Three years ago this month, returning to my hotel room in Flagstaff, Arizona, I wrote:At least once in a lifetime every American should lay eyes on the Grand Canyon, whose brilliant colors and dazzling erosional landscape inspire a kind of planetary patriotism. Stretching 277 miles long and a mile deep, it is perhaps our nation’s greatest natural treasure. I went on to express sadness over a decision by the National Parks Service to raise admission from $25 per car to $30 - a five dollar hike!