My wife Becky and her daughter Rachel, the one with four kids, work well together at planning family vacations. That’s because they share the same goal: to expose the kids to new places and experiences they can’t get in central Indiana.
Their father Kevin, Becky’s other daughter, Amanda, and I also support this goal, but we don’t seem to have the same skill sets.
Also, in my case, my imagination is perhaps not bold enough to be a Vacation Planner. For example, I would never have considered taking a trip to Arizona in July. It would be too hot, I would have argued. Crazy hot.
But because our family vacations are dependent on the strictures of school calendars, sports schedules and other organized activities, July is the month that makes the most sense.
Therefore, Grand Canyon being in Arizona and also being a place everyone should have the good fortune to see if possible, I now find myself in the desert Southwest. In July. In the heat.
I am not a big fan of hot weather. I’ll take cold January to sweltering July anytime. My argument is you can always put on more clothes to get warm, but can take off only so many to cool off.
Of course, others will disagree. That’s why when people retire, they move to Arizona rather than Minnesota (one of my favorite states).
I decided to turn up the heat on our upcoming vacation plans. I did a little research on hot weather and discovered that the hottest day ever recorded on Earth was 134 degrees on July 10, 1913, at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California. July 10th falls smack dab in the middle of our family vacation. And California, I reminded them, is only one state away from Arizona. Would we be tempting fate? But it was to no avail. My arguments based on science made not the slightest difference to the Vacation Planners. Don’t worry, they told me, it’s a dry heat.
And speaking of heat, It turns out for a long time there was a fiery dispute among members of the meteorological community over when and where the hottest day on Earth did in fact occur. In 1922, less than a decade after Death Valley claimed the title, a weather observer in El Aziza, Libya, reported a temperature of 136.4 degrees. This claim was disputed almost immediately, but the record stood for nearly 90 years. In 2011, atmospheric scientists, citing errors in the original measurements, faulty equipment and the inexperience of the weather observer convinced the World Meteorological Organization to invalidate the claim and return the record to Death Valley’s Furnace Creek.
We began our trip by driving from Phoenix (114 degrees — the year-to-date high) to Tucson (104 degrees) then back to Phoenix (cooled down to 106 degrees). Our next stop was Flagstaff and then on to Grand Canyon. We would be there on July 10. The elevation at the Canyon’s South Rim is 7000 feet while Phoenix sits at about 1000 feet. That would be a factor in the temperature, I figured.
We waited until both rental cars were parked and the entire group was standing ready before we headed to the rim for a first look. We five adults wanted to witness the impressions on the four kids’ faces as they took it in. A short walk and, suddenly, there was the Grand Canyon spread out before us in its almost incomprehensible majesty. Even the teenager who usually seems unimpressed with most everything managed a “Wow!” with an implied exclamation point.
Though I have visited this one-of-a-kind wonder of nature several times over my life, I too was once again bowled over by the view. And as a bonus, the temperature — 89 degrees and a good breeze — was perfect.
It’s a dry heat, don’t you know.
