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Every now and then, you have a day that you just know is extraordinary. Today was one of those days. Oh yeah. Definitely one of those days.

The Grand Canyon is nothing short of breathtaking. In the grand scheme of things here on planet Earth, there has never been, nor will ever be, anything else like it.

I could break down all the details for you... how long it is... how old it is... the distance to the valley and Colorado River below... but I'm not really going to. You can read about that anywhere. What I want to tell you is... well... honestly, I'm not sure what I want to tell you. I'm not sure how to communicate the mind-boggling miracle of nature I've witnessed today. The words simply don't exist. You'll just have to see it for yourself. That's all there is to it. (Okay.. I'll give you a few ideas.)

On the way to the Grand Canyon, just off 160 about five miles west of Tuba City, is a peculiar tourist stop. Dinosaur Tracks is written on a cute sign outside the entrance. Pulling in, I see three or four small shacks. One or two are empty. The others seem to be selling jewelry and such. A Navajo walks up and introduces himself. "You're Harry?", he says to my dad, looking at the personalized belt buckle. "I'm a Harry too!" Hands shake and we begin walking.

Every twenty feet or so, he points out footprints embedded in the ground. "We think that one belonged to a T-Rex", he says while continuing to walk further from the parking lot. The footprint itself is circled in white chalk, and seems slightly unimpressive.

We walk a little further, and lo and behold, more footprints. "That's a (unintelligible) footprint." (It sounded like delopasaurus, but I may be mistaken. It was windy.) These footprints were significantly more visible, having been indented deeper into the ground.

Further on, he points out another footprint. "Do you know what that is?" It looks curiously familiar, but I didn't want to embarrass myself with a wrong guess. "Uh, nope." "It's a Native footprint.", he answers with a chuckle. (A person's footprint, if you hadn't figured it out.) Gotta love that Navajo humor.

We ended up leaving after twenty minutes or so of walking around this field of rocks and red sand. We might have stayed longer, but thanks to some obnoxiously, thoughtless tourists, there weren't as many footprints here as there used to be. It seems people have been sneaking in during the night and stealing them, digging them right out of the ground. (Shame on you!) It's terrible people feel they have to do things like that. You ruined part of my trip! Happy now?

So... back to the Grand Canyon for a moment. We left the park around 4:45, and headed for the Route 64 exit. Five miles away is an area with several restaurants, hotels, and an IMAX theater. We had a quick, hearty dinner at "The Steakhouse", where the waiters all wore cowboy hats, the tables were covered in cow-decor, and the wine list was actually wrapped around a wine bottle. Afterwards, we caught a movie at the IMAX theater across the street. It told all about the incredibly history of the Grand Canyon, from its birth roughly two billion years ago, to its first residents almost four thousand years ago, to the beauty and splendor of the park today. (FYI, the movie lasts about 40 minutes and starts every hour on the half hour.) After a long day of personally seeing the Grand Canyon from the South Rim, the IMAX movie was a perfect way to end the visit, and comes with a highly suggested four stars from Henry's USA Roadtrip.

Driving south to Valle (otherwise known as Bedrock City, a campground made to look like the Flintstones' hometown), and then southeast to Flagstaff took almost two hours. Another long drive leading up to another well deserved night of sleep. Tomorrow is my father's last day here, and then I head off alone into southern Arizona.

See you on the road...

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