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We took a road trip 30 years ago out to the Grand Canyon (and other points west). We went with members of our extended family, about 14 people. At the time, our children and niecephews ranged in age from 0 to 11. We were sitting at a picnic table, shooting the breeze, and a crow swooped down to senatch a cheeto from my 3-year-old niece's hand. Plus, a coyoto later trotted by a couple of meters from me.

After camping on the touristy side, we spent a day driving around to the north side. We had enough people to qualify for a group campsite and we camped in a beautiful pine Forest. Most of the children (8 of them) wanted to sleep on the ground, out of the tents, and not with their parents, so I volunteered to keep them company. It got down to 33°F 4th of July weekend in the campground. Only one of the small children chickened out and had to be escorted back to her tent. The rest stayed warm in their sleeping bags, and when we woke up we saw a small herd of deer strolling through our campsite and between the trees. by the time we got moving after breakfast it was warm, and soon the day was hot and sunny. The canyon is so much bigger than photographs can show!