Small in the Best Way

From Phoenix, I headed north to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, one of the places I had most looked forward to on the road west.

Nothing quite prepares you for the scale of it. Layer after layer of red, orange and violet rock stretched to the horizon, carved into towers and shadowed ravines that shifted as the light moved. Twisted junipers clung to the rim, and blue scrub jays hopped from branch to branch, perched against a canyon so vast it almost looked painted.

Standing at the edge, my own plans felt small in the best possible way. After weeks of cities and highways, the canyon gave me a moment of stillness and awe before the final stretch west.