Hey guys! I’m back!
This summer, my family and I went on a long, two week trip around the Southwest U.S.– through New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. To summarize– I’ll go into full detail later– where we went, I’ll say this: we went to Santa Fe and Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon, and Crested Butte, Colorado, before returning home. What I saw transformed my small, enclosed, sweet little county I call home– and my world– into something I can never dream of saying is insignificant. Allow me to recount my adventures in order. If any of this offends you, I am sincerely sorry. This is all from my perspective.
Week 1 part 1: New Mexico
The first day was boring, driving across the plains of the Panhandle of Texas. It was kind of an insult to someone who lived in the green and rolling hills of North Texas, and it only got worse when we crossed the border to the desert. Brown, brown, and more brown; that’s all I saw. There were some pretty mesas and plateaus in the first fifty miles, but then it became monotonous, and I dozed.
Our first stop before setting up camp was Santa Fe. Downtown was nice; lots of tourist shops, a nice (green!) square, and much to explore. The St. Miguel chapel, the first to be made in the U.S. by Spain (I think) was where we went to church that Sunday, the day before we left. To be honest, it was a little disappointing, but maybe that’s because we went to the Latin Mass, and I could understand none of it.
Week 1, part 2: Arizona
Monday was a driving day. We drove through red, brown, orange, and more brown into Arizona, but it was a sight better than New Mexico to see the aspens and pine trees when we arrived at the plateau that makes up the northern end of the Grand Canyon. On the way to the Canyon, I found the perfect spot for my story (tell you later).
But the first sight of the Canyon took my breath away. I had only seen pictures, but they don’t give it credit enough. I was amazed at the sight of the at-places mile-deep dip in the ground. The mighty Colorado river was a mere speck in the distance. We spent the whole day exploring the trails and pre-named outcrops, examining the Angel’s Window, Freya Castle, and many more.
The second day, July 4th, we went to the South end, the one they advertise the most because of the colors. All the things we’d seen as magnificent on the North end were tiny from the South end. The 3-hour drive was a lot more like New Mexico than my comfort zone allowed, but the sights were pretty anyway. We had lunch and watched the July 4th parade in the small town outside of the reservation before heading back to our campsite.
Week 2: Colorado
On our way out of Arizona, Dad decided to strike up a conversation about the GC. While we were on the South end, at the visitor’s center we’d watched a couple of documentaries about how the Grand Canyon was formed (I was thinking yeah, right the whole time, so this conversation helped me a little). He said that God created with apparent age, right? Man didn’t start out as a baby. The lions weren’t cubs at Creation. Chickens weren’t eggs. So couldn’t he have created the Grand Canyon with apparent age, that of which men were trying to figure out? Carbon dating can only go back so far. Scientists say the world is 4.5 billion (4,500,000,000) years old, but according to the Bible, it’s only 10,000 years old, max.
I loved that conversation. Best I had on that trip.
We drove through Utah, which was almost as bad as NM (that’s kind of my least favorite part, unfortunately). But the mountains– oh, the mountains! I saw my kind of green again, and reveled in it. Day 1, we explored Ouray and Silverton, two small mountain towns, with the Red Mountain in between them. We stayed at a camp park nearby that first night. I got my first glimpse of the Milky Way, and I still can’t get it out of my head. The thick, dark line against a population of white stars that lit up the sky better than any artificial light has captured me ever since.
The next day we went to our friend’s condo in Crested Butte, north of Gunnison. The next day, Sunday, we went to the town church, Oh Be Joyful, and enjoyed a cool summer morning worship service outside (it was the one week they had it outside, and it felt great). Mom knew the pastor, so we stayed around afterward for a little while before heading back up to the condo and resting for the rest of the day. Mom and the boys played with the Atari in my room (the pixilation was awful), I watched some of my Harry Potter movies, and we relaxed for the first time in over a week.
Monday we went whitewater rafting for the first time as a family, Tuesday we chilled in the house all day, Wednesday we explored the surrounding county, and Thursday and Friday we explored the town. Saturday we left for home, arriving late that night.
But what I learned most from this journey– because, truly, it was a journey– was that God is not limited to what we’re used to or surrounded by– be it people, places, things, or a mix of the three. He is immeasurable, inconceivable, unimaginably magnificent in comparison to the things that happen on this little planet we call Earth. In a children’s worship song I used to sing at my church, it says He’s wider than the universe and beyond my wildest dreams, and I learned what that meant this summer. My favorite part, however, was not the things I saw here on the Earth: it’s what I saw above me.
The stars.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of His hands.”
Psalms 19:1