It’s been a while since my last post.
I do have a good excuse for not updating this site – I was travelling. Again. This time it was the west side of the Balkans – parts of the former country of Yugoslavia. I will get to that in one of my future articles.

However, as promised in the most recent post, this time we will remain in Arizona to see one of the natural wonders of the world. The Grand Canyon has been featured on many “Best of” lists, keep in mind that there is no official one.
So I thought why not add it to my list: to-do list, bucket list, must-see list, places-to-visit-in-your-lifetime list or any variation or combination of these.

If you are picky or suspicious you may ask the question: why exactly is the canyon grand? Is it the grandest canyon? Deepest? Longest? Widest? Breath-taking-est? How do you actually define “largest” canyon? There is no fixed definition of that. So for all you curious folks that still want to know more here are some imprecise answers about canyons in general:

1. The deepest canyons are found in central Asia. As you may have guessed it has something to do with the Himalayas. The gorges of the rivers Indus, Gandaki and Yarlung Tsangpo are thousands (as in 5 to 7 thousands) of meters deep, making Grand Canyon’s depth of 1857 meters tiny.
2. The very same Yarlung Tsangpo canyon is also the world’s longest – about 500 km long – Grand Canyon is about 60 km shorter
3. The thing that places Grand Canyon on top of the various lists is its fame. It has been successfully marketed worldwide and for good reasons. It really is amazing to see and it is much easier accessible as the canyons in the Himalayas or the Andes.
4. If you are still curious about canyons – the truly largest on earth is the one that no person has ever seen. The fact that it is located under the Antarctic ice sheet significantly contributes to its inaccessibility.
5. If that’s still not enough for you – you will need to wait until tourist expeditions to Mars are available. That’s where the largest canyon in the Solar System is located. Once on the spaceship tell the driver to go to Valles Marineris. Don’t forget to stock on supplies for the trip (if it’s not an all-inclusive deal)…

Ok, let’s get back to Arizona for now, interplanetary travel (especially for civilians) is still a few years away. So why not take a good old plane to Las Vegas, rent a car or go on an organized trip and see the Grand Canyon?

As is the case with many other natural wonders, you will see great colours when the sun is low above the horizon.

Or when it is setting (or rising):

Arizona is nice and warm so in the next post we will still stick around.