Crowd pleaser

Both boys have impressed people on ranger talks with their knowledge, but John Michael really wowed them on our last Grand Canyon morning.

After breaking camp, we went to a geology talk. When the ranger asked if anybody knew the three main types of canyon rock, nobody answered. Then John Michael's hand shot up and he stood. "Igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary," he declared.

He got a big round of applause.

But our resident geologist and rockhound wasn't done. A later question came up. Who could name the three kinds of sedimentary rock? The ranger didn't look surprised when John Michael once again stood. "Sandstone, limestone and shale," he said as the ranger ticked off the answers on his fingers.

The crowd went crazy.