Twilight at Grand Canyon – Part 1

“We are all starved for the glory of God, not self. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem. Why do we go? Because there is greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than there is in beholding self.”
— John Piper

Desert Botanical Garden

“OMG! Yes, Queen! You look just like Lizzo!”

After a long, drawn out experience with an extra early morning flight, sold-out car rentals, and a three hour drive until our final destination, it took everything in me not to make a snide remark when a young woman screamed that at us when I walked by. As a black, plus size woman, I couldn’t tell at first if it was meant as a compliment or as an insult. Then I realized there’s no way anyone could ever think that calling me Lizzo was an insult, so I yelled a sweet thank you and kept it moving. My boyfriend chuckled next to me, grabbed my hand, and whispered in my ear “celebrity status”. That’s how are time in Arizona began, but I honestly don’t think of it in a bad way at all.

The Desert Botanical Garden was on the way to our hotel in Flagstaff, and since we have a thing for botanical gardens, stopping there was a no-brainer. For $25 a ticket, we definitely have a lot of fun, cute memories from that adventure.

For one, the people who were visiting that day, as you can tell, were a bit on the quirky side. We were asked to take an older couple’s photo in front of one of the statues there. After taking theirs, we asked for them to take ours with my camera. Note – my camera is more of a vlogging camera: Mark G7 at that. The pair commented, “Wow! An actual camera?! Does it have actual film?!”. Slight shade? Maybe. I laughed it off, thanked them for the photo, and continued on our merry way.

Then, my boyfriend asked one of the guides about when a particular flower he was interested in would bloom. The man talked about every other type of flower that is in season at that time and then stated – “notice I did not mention that flower”. Was it completely necessary? No. Could he have just said, “It’s not the season for this yet?”. We think so. But, again, we smiled and thanked him for his time before doing our on Google search to learn more about the flowers in bloom in the area. Gotta love the locals.

All in all, though, we actually really enjoyed our time at the Desert botanical garden. We made friends with a local photographer who gave us the inside scoop on how to spot the cutest bunny roaming and feasting on some of the foliage. We made a game of seeing which one of us could get the best shot of the hummingbirds zipping in and around us.

And best of all, we learned, laughed, and loved together during what would become one of the most challenging yet rewarding trips together yet. Stay tuned for the next part of our Twilight in the Grand Canyons series.