We haven’t taken a family #vacation in over four years. Between our son’s summer DCI activities and the #pandemic, there really hasn’t been much opportunity. This year we planned a vacation. We took our son and his fiance and headed out west to the Grand Canyon (north and south rim). It was the first time for each of us to experience the grandeur of the canyon and two other canyons nearby, Bryce and Glen. Before leaving, I had my pre-vacation checklist to complete. It’s never been easy for me to stop working for a week. Normally it takes me the first few days to down-shift into vacation mode – to not wonder what’s happening back at the office. The ridiculous part of this is that it’s not like I’m a high-ranking leader at a Fortune fifty company. In truth, I’m about six levels below that. But I carry the curse of a strong work ethic and take ownership of my work. So to leave work for a week takes a little effort on my part.

This time it didn’t take me long to decompress and ignore emails from work. About halfway through the week, I realized that I needed this vacation. I needed a change of scenery, a new experience, and time with my family. We had a great time. There was no rushing, but we had specific activities planned most days. In the evenings after a good dinner, we played cards and enjoyed each other’s company. I haven’t seen the news in over a week. The world was doing what it was doing, and my family was making memories.

We had a couple of rental car challenges. Evidently Dollar car rental can take a reservation, they just can’t keep the reservation (Seinfeld reference intended). But we got it worked out and had a comfortable Honda SUV for traveling from one end of the Grand Canyon to the other.

I’m purposely not going to even attempt to describe what we saw. Here are a couple of pictures. Even as a writer, I am without words, and these photos don’t begin to give you a sense of the majesty our Creator put in these mountains. Please take time to make the #trip. It’s worth experiencing and our National Park Service has made it very accessible for pretty much anyone.

We wrapped up our adventure with a trip to Chase Field Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona to see the Diamondbacks and the Rays play. Great game. Something else I’ve never experienced is a baseball game played inside. With the extreme heat, the game was played with the stadium roof closed. The Rays won.

Back to work on Monday. I’m thankful for my time off. But I’m refreshed and ready to go.

How’s your summer going?

All the best,

KK