On this day in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt declared the Grand Canyon a National Monument.
“Let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is,” Roosevelt said. “You cannot improve on it. But what you can do is keep it for your children, your children’s children, and all who come after you.”
We visited the Grand Canyon in 2018, during a trip through the beautiful state of Arizona. Vast, dramatic, breathtaking, majestic: The Grand Canyon is every superlative used to describe it, and more. The kids covered their eyes as we approached the first vista, and Olivia burst into tears when she removed her hands.
Today and every day, I’m grateful to President Roosevelt for thinking of his children and his children’s children, and for leaving a magnificent legacy.