USA Today Readers Name Grand Canyon ‘8th Wonder’

When we last checked in on USA Today, the newspaper was in the midst of counting down the seven new wonders of the world picked by its panelists. The paper had already proclaimed Potala Palace/Jokhang Temple in Tibet, Jerusalem’s Old City, the polar ice caps, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine Monument and the Internet as new wonders. Since then it has added the final two: the Maya pyramids in Central America and Serengetti Plain, Tanzania. But it seemed that seven wonders weren’t enough. And so it was that USA Today’s readers were asked to vote for an 8th wonder. On Friday, the paper announced that they chose the Grand Canyon.

That puts two of their eight wonders in U.S. territory.

Now don’t get me wrong. The Grand Canyon is grand. I’ve backpacked to the canyon’s floor multiple times—a humbling experience for mind and body.

But you don’t suppose the fact that Americans were voting had anything to do with the fact that they picked the Grand Canyon over, say, Machu Picchu, do you?

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