{"id":2476,"date":"2016-07-12T16:01:38","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T20:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2476"},"modified":"2016-07-12T16:01:38","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T20:01:38","slug":"yes-the-grand-canyon-was-awesome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2476","title":{"rendered":"Yes, the Grand Canyon was awesome!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m back from the Grand Canyon and eager to share my experiences. Here is the first bit of my account from that amazing week. If you’re interested, you can click on the link at the end to continue reading at my Going Ape site.<\/p>\n

How I spent my summer …<\/h2>\n

There are no man-made signs deep in the Grand Canyon. If you want to know where to find Elves Chasm or how severe the next set of Colorado River rapids are, you better have a good guidebook with you or be under the care of expert navigators.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A happy teacher in the Grand Canyon.<\/p><\/div>\n

There are no picnic tables. You have to make do with sitting on rocks, sand or your raft, flicking your lunch’s crumbs into the river\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s current for fish to finish off.<\/p>\n

There are no restrooms. Peeing into the flowing milk chocolate river or squatting over a metal can are the only options. And you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re usually conducting your business mere feet from fellow travelers.<\/p>\n

That river also serves as your bathtub, should you feel the need to scrub away the day\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dirt and sweat. You might not feel squeaky clean as you step out, but the perpetually icy water will leave you feeling rudely awake, alive and oddly insignificant. After all, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re standing naked and shivering, or partially naked if you bring civilization\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s modesty with you, before towering rock walls that have seen it all over their millions of years of patient existence.<\/p>\n

And there are no handrails, fluorescent yellow warning tape or off-limits rope to keep you safe. One recent, tragic death attests to that. (Florida woman dies after fall from Grand Canyon trail.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"DSCN0104_sm\"<\/a>I spent a week on a raft slowly cruising through this natural wonder as a guest of the National Center for Science Education. The California based organization has been hosting these expeditions for several years, offering bucket-list travelers a unique perspective of the ancient landmark. NCSE scientists take advantage of several stops along the river to demonstrate how creationists believe the Canyon proves that Noah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flood is historical fact and contrast that with the scientific consensus that the Canyon walls are oblivious to such a fantastic tale. The presentations are as entertaining as they are educational.<\/p>\n

(Continue reading this at Going Ape<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m back from the Grand Canyon and eager to share my experiences. Here is the first bit of my account from that amazing week. If you’re interested, you can click on the link at the end to continue reading at … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-DW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2454,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2454","url_meta":{"origin":2476,"position":0},"title":"It’s truly an honor!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm very honored and excited to be selected as one of two teacher scholarship winners, receiving an all-expenses-paid eight-day raft trip through the Grand Canyon, hosted by the National Center for Science Education this summer! Is that just pure awesome or what?! NCSE news release:\u00c2\u00a0Congratulations to the 2016 NCSE Grand\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 8 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 8 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2454#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1393,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1393","url_meta":{"origin":2476,"position":1},"title":"Movie review: No Dinosaurs in Heaven","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A documentary focusing on the controversy between evolution and creationism is currently touring the country. On Aug. 28 the Tallahassee Scientific Society will screen No Dinosaurs in Heaven at the Challenger Learning Center IMAX Theatre. Dr. Eugenie Scott from the National Center for Science Education is expected to be in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1667,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1667","url_meta":{"origin":2476,"position":2},"title":"Virtual education redux","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"August 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've written plenty about the good, bad and ugly of virtual education. I'm glad that some folk appear to be catching on to the fact that it's not the grand education solution, as demonstrated to some extent in this Ocala Star-Banner article: Virtual schools help some students get ahead. 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Science, Man, God: A Creation vs. Evolution Debate Dr. Douglas Jacoby vs. Dr. Michael Shermer October 27, 2008 Reitz Union Grand Ballroom Doors open at 7:15 p.m. Show begins at 8:00 p.m. Co-Sponsored with CSA and Gator Freethought Free and open to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 13 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 13 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=745#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=52","url_meta":{"origin":2476,"position":4},"title":"Science takes priority","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"September 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"New science lab opens at Hallmark Elementary Science slid from the back burner to the front Friday at Hallmark Elementary School as students, faculty and volunteers gathered for the grand opening of a new science lab. Principal Shere\u00c3\u00a9 Cagle said the idea to create a lab came after the school's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the Classroom"","block_context":{"text":"In the Classroom","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2302,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2302","url_meta":{"origin":2476,"position":5},"title":"Pay attention, kids. This is how real life works.","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Now that summer vacation is just about here (Wednesday will be students' last day), I can breathe again and spend some of my deserved free time on reflection. My first year as a biology teacher was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. But I managed to survive.\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2302#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2476"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2476"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2477,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2476\/revisions\/2477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}