A university professor in the Southwest tells of a student who went on a one-day trip to the Grand Canyon. She didn’t return until a week later. When asked what had happened, she answered that the Grand Canyon was so amazing that she had needed three days just to get used to it.

The Grand Canyon was formed by the mighty Colorado River cutting into a plateau in Arizona. The canyon is 277 miles long and about 1 mile deep. Because it is so deep, the top and the bottom have very different weather and vegetation. Going from the top to the bottom is somewhat like going from Canada to Mexico.

Known as one of the seven tourist travel wonders, which include the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, and Machu Picchu, it is visited by millions of people each year.