northsoutheastwesting: canyon to canaan

We said goodby to Flagstaff and headed up the 180 towards the Grand Canyon. To this point we have not experienced any sort of tourist crowds, being the only ones in the pool, at the volcano trail, or overlook ect. It was not until the first visitor center parking lot that things changed. Crowds of people near a one mile drop off made it a bit hard to enjoy this wonder of the world. For example, a man deciding to walk out to a ledge to get a better view with his video camera made us a little tense, and when I heard him say 'this is beautiful” about three times in a row, the thoughts that ran through my head were “”maybe those will be the last words he ever says”. When we entered the park, we read a sign that said 250 people are rescued each year from falls, and throughout the day I saw a number of situations that could have ended up being the statistic for the day. As we went from overlook to overlook the crowds thinned out and we could truly soak in beauty which was something I don’t think anyone could get use to. As we continued south towards Phoenix the mountains became smooth around the edges. The cactus collections became more diverse, stone turned to sand and palm trees sprang up above the rooftops. Arriving in Phoenix seemed more like an oasis then what we expected. Oranges on sidewalks, and wild quail strolling alongside parked cars we truly were in a new place and excited all over again. We arrived safely at Canaan in the desert and were greeted by sister Pinea who helped us get settled along with a quick tour of the Fountain of the Father's goodness – which we feel all around us.

-Joseph-

What an exciting day! Today started with an hour drive to the grand canyon, and along the way we saw an entire forest destroyed.It was very strange, since the tree's branches were literally ripped of then dropped beside the tree. We decided on three possibilities of what happened. 1. A fire, 2. Loggers, 3. A tornado. #3 seemed the most reasonable seeing the state of the trees. Not long after we entered the park. Addy (my doll) came along too. The overlooks were lovely. So much colour, such hight, such mountains, it was breath taking. In two ways. One. The beauty. Two, people so close to the edge they VERY easily could fall off. There were two such instances where I could not enjoy the view for fear of the people. Nevertheless it was an experience that I'll not forget. We left to eat lunch and we saw something strange. It was a deer leg. The top half of the leg was just bone, the bottom still had the hoof and skin. It had been eaten by a mountain lion. We left the park and headed to Phoenix. We saw lots of cactuses, and we started seeing palm trees, lemon trees, and orange trees! When we arrived at Canaan in the desert we unloaded into beautiful rooms, and took a tour of the grounds with Sister Pinea. She showed us different types of cactuses and their names. Tomorrow we are scheduled to have a tour of the prayer garden with another sister and much more. What an exciting day,( and breath taking,:). I can't wait until tomorrow.

-Abigail-