The next stop on our trip was the Grand Canyon, which stretches about 270 miles east to west in Arizona. The Grand Canyon was not actually on my bucket list of places to go, but my parents decided this destination for our family trip. I didn’t think it would be all that special, just a big hole in the ground. But after seeing its extreme vastness and beauty, I admit it is one of the great wonders of our world. Even though we went on this trip in late may, it was quite cold so I got to experience the canyon in both the sunlight and the snow. Every way you turn you see extravagant nature, whether it is the iron red rocks or the just a speck of the Colorado river at the bottom of the canyon.
This astonishing landmark was an important discovery during our countries fulfillment of manifest destiny. Our earliest settlers believed that conquering all the land between the Atlantic and Pacific was important for establishing our new country. Although moving into this land meant taking it away from the native people, Fredrick Jackson Turner believed it was our right to make this land our own. Turner created the Frontier Hypothesis, which stated that Americans needed to explore their new land to find what opportunities it may hold. While traveling west across the country one of the most incredible discoveries was the Grand Canyon.
This incredible canyon was thought to be formed 5-6 million years ago by the harsh waters of the Colorado river. Even though the canyon was discovered very early on it was not declared an official national park until 1919. The Grand Canyon is one of the most spectacular geological landmarks in the world. The canyon walls shows millions of years of rock erosion and different layers of the earths crust. This canyon was just another thing that made America new and different from its well established mother countries in Europe. This piece of land in Arizona held new wilderness and nature for people to explore.
https://www.history.com/topics/landmarks/grand-canyon
Here are some of my pictures from the park!
Leah's Blog 