Well, I just got back from an impromptu trip to the Grand Canyon. My dad had always wanted to take me there, and with a few days off from work, we abruptly decided to take a drive off to pay it a visit.
Ive gotta say, I wish I was out there longer. The Canyon itself was WAAAYY larger than I thought it would be (the photos and movies dont do it any justice), and if we had more time, I wouldve loved to take a hiking trip down to the bottom (which is 3 to 4 thousand feet down!).
We only had a day though, so we were stuck along the top rim, staring down into this insanely vast gorge.
Now that Im back, I can sum up my experience by saying that LA is overrated, and so is California in general. There wasnt the overdevelopment in Arizona that we see in California, which makes ugly monotone landscapes of housing. Much of the state is true wilderness, and the farmers there dont do cattle ranching or agriculture like they do in the central valley of California (which is factory style cattle raising and farming, very unpleasant).
It was also nice to get out of town so that I didnt have to be bombarded by news of Michael Jackson (I think the guy was being deified by the media and his acolytes in the Staples Center, who seemed to forget that the guys behavior was down right creepy, and I sure as hell wouldnt let my kids anywhere near him).