Sure I've been there. It's cool the first time you go, but the more visits and the more relatives you schlep up there the more the place just starts to look like just a big hole. You go up there, you look over the edge, you drive home.
The last time I was up there in February I bought a couple of books that looked interesting. I figured if I am going to live so close to this natural wonder I should know something about it. I got this book shown above, Down the Great Unknown by Edward Dolnick and also the Penguin edition of John Wesley Powell's own biographical description of his trip. I tried the first hand account, but it was not for me. There was little set up and context to the journey and it was, as I learned later, a very one-sided somewhat fanciful account of the trip that Powell had not in fact written during the expedition, but written several years later from his memory. His journal at the time of the trip consisted mainly of one sentence summaries of the mileage for the day and the number of rapids crossed.
Edward Dolnick's summary of the expedition was more comprehensive. It took information and stories from the journals of 3 men on the trip, not just Powell's. It gave background history on white water rafting, debating the way the 10 men actually went down the entire river in boats that were not made for the task. There was lots of history and context but there was also danger and literal cliffhangers to liven up the dry history.
I loved the book and I wasn't expecting to at all. I needed to know more about the place where I live and I thought this would be a great source. What I got was a greater appreciation for the great big hole that I live near. It's scary. We all know that. I see the articles in the newspaper every week. People die up there all the time. It's almost boring to hear that another person died at the canyon. My dad's cousin even fell in in the 90's and died. It's a big hole, but it's also a force of nature to be reckoned with.
This book gave me some insight on why a man, Powell, or any man in fact would want to try and explore the biggest hole in the earth.
I highly recommend this book. It's fascinating. It teaches the history of the old west, and the history of the Grand Canyon in a way that is very accessible and understandable. History really does come alive in this book.
Perhaps the coolest thing about this book is that it made me want to explore. Yesterday I took the whole family up to put our feet in the mighty Colorado River and see a part of John Wesley Powell's journey ourselves. It made the book come full circle for me. I am truly enlightened.
See here for the details of my trip to Lee's Ferry and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
I'll read pretty much anything that seems like it might be turned into a movie. I think I bougth Divergent becasue it was only $4.99 for my Kindle and I thought, Hey, What the heck. It's cheap. I'll try it. The story is a good idea, but the writing is not fabulous. It's another post apocolyptic world teenager story. I know you've read one before. This started out good. I had no problem reading Divergent. It's once you get to Insurgent that things get funky. There are just too many characters and too many people fighting against too many people who seem to be constantly switching sides, dying and getting shot, only to not in fact be dead or to be saved at the last minute. I just didn't buy it in the second book. It's action packed and kids will probably love it, but it was lacking a lot of things for me to really get on the bandwagon. Scenes changed instantaneously and I was left lost many times. It just got too muddled and too repetitive and I was losing interest by the end.