LESLIE'S JOURNAL

Half an hour ago we were standing outside watching the sun disappear over the far rim of the canyon, along with a small international group of about 20 people. I was thinking to myself, 'these are my kind of people; people who stay on after the gift shop closes.' Then the sun slipped over the horizon and they were gone almost in the same moment. It was a shame, because the most beautiful colors appear in the wake of the sun. Now we are alone here, our engine idling to power the laptop, the computer screen glowing gently under the big western sky.

This place is so timeless it makes the mise en scene of two laptop ladies on the edge of the canyon (and the millenium) seem rather small and funny. We know that the Anasazi were here thousands of years ago, Spanish conquistadores in the 16th Century, explorers and prospectors in the 19th Century, and now here we are for our glimpse of eternity, generating web pages from the juice of the cigarette lighter.

I can't help thinking back to the massive stalagtite we saw during our visit to Meremac caverns and how Travis explained to us that the magical geological wonder was twice as long in the making as the Grand Canyon. Looking out over the power and absolute epic grandeur of the canyon I began to feel somewhat sorry for the poor stalagtite trapped down there in its cave, subjected to Kate Smith, God Bless America and a pink, green and yellow 1940s lighting display 24 times daily, but I suppose this is all just the blink of an eye. I'm glad our moment here coincides with the comet, which we can see beautifully now.