Flying Into Spring

So there I was...flying down into the Grand Canyon last week in a helicoptor.  As the morning sun shone off the massive walls of the canyon, creating shadows and designs on the layered rock, our aircraft gently touched down on a flat section half way between the upper rim and the base, where the river flowed.  The sheer size of this "natural wonder of the world" is what amazes most.  Hopping out of the copter, our very competent pilot told us we had about thirty minutes to explore and enjoy a picnic lunch that was laid out for us.  Impressive, to say the least.  Flying over the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead on the way to the Grand Canyon was icing on the cake.  What I noticed most, while enjoying these incredible sights, was the absence of color and life.  Everything seemed to be brown or a shade of that color.  Growing up in New England there was always such lush greens in Spring/Summer and the Fall colors are world renowned.  So much wildlife could be experienced if you sat quietly under a tree for five or ten minutes watching the forest come alive.  Or walking the beach listening to the seagulls over the roar of the waves as the Piping Plovers keep time with the surf, running and feeding as the water advances, then recedes.  I guess I'm biased to thinking this way because of where I grew up but this trip to the desert areas locked those feelings firm.  Glad I went, and it is amazing to see, but now I'm ready for Spring, which officially starts in about fifty minutes, and all the colors and life that come with it here in the Northeast.  We have a sign that hangs over our kitchen window that says, "Let It Snow".  Time to switch that to the one that says, "Let It Grow".