To celebrate Munchkin’s graduation, we headed over to the Grand Canyon to take a rim tour with Canyon Ministries. Our day started rather early as we needed to meet our guide – Guy – in Williams by 07:00. We all piled into the tour vehicle, and Guy began to tell us a little about Canyon Ministries and what we’d be doing that day.
Unfortunately, Munchkin was not feeling well, but she was not going to miss this opportunity. She immediately started peppering Guy with questions which I think he liked as she was totally engaged in the tour. She was soaking up the information even though she felt yucky.
Our morning began at Mather Point. Each stop along the way included information about the canyon from both a Biblical perspective as well as an evolutionary prospective. Munchkin enjoyed asking questions as did others in the group. In fact, there was more than one occasion where we got a little ahead of Guy, so he had to give us a brief answer since he’d be covering it in more detail later.
At each stop, we had other individuals who listened in on the tour. Guy is pretty animated. When he knows that others outside of the group are also listening in, he tends to get even more excited about the topic. That was something that I enjoyed seeing and listening to throughout the day.
We took a short hike on Bright Angel Trail down into the canyon. Going down isn’t bad, but you definitely have to be careful how far down you go if you’re not prepared for the hike back up. As a group, it wasn’t the time to take a really long hike into the canyon, but it was fun to at least go down for a little hike as it provides a different perspective.
We took a break for lunch. Daddy, Munchkin, and I were pretty excited when we saw that the cafe offered gluten free bread for their sandwiches, and they used safe practices. It meant that we got to eat meals rather than just snacks. (Had I understood the setup in our tour vehicle, I probably would have gone ahead and packed us a full lunch. I didn’t know how much room we’d have, so I just packed us snacks.) It was a nice break, and a perfect day for a lunch outside.
The second half of our day was spent visiting different locations in the canyon and talking about specifics geologic aspects of the canyon. The last stop was where we discussed the different theories of how the canyon was formed including evolutionary and creationists theories. It was a good conclusion to a beautiful day filled with fun, learning, and exploration.
As we headed back to Williams to pick up our vehicles, we discussed a variety of topics and eventually made it back to the canyon. Some of the talk about the canyon and geological formations were pretty technical which Munchkin ate up. Even though she was wiped and feeling pretty bad by this point, she was more than eager to interact with the conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed watching her get so excited.
It was in Williams that we said goodbye to part of our family – Grandma, Grandpa, and my sister. Their vacation had come to an end. We were thankful that they were able to come out and join us. We were also very grateful to Grandma and Grandpa for taking us on the wonderful rim tour at the Grand Canyon. It was very special, and honestly, it helped reinforce our thoughts that geology/biology/paleontology is the field for Munchkin.
The rest of us headed back to our place and most of us crashed. Munchkin ended up being down for the count for the next few days as she tried to recover from her illness, but she said the trip was worth it even if she probably would have been better resting that day. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the end of her high school journey and the beginning of her new adventure.
