We wanted to see the Grand Canyon… When I was nine years old my family took a trip to Joplin, Missouri to see some of my Mom’s relatives. My Dad was in a hurry to get there and get back and I’m not so sure that he was that excited about Mom’s family. We didn’t get to do much sightseeing on the way there but on the way back Mom persuaded Dad that seeing the Grand Canyon would have some educational value. He said “yes” to the Grand Canyon but then changed his mind when he found out it was 100 miles out of the way. We settled instead on the Petrified Forest which was a bunch of trees that were so old they turned to rocks. Dad convinced us that the Petrified Forest was an even better experience than the Grand Canyon. Dad was wrong. When I shared about it at the 1st “Show and Tell” of the fall kids made fun of me for weeks for seeing the Petrified Forest instead of the Grand Canyon. I loved Dad but I always felt cheated by not seeing Grand Canyon…