New Year
Sunrise over the Grand Canyon 1.1.19 I awoke in the dark. My phone read 5am. I could feel Sam stirring beside me. Deke, curled into a ball between us, was determined to sleep as long as possible. I slowly unzipped the side of the tent and peeked out at a winter wonderland. Stars twinkled through the pine trees. The storm had passed leaving eighteen inches of fresh snow. I realized that it was January 1st and suddenly an idea popped into my head. I turned to Sam and said, “want to see the new year’s sunrise over the Grand Canyon?” We scrambled into gear, excavating ourselves from the blanket palace that our tent had become. We had arrived two days prior, driving in the open gates of Grand Canyon National Park in the fog. The federal government was shut down. No one was manning the entry stations at any of the national parks. No one was plowing the roads or cleaning the bathrooms. The private hotel was bustling, but otherwise, only a few bundled up strangers braved the weather and wild