As a child growing up in Memphis, I would regularly travel to California to visit my grandparents who lived in the Bay Area. One year on the return flight to Memphis, I would have been about 12 or 13, the pilot got on the intercom and said that our flight was running ahead of schedule, and we're very close to the Grand Canyon. If nobody on the flight objected, he would take our flight about 15 minutes off course and we'd be able to see the Grand Canyon. It was just before sunset. Nobody objected, and so we took a little detour. When we got to the Grand Canyon, he flew inline above the canyon, took us in a bit low, running above the right side, he would tilt the plane so everyone on the left could look down and see, then switched to the opposite bank, and tilted so everyone on the right could look out. Then to return to our flight path, he doubled back and went up the length of the Canyon in the opposite direction. All the while, remember, it was just before sunset. I could look up, and out to the East and see the moon and stars, I could look out to the West and still see the sun, very low in the sky, and look down and see the Grand Canyon below. I was awe struck by the grandeur of nature, the infinite of space, and the marvel of aviation engineering. There is no means of capturing such a moment in a photo.
