Inky Marina!

Three summers ago, I was lucky to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon with my friend Violet. In June, I was able to go back to the Grand Canyon with my friend Raven! We visited the more popular South Rim. It was pretty busy, but the canyon was just as gorgeous as last time. We started our day at the Visitor Center, where I found this big cat statue. We picked up our Junior Ranger books and headed out to explore the park!



Our first stop was at the site of some Ancestral Puebloan ruins. To earn a Junior Ranger badge and patch at the Grand Canyon, kids need to attend a ranger program. Raven and I had fun learning about the Ancestral Puebloan people living near the canyon. The ranger explained the different plants we passed. In this photo, you can see me in front of a plant called "Mormon Tea."



After the program, we sat down on some wooden benches to work on our workbooks. There were lots of cool activities about the geology and animals of the park. Raven and I still hadn't seen any wildlife, so we were sad we couldn't do those particular activities. Raven was very silly and put down "flies" in the wildlife observation section! When we finished the books, we went to the little museum where a kind ranger swore us in. Since we did the hardest activities, we earned both a badge and a patch called the Scorpion Award! The ranger told us there is a special patch you can earn by hiking to the bottom of the canyon and visiting the Phantom Ranch. The catch is- it takes 7 hours to hike to the bottom- and the joke is it takes 107 hours to hike back up. Yikes! Raven made her mom promise to take her one day, and I made Raven promise to bring me along. I hope we get to do it someday!



After earning our badges, we met up with Raven's aunt and uncle to look over the edge of the canyon. Our moms kept telling us to quit running up to the edge! I wanted to climb over the fence by Mama grabbed me and held me close. Stinkbugs!

Just as I was taking this picture of Raven, she spotted a condor! Whoa! I tried to take a photo, but it only showed up as a tiny dot in the photos I took. It was huge- its wingspan is bigger than a child my age! We both grabbed our Junior Ranger workbooks and added "condor" to our wildlife observations. Score!



Raven took this photo of me just before we left to go eat dinner at the Bright Angel lodge. Doesn't it look like I'm close to the edge? I like this picture because I look like a true adventurer. The Grand Canyon is a great place to visit. I'm glad we got to visit, but I wish we had been able to hike to the bottom! Don't you hate when parents don't want to do what you'd like? Stinkbugs! Still, the Grand Canyon is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been. It's impossible to describe how big and colorful it is. My wish is that all of you guys get to visit it someday yourselves. What's the most beautiful place you've been?