Traveling over a thousand kilometers through dry brown and rocky landscape, gives a new appreciation for the ‘poor lonesome cowboys’ and the pioneer families that traveled here 2 centuries ago to find a new life. It is a harsh landscape but also very beautiful with magnificent sunsets, and for us the climate is pleasant -  a little cool at night but still very nice during the day. It is easy to imagine the heat of the summer when you see how little grows here and how brown it all is even now. As we drew closer to the Grand Canyon, and the elevation got higher and higher, we woke in -7 C on the morning of our visit to the Grand Canyon. with normal day temperatures being between 0 and 10C, we dressed for the worst.

With very little warning in the landscape as to what is coming, the first view of the Grand Canyon is breathtaking. It is so vast you can’t see people walking in the bottom with the naked eye – even a building is barely recognizable. Beautiful coloured and layered rock cliffs, rolling plains far below, water rushing (although you can’t see that without binoculars) all add to the majesty. Sitting with your feet hanging over a rock and nothing visible below you for 2500 – 3000 feet is an experience one is not likely to forget. We were also very fortunate to have the sun raise the temperature to an almost balmy 12C in the afternoon.

It has apparently taken thousands of years to carve this magificent ‘hole in the ground’ and it has unearthed what appears to be billions of years of history of earth forming and climate changes. It does make a creationist at heart wonder:  How exactly did God make it all anyway!?

The Hoover Dam is an amazing feat of engineering, at time of construction the largest dam and power plant in the world, and still today 73 years later, it is still one of the 35 largest. The lake it created had a shoreline 700 miles long and plays a significant role in the irrigation of southern california. In fact the dam’s primary purpose was to control the water flow of the colorado river as it flows into the plains. The power production is secondary and is driven by the water demand downstream.

For security reasons we were unable to enter the dam for a tour (I forgot to leave my pocket knife behind – I guess I haven’t lost all my redneck-itis) So we saved that money – I didn’t really need to see the power generators anyway, going into the depths of the dam was what really appealed to me, but not enough to walk back up to the car to put my knife away and then all the way back down again. Especially since, not finding parking for our trailer, we had to park several hundred feet above the dam and a half kilometer away. Just walking over the dam, however,  and viewing the awesome power of the water contained by this immense structure of concrete, was well worth the extra drive. More than a 600 foot drop on the downstream side, 1200 feet long across the top, and more than 600 feet thick at the bottom – it is quite a sight.  Even seeing the water levels of the lake at 42% capacity was an incredible sight. We stood on a boat launch later, almost a mile away from the lake! they have had some extra dry years lately.

The name of this collection of ancient manuscripts does little to inspire the excitement that has always surrounded it. To start off with, the title containing the word ‘dead’ seems to sum up how most of us view old parchments. It gives a sense of the dustier and darker library corners where none come but the old librarians who have come to take on the look of old parchments themselves. Yet when entering the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, you could immediately sense the agelessness of the antiquity surrounding you. As we wandered through the gallery, there was a build up of anticipation. First we strolled through some history of the empires that rose and fell around this little area called Gallilee, and watched the some of the events unfold that gave rise to the little kingdom of Judah. We then perused the artificats found within the area of Gallilee, and even more specifically in the small community of Qumran where the scrolls were found hidden. One could not help but marvel at the age of the items on display. It hit me especially when standing in front of a display case containing a pair of remarkably well preserved sandals, which had been recovered from the archeological dig of the town that was most likely destroyed shortly after the scrolls were hidden. It was a blessing to stand near the sandals of one who lived in the same age as our Lord Jesus; who possibly walked the same roads or even saw Him. While there are few if any biblical references in this section and all indications are that it was a terrifying time to be alive, I couldn’t help but being a little envious of the unknown man who walked in those sandals.

To finally walk into the Gallery that contained the actual manuscripts was in some ways anticlimactic. The original find that sparked the search for the massive collection of scrolls, was an actual scroll in near perfect condition. Most of the manuscripts found though, were disintegrated, mixed up with each other, and the fragments of pottery they had originally been stored in. It was a few of these, pieced together, that were on display. A couple of them were biblical texts – a piece of the story of Joseph and Potifar’s wife, and a psalm – and a few were apocryphal, or historical texts. It was neat to see, but more fascinating to see how much the historians still had to learn with regard to handling these manuscripts. There were pictures of large halls of tables with the pieces of scrolls laid out, and amongst them were the workers: eating, drinking, smoking, handling the precious fragments with their bare hands, scotch taping them together with full sunlight streaming through the windows. Those first few years of emerging from their ancient hiding places took centuries off their life!

Years ago, when I first heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and how it affirmed the accuracy of the Bible as we know it, I sensed a great relief that all I believe in still made sense after a major historical find like that. That relief has now been replaced by a profound trust; in the Bible, in God, and in the work of Jesus on the cross. So when I finally saw the scrolls – it was just nice to see them.