Canyon Travel Blog: Keep the Voice Consistent

A Different View at Every Turn

1I had expected our family’s canyon trip to produce one perfect photograph. Before leaving home, I had made a list of views that I wanted to capture. At the first overlook, you raised your camera and waited for the shadows to move. Instead of finding the picture on my list, I noticed how little of the canyon could fit inside a frame.

2My brother, Dario, wanted to stop at every information panel along the rim. Our parents agreed, so we took turns reading the signs aloud. We learned that the layers visible across the canyon had formed at different times. Whenever we reached another panel, we compared its diagram with the rock faces beyond the railing.

3At lunch, our whole family unfolded a paper map on a picnic table. We marked the overlook we had already visited and traced our route with one finger. Then we discussed whether you had enough time for another stop. The afternoon drive would be long, and none of us wanted to hurry through the final viewpoint.

4I volunteered to write the day’s blog entry while Dario chose photographs. I first described the canyon as enormous, but that word explained almost nothing. I replaced it with details about the narrow river below and the long bands of color across the opposite wall. My parents suggested including the map so readers could follow our route.

5That evening, Dario read my draft from the passenger seat. He pointed out a sentence that sounded as though I had suddenly started talking about the reader instead of our family. I circled it for revision. Outside the window, the canyon had disappeared behind the hills, but I was finally beginning to describe what I had actually seen.