Breanna Elise Jones
Dr. Cotton
Advanced Expository Writing
ENGL 3433 01
Final Draft
“All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name.”
This verse from Psalm 66:4 can be found inscribed on a plaque located at the top of the Desert View Watchtower in the Grand Canyon. These words testify to the awe-inspiring creativity of a
God who is able to create something so vast as the Grand Canyon. They’re also reminiscent of how I felt while touring the area in May 2011.
It is big. It is wide. It is too overwhelming for words. I am standing at the edge of a precipice, just two or three feet from a railing, wearing a jacket with my billed hat because, despite the sun, it’s surprisingly cold here in Arizona. It’s about 50 degrees and the wind is blowing rather hard. But these things do not matter. All that matters is what is before me. “On the way here,” I tell Mom, “I was worried that it wouldn’t live up to the hype. But now, seeing it…” “I know,” Mom says. I feel overwhelmed. I can sense God’s bigness in this place and his inestimable glory. I can sense his presence with me now even as I stand here.
But I can sense something else as well; I can sense the thousands of years of history that this place must have seen. The Grand Canyon National Park site explains that Teddy Roosevelt came here in the early 1900s and dedicated the canyon as a national park. According to another site, Arizona’s Women’s Heritage Trail, young women known as Harvey Girls have been working in the hotels located near the canyon since its early history. The National Geographic website says that a married couple named Glen and Bessie Hyde disappeared while rafting through the canyon in 1928. These people, along with millions of others, have set foot onto the Grand Canyon long before I ever arrived. The thought boggles my mind to this day.
The Essay on Glen Canyon Grand National Great
Ruining The Grand Places.".. It is apparent, then, that we cannot decide the question of development versus preservation by a simple referral to holy writ or an attempt to guess the intention of the founding fathers; we must make up our own minds and decide for ourselves what the national parks should be and what purpose they should serve." -Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire.".. The difference ...
I observe several people step down from the canyon rim to the rocky outcroppings below. I wish I had the courage to try that; but even if I did, I wouldn’t. Mom would have had a heart attack. While peering over a railing into the canyon, I see several coins resting in a crevice. Just above it, a sign, ironically, asks visitors not to throw coins into the canyon for the safety of the birds in the area.
I have dreamed of seeing the Grand Canyon since I was eight years old. During the summer of that year, Dad and I traveled cross-country to see my brother. On the way home afterward, Dad had suggested stopping there; but the trip had already been very long and tiring, and we were ready to go home. So that’s what we did, without seeing the canyon. Years later, he, Mom, and I would go on another cross-country journey during another summer to see one of the great wonders of the world.
Two days earlier: We have been in this car for ages. We have traveled for what feels like thousands of miles. Our stops are frequent but not enough; they include restaurants and rest stops. Dad and I snap pictures at the visitors’ centers we come to after crossing a state border. Some of the pictures include signs: “Welcome to Mississippi, birthplace of America’s music”; “Tennessee, the stage is set for you.” We took other great pictures as well: the deserts of Texas, tipi-shaped tables in Oklahoma, and the Mississippi River in Tennessee.
It’s the day before we tour the Grand Canyon National Park. The weather of Flagstaff, Arizona doesn’t seem to realize it’s late May; it’s freezing here and when we left Florida we packed in preparation for unbelievably hot summer weather. Mom and I stop at Wal-Mart to buy jeans so our legs won’t freeze while we’re at the park the next day. As we check-out our items minutes later, Mom inquires of the girl at the register if it’s normal for Flagstaff to be cold this time of year. The girl tells us it wouldn’t be unusual for it to snow in June. As we exit the store, Mom says, “Wouldn’t it be awful if it snowed while we were here?”
The Essay on My Mothers Operation Day Mom Dad
Narrative Essay I was fourteen years old when I found out my mom needed an operation. Until this point, I was taking life for granted. This operation changed the way I looked at life. It also brought my family closer together. My mother explained to me that her arms and legs had been going numb. She told me she had gone to a doctor a few weeks ago and they found a bulging disk in her spine. What ...
