My Immortal

National Public Radio has the John D. and Katherine T. Macarthur Foundation. I have the John Alecca and Phill Barber Foundation. Throughout the past year, they have donated time, money and various goods to the betterment of my life.

Fortunately for me, they are avid campers and have tents, propane stoves, outdoor kitchenware, lanterns and everything under the sun. What’s even nicer is they are incredibly generous and allowed me to borrow their gear so Joe and I could go camping at the Grand Canyon. I want to say, "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" for giving Joe and me the opportunity to go on this trip this past weekend.

We left Echo’s offices mid-afternoon on Friday and headed up north. The drive wasn’t as long as I thought it would be. It’s only about 3 ½ hours.

Joe wrote about the weekend. But there are some things that I thought should be highlighted.

Most people treat the Canyon with the reference it deserves. Friday night when we went to one of the points to watch the sun set, there were about 50 people sitting on the edge. Everyone was spread out, so it wasn’t like we were crowded, but there was a decent number of people. Anyway, it was amazing how quiet it was. When people spoke, they whispered to each other. I really liked that.

Saturday we hiked to the three mile rest stop on the Bright Angel Trail. It’s about a 4-6 hour hike round trip. I wanted to go further to Indian Garden – a 6 – 9 hour hike. But Joe made sad puppy dog noises. So we only went to the three mile marker.

Looking up from three miles down...

I’m glad he did. Because the hike back up the Canyon was hot and long and a bit strenuous at times.

Joe mentioned that a woman fell off her mule and broke her collarbone, creating gridlock on the trail. After the path was cleared and we started moving again, a squirrel jumped in front of Joe. This little squirrel couldn’t have been more than 8 inches long and probably weighed a total of four pounds. But Joe jumped like it was a rattlesnake about to attack. Of course, the people around us laughed. OK. I did too.

We rounded a corner and continued walking. That same squirrel cut down the hill and ran in front of Joe again! It was so funny. It was trying to scare him again.

Throughout the entire day, people kept talking about the woman on the mule. And EVERYONE had a theory about why it happened. It was really funny. Because here we are, everyone speaking different languages, a bunch of people from all over the world, gossiping over a woman with a broken collarbone.

Pretty view...


Another pretty view...

Saturday when we came back from our hike, I noticed that the Entenmann’s coffee cake box was open (all our food was stored inside our tent). I closed it up and didn’t think anything about it until later that night. When it came time to cook dinner I noticed that there was moisture inside the bread. Then I noticed that there was a huge chunk taken out of the plastic and the bread had been half eaten.

Now there were NO holes in the tent. AND the tent was completely zipped up. I remember we struggled with the zipper a little to open it when we came back from the hike. I think the terrorist squirrel high-tailed it back to our camp and ate some of our food!

Joe before we called it a night...

That night Joe conked out early. I listened to an old radio show on tape I borrowed from the library. It was so cool to be in the dark and listen to an old mystery show!

Sunday, poor Joe was stiff as a board. We did some hiking along the rim and saw some gorgeous views. We also took the shuttle around to various points.

Joe demonstrating how easy it is to fall off the rim...

I noticed that there was only trash around the major bus stops and viewpoints. I have a theory that the big fat Americans who can’t hike are the ones who dump all their trash into the Canyon. The svelte Europeans and Asians who hike the trails (and understand ecology and ecosystems), keep their trash in their backpacks until they find a receptacle. I know that’s (racist?) probably an unfair assumption, but it seemed good at the time.

Pretty view...

Also, Joe pointed out that all of the Asian (or Orientals if you’re if a certain mother-in-law) tourists had English writing on their t-shirts. I noted that all of the Americans had Asian writings on their tattoos. Isn’t that odd?

It would be impossible to sum up the weekend. It was immensely wonderful. I told Joe that I saw one of the Great Wonders of the World, with the Great Wonder of My World. Nothing radical occurred. We didn’t have spiritual epiphanies. And nothing too crazy happened (besides the squirrel). But it was definitely memorable.

The Great Wonders of the World...

HAPPY TUNESDAY MOTHERFUCKERS!

When hiking, two things kept repeating in my mind. “I like to shop at the duty free shop.” It’s from Seinfeld. Don't ask--it was hot and I was tired. But the other thing was the song My Immortal by Evanescence. I’m not exactly sure why. But it’s a pretty song. Here it is.