… and weather so warm we stripped down to one layer.
UD sat in the winter sun well away from the edge as Mr UD followed our guide to the rim.
Light wind. Supremely clear sunlight. Tibetan temples abounding.
The soft shadowy green plateaus looked like Scotland.
Our guide talked about a mountain lion that somehow got itself down to the bottom of the canyon, where there aren’t any elk. It was an object of interest for awhile, but when it began gazing at hotel guests through their windows, it had to be shot.
Plenty of stories too – natch – about mishaps, missteps, mischancings. A woman whose family had to talk her into taking a mule died when the animal had a heart attack and collapsed, throwing her down the canyon. Our guide, last year, witnessed – along with many others – a suicide off the cliff. “He dove. He put his arms out and dove.”
UD watched with amazement as people frolicked inches from the fall.
“What does the Grand Canyon makes you think about?” our guide asked me.
“You know Freud’s theory of the death wish? That.”
January 11th, 2012 at 8:59AM
Dear Margaret,
You didn’t think about Thelma and Louise?
January 11th, 2012 at 9:16AM
Janet: I didn’t! I should have.
January 12th, 2012 at 5:39PM
I worked at the Grand Canyon over 30 years ago. A number of people do die there every year by falling in. We used to call it “going over the rim.” I once won a euphemism contest with that saying.
January 12th, 2012 at 5:45PM
Nora: It must have been amazing to work there.
I don’t know if you know about this book. Our guide told us about it.
January 13th, 2012 at 2:54PM
I’ve heard of the book. Do they sell at the Visitor Center?
January 13th, 2012 at 4:17PM
I think so – but it’s more expensive there…