Transcription:
Sunday, May 2, 2021
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK.
Poor, crumpled page. I carried it around all day in my day-pack hoping to find stamps in more places. Just the geology museum, though.
Poor geology museum! My plan for today was to show up on their doorstep at opening time and camp there literally all morning, reading every single display, touching every sample rock, and bothering the staff with questions until I understand how this vast and gorgeous rockscape works.
But this is COVIDland. I should have been suspicious that the museum was open at all, since all the others have been closed. There were three ancient display panels to look at under some windows that look out over the canyon, but every other display was covered in plastic.
“They spent over a hundred thousand dollars updating the displays in 2019,” the staff person told me. “Having to sanitize them every day would destroy them. Maybe we can uncover them again in a couple years…
So I got a brochure. And it is a very nice brochure. But I’ll be back to annoy a geologist soon…
Instead of haunting the museum all morning, then, I walked the Trail of Time along the rim (where I got to pet lots of sample rocks) while Dustin hunted down a place to charge the Volt. There was some sit-com style failing to find each other again, but once we reconnected we hopped a shuttle out to Hermit’s Rest to soak in some new views (but no new stamps!).
We rounded out our visit with a drive down the scenic road to the watchtower. I absolutely love the architecture here. The watchtower is especially impressive.
Onward to next destinations, then. When we come back, it’ll be to visit the north rim and let Dustin try try a rim-to-rim hike while I wait for him in a re-opened geology museum.
Thither & Yon 