Mom and I stand near the edge of one of the canyon’s cliffs, taking pictures and enjoying the amazing view. Dad, meanwhile, has chosen to make the arduous hike down the side of the canyon. Mom has warned me at least once not to get too close to the edge. I’m not worried.Though there isn’t a railing at this particular spot, I’m too careful to allow myself to get close enough to fall over the edge. Still, I can’t resist joking about it. “Just think,” I say, “later, when you find Dad, you would tell him, ‘Well, Breanna got a little too close to the edge and…well, let’s just say she’s an angel now.’ Mom laughs. Such a comment may be distasteful to some, but I have an interesting sense of humor. I enjoy making startling statements that shock people, and, hopefully, make them laugh; one Friday evening, my roommate and I were eating ice cream in a square somewhere in Lakeland, when my mother called. When she asked what we were doing, I, who have never even been to a bar, said “We’re living it up at a dance club.” Both my roommate and my mother responded with shocked laughter.
We take what feels like hundreds of pictures that day as we walk the rim of the canyon. I take a snapshot of myself standing in front of a spot that has a railing. The cliff rearing up behind me looks rather like a humped-back whale. In another of my photos, the canyon appears to be ascending toward the blue and cloud-covered sky in a series of large red-brown steps. A foreign woman kindly takes a picture of Mom and me posing in front of the canyon. We look small compared to the stunning vista behind us.
After rejoining Dad a few hours later, the three of us climb to the top of the Desert View Watchtower. From the top of the tower, we can see the Colorado River in the distance, surrounded by the enormous bedrock of the canyon. The river resembles a thin blue ribbon lost amidst the artistry of rock formations and ledges. I wish we could go down into the canyon to see the river up close. Mom and I both want to take a jeep tour into the canyon the next day but Dad won’t allow it; he feels that it wouldn’t be worth the money because the jeep takes you south of the park instead of exploring an area within the park. Mom argued with him about it, but I stayed silent. Dad seemed so adamant about not doing the jeep tour, I didn’t think anything I could have said would have changed his mind. Looking back, I wish I would have spoken up; I really wanted to go down into the canyon just to see what it looked like. I would have held my camera up above my head and taken pictures of the canyon walls from the bottom. I would have gotten a close-up shot of the Colorado River. I would have also liked to have explored some of the nearby Native American areas and hiked some of the trails surrounding the canyon.
The Term Paper on Mom And Dad Brother Planet Back
After going from city to city in the Starship, we where looking for a place to stay at. We had left Earth because I was being taken over by the aliens that where discovered from other planets. We knew we would encounter other aliens while exploring other planets so we took proper precautions and brought the protection we would need through out the trip. We where going in outer space so the aliens ...
With a feeling of bittersweetness, I depart the Grand Canyon with my parents the next morning. I feel as if we have squandered a wonderful opportunity. There we were, at the edge of one of one of America’s great monuments, and we didn’t even experience half of the things we could have. The Grand canyon park site provides a wealth of information about places we could have explored while at the canyon. The Toroweap Overlook is on the northwest rim of the canyon, and it is just one sheer cliff that leads to the Colorado River. Verkamp’s Visitor Center contains an exhibition area which provides an ample history of the community that lives within sight of the canyon. The Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped platform with a glass bottom, is located outside the canyon park and extends about 70 feet from the edge. One day, I am going to return to the Grand Canyon and experience these things and more.
As we leave the area, I take a photo of an enormous mountain standing ominously against the sky. We stop briefly in and around Sedona, Arizona and take a few photos of the scenery. Among other pictures, I got a snapshot of two rosebushes. While traveling through New Mexico, I take several photos of cacti. My parents’ anniversary arrives while we’re still on the road. They go out to dinner at Applebee’s, while I eat McDonald’s and watch T.V. in the hotel room. We arrive home not long after that. We unpack, settle back in at home, and the majority of the remainder of the summer is comprised of normal, uneventful days. But this lesson I learned from seeing the Grand Canyon stays with me: the world is filled with objects that warrant our awe, and we are blessed in having the opportunities to witness them.
The Term Paper on The Causes of World War I 2
The Causes of World War I Few confrontations can come close to the destruction of whole nations and human lives as did World War I. Its arising, although seemingly rapid, came instead from the slow militant actions of European countries and their leaders. In addition, breakdowns in the Alliance System, problems between Imperialist governments, and the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand ...
Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon felt like being at the edge of the world, while still being connected to a distant landmass. I knew that the other landmass was there and I wanted to reach it, but I felt like I would never be able to accomplish such a feat. When I looked down to the bottom of the canyon, I reflected on its amazing depth and height, and felt extraordinarily small. I believe that God created this massive artwork of nature so the world could marvel at His awesomeness.
