We just got back from a family drive to the Grand Canyon . . .
Have you ever tried to introduce family members to things that have made a deep impression on you personally? It’s often disheartening, isn’t it?
For example, here’s what my son got out of the sea of sage and grasslands that make up the Kaibab Plateau:
“I’d put an amusement park over here,” he said, pointing to the right. “And over here,” — pointing to the left now — “a shopping center and a sports arena.”
“Look at the mountains,” I said to my wife, indicating with a sweep of my hand the silent, austere beauty of the East Mojave, where desert mountains rise dramatically from the sloping terrain.
“I’ve been looking at them for five hours,” she said.
“You know,” I said, “you guys just don’t appreciate the grandeur –”
“HEY, LOOK!” my son yells. “IT’S A BUSH!”
“– of the American Southwest.”
Reminds me of a road trip we took from Minneapolis to San Diego with our eighth and sixth graders. We allowed them to each take a friend. Stops at the Corn Palace, Mount Rushmore (“yep, looks just like the picture.”), Chugwater, WY, USAFA, Royal Gorge…yadayadayada. Grand Canyon too. I thought they completed hated it, but years later, I keep overhearing each one talk about it to friends. So, hang in there. And FORCE these trips on your family. It is character building.