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Pictures From the Ledge

          It was a photo opportunity that could not be missed. Why else would I be doing this? Typically, I was a very cautious person. But, there I was, with a friend, standing in a short line waiting to have our photo taken in this precarious-looking spot. I looked around me. The view was simply stunning. I could see why this was a popular photo spot.
          I was nearing the front of the line. When the people ahead of me reached the front of the line, they gave me their camera, took a few steps forward and posed. I took their picture and returned their camera to them as they passed me by. Then, it was my turn. My friend and I passed our cameras to the people behind us and took our places a few steps ahead. Separately but quickly, our photos were taken and it was the next person’s turn. Before I left, though, I could not resist taking a look at where I had been standing. I briefly turned to face the late morning sky, which was cloudless and blue. The rocks, in various earth toned hues, lined the horizon. The flat, rocky ledge on which I was standing extended less than three feet behind me before abruptly ending with no railing to mark its edge. Then, I looked down, my eyes following the jagged edges of the rocks until they ended in the riverbed . . . at the base of the Grand Canyon.
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  1. UnknownAugust 11, 2010 at 1:49 PM

    In a time of so many corporate run forms of entertainment, it's easy to forget that there are still many places where if one forgets oneself it can result in, well, death. Just ask the last guy who thought it'd be fun to pet the "tame buffalos" they keep at Yellowstone Park.

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