This day consisted of us hiking and swimming in Navajo Falls, Rock Falls, and Havasu Falls.  My brothers would grade each fall to their liking.  I couldn't do that.  Each is so unique and amazing in their own way.

This was Navajo Fall.  It wasn't as lime-rich as the other water, so instead of lime build up being EVERYWHERE, it was only in some spots.  The result, a pool of water that reminded me of deep irrigation water, because it was clear until somebody stepped onto the dirt and plants that covered the floor.

As we ventured onto Rock Falls, 

we realized people could jump off of it.

I never jumped off, but you could go underneath the falls and jump through the backside.

The backside was cold, with lime building up into stalactites along side moss.  It also seemed as if the ceiling was raining.

As we approached Havasu Falls,

we saw how it was a small scale of Mooney Falls.  It wasn't as powerful or as tall, but had an even more striking color of blue in the water.  We found fossils of rocks and leaves in limestone buildup.

Nature continues to amaze me, and I love exploring and seeing it all.  Though we spent almost three full days and hiked 30+ miles in all, my family and I still missed a lot.  The world has so much to offer.  As Ellie said it in UP "Adventure is out there!"

Adventure Time (First full day in the Canyon)

Let me just say, Havasupai was bomb.  It left me awestruck at the wonderful creations God has made for us.

Pictures don't give the falls any justice, but, it's a little easier to tell my adventure that way.

5:30 a.m. : we started our trek down the so called "Hill Top" to get to our camp site 10 miles away

We moved below the sand stone level of sediment to the red rock.

It amazes me how vibrant the colors of rocks can be.

It took us about 5 hours to reach our campsite.

We explored the area around us and caught up on sleep to get ready for the next day.

Beaver and Mooney Falls

As we started our hike to Mooney and Beaver Falls, we came upon what I thought was a dead end to a 50 foot drop down a cliff.  All I saw was a hole in the rock that looked like it went straight down, into nothing. I thought my brothers were joking that we would actually have to climb through it to get down the 50 foot cliff, boy was I wrong.

 We scaled down the terrifying cliff (apparently it was only frightening to me) to reach the base of Mooney Falls.

Those ladders were far from stable...

It was SOOOOOO worth it though.

This face was created by lime build up from the water, moss, and other green stuff that grew in rebound to the mist blowing off of the water fall.

We only stayed long enough to snap a few pictures before we headed down the trail towards Beaver Falls.

We went over the river-

 and through the vines.

 Vines as far as the eye could see.

It was unimaginably green for Arizona.

The water was phenomenal. Imagine crystal clear, light blue, powerade. That was the color of the water.

Beaver Falls was a set of about 5 tiers of short falls. 

One had a little cave that was filled with moss. Of course I went exploring!

Before long we realized we had already spent 2 hours there and needed to start heading back to Mooney Falls if we were going to swim there.  

 This view greeted us from the jungle of vines we had just trekked through. 

 It's a massive waterfall.

We had a blast fighting against the forceful turbulence of currents, wind, and water that came from the torrent of water streaming from the waterfall.

We then hiked on back to camp, having traveled 14 accumulative miles. 

We live in a World full of Wonders

One of the items on my bucket list is to visit all 7 natural wonders of the world. They are:
1. Grand Canyon
2. The Great Barrier Reef
3. Harbor at Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil
4. Mt. Everest
5. Aurora Borealis, a.k.a. Northern Lights
6. Paricutin Volcano, in Mexico
7. Victoria Falls, between Zambia and Zimbabwe in Africa


Just look how breathtaking the falls look! photo cred: http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/victoria-falls/

I've already checked off the Grand Canyon.  Last year my parents, our Brazilian foreign exchange student and one of my brothers spent an amazing 3 days inside the canyon hiking, camping, and exploring.  Today, my whole family and I get to return. This time we will visit the Havasupai Falls for a full 5 days! I am beyond excited for the adventure to come!

Other places I want to visit in my life include The Great Pyramid in Egypt, everything in Greece and Italy, Jerusalem, even Baghdad, Iraq, the old Biblical nation of Babylon.  These places hold such amazing, historical value.

Well, time to set off to see the Grand Canyon(:

A New Beginning

I am starting something new, this blog! It will replace my Facebook and Twitter posts because those are a waste of time and I can communicate with people that I really love and care about through calls, texts, and letters. Snail mail isn't completely dead, right?

In addition, this blog will keep people posted about my adventure as a college student. But, I don't leave for another 70 days so...

I want to talk about clocks, eternities, and one of my favorite books, Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli. I may also quote John Green a few times from his book The Fault in Our Stars because I did just see the film. (Don't worry, I also read it, twice.)

Eternity seems like a very long time.  It extends past man and protrudes into the afterlife.  I find it quite ironic how clocks are normally circles and how they will forever go around and around and will have no end yet they demand an end. They say when something has begun and when it must stop. They rule our existence to take us from one activity to another.

One of my favorite quotes:

Clocks--that's the problem.

Every clock is a nest of minutes and hours.

Clocks strap us into their shape.

Instead of heading for the nearest star, all we do

is corkscrew.

Clocks lock us into minutes, make Ferris wheel 

riders of us all, lug us round and round

from number to number,

dice the time of our lives into tiny bits

until the bits are all we know

and the only question we care to ask is

"What time is it?"

- Jerry Spinelli, Love, Stargirl

As the time approaches ever faster for me to depart my home, I think about Kindergarten and how this time seemed an eternity away. It seemed like an infinite circle as if my childhood would never end. 

But, it doesn't really have to. As John Green said, "some infinities are bigger than other infinities." Childhood is not lost when we get older.  To me, childhood is when we make mistakes to learn and grow. Yes, we are not really responsible for our actions,and that is the difference in adulthood. We become accountable. We learn: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. 

Right now, feel like a circle.  I like it.  It's not a square and doesn't have pointy edges.  It's perfectly rounded and goes around infinitely and right now in my life, anything is possible. I can accomplish anything, if I use my time wisely and don't procrastinate(: