Shadowing Practice: I Visited the Top 10 Places in America - Grand Canyon - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Good morning, sleepyheads.
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Good morning, sleepyheads.
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It is day nine of visiting the top 10 tourist attractions in America.
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Yesterday we spent the day in Los Angeles at the Santa Monica Pier, the Hollywood sign, and even a Dodgers game.
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Today we are awake at 4 a.m because we have to travel to a very remote location.
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The Grand Canyon.
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We're probably gonna sleep on the planes because we went to bed super late last night, but the bucket list adventure continues.
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After eight days straight of visiting a new tourist attraction, I cannot believe we are nearing the end.
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We slept on the connecting flight, check out the Memojis.
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They're sleeping, it's kinda fun.
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We landed in Phoenix, Arizona for our connection.
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Thank you Shopify so much for sponsoring our bucket list.
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You can tell we're getting closer to the Grand Canyon because we're flying over some crazy looking terrain right now.
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Hey!
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Alpha move.
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Alright.
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We really only have one goal for the day, and it is Grand Canyon.
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We have been awake for seven hours.
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That's how long it took for us to travel to our rental car, and it's another two hours to get to the Grand Canyon Village.
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But everyone I know who has been here to this tourist
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attraction says it is probably the coolest thing they've seen in America.
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So it is probably going to be worth it.
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I'm excited.
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I know we're going to a lookout called U-Ah, and after all this travel, I can't wait to have that moment.
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Lots of people speaking highly of OOAH point.
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Very excited for that.
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So we're gonna make a quick snack run because we haven't done any snacking yet today.
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And then we start the drive.
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Alpha Louie!
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The snack run has begun.
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I am filming this from the gaming section.
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I love coming here every time I go to Target.
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I like it because it's by the books.
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A little bit of a his and hers adventure, similar to our entire bucket list.
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Here's what we got for snacks for our Grand Canyon drive.
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I got myself a protein shake.
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I got myself a s'mores protein bar.
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I got us both big waters.
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And I got us both meat sticks.
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She also got an adult Lunchable.
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And of course, a Target basket is not complete without getting a little bit of Joyride.
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It's a cherry berry rope type of day.
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Y'all, Joyride day, June 13th, it's right around the corner.
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Are you ready to set a new world record?
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I hope you are.
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You know all about it by now.
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But if you haven't RSVP'd in the description, you're missing out.
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You've gotta RSVP because there's 33,000 of us already.
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You don't want to miss this party.
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Shout out to all the Joyride runners.
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I fit as many of you on this screen as I possibly could.
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You're the best.
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And if you go to Target, look for this in-cap display.
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It has rare joyride flavors.
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It's the perfect photo op.
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Joyride day is going to be absolute cinema.
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You ready for this road trip?
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Absolutely.
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Snack run complete.
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Thank you.
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Let's go.
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I'm so excited.
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Me too, to eat.
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Yes.
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The bad news is we still have a couple hours before we arrive to Grand Canyon National Park.
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The good news is we're still getting there before 2 p.m.
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Haley, how does this summer series doing our bucket list compare to last summer when we visited 50 states in 50 days?
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This series made me realize how isolated we were for the 50 states.
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We were on the periphery of towns, we were in houses and cars, but we didn't see the general public unless we stopped at a gas station.
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But this trip is almost entirely out in public.
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Like, Grand Canyon will probably be one of the most isolated ones we do.
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I remember last summer when we would visit certain states, there would either be comments or friends saying like, Oh no, you should have gone and done this or that.
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Most of them being tourist attractions.
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And I wish we could have done it, so that's why we wanted to do this this summer.
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And I gotta say, it has been everything I could have dreamed of.
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It's been so fun.
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And I think these last two are gonna be the cherries on top.
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We are approaching the Grand Canyon rapidly.
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I think the views are gonna start getting really cool pretty soon.
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When it comes to people that have visited the Grand Canyon, there are only two kinds.
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People that love it and liars.
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Sort of a joke there, but...
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We took a stop at a general store near the entrance because it has...
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Souvenirs!
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It's really nice inside, and this wall of souvenirs has so much variety, you just gotta say, wow.
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They also have hats, and maybe the coolest collectible pen we've found yet.
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We applied some sunscreen outside, better safe than sorry, and arrived to the entrance of Grand Canyon.
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Alright, thank you very much.
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Have a good one.
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We're in!
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Let's see what this is all about.
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Yeah, let's see what this is all about.
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Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived to the Grand Canyon.
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I am so excited!
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We have a pretty simple to-do list today, and we are getting very close to determining the number one tourist attraction in America.
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It's actually very nice here.
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Everyone is just relaxing, having a good time, soaking up the sun.
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There are shuttle buses over there that will take you to different trailheads so you can hike the Grand Canyon.
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And the vibes that I'm picking up are very aligned with what I've seen online.
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In general, people say the Grand Canyon is very much underrated.
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Indescribable, unbelievable, absolutely-able.
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Yeah!
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I think these reviews pretty much sum it up.
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Rad Dad's review is amazing.
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He said, Close your mouth, Steve.
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It's just the Grand Canyon.
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It's a shame to ruin this review with words.
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One has to smell the air, feel the breeze, hear the sound, step to the edge, but not too close.
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Five stars.
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Kayla said, It's just massive and awesome.
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Watching sunset here is a new core memory.
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Canadian flag.
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Five stars.
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We are most definitely going to stay for sunset.
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D Hunt's review says, OoAah Point is a must see.
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IDK how anyone could rate this anything but five stars.
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Five stars.
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It would have been hilarious if you followed that up with the four stars.
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That would have been funny.
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My backpack is packed to the brim with snacks.
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The next shuttle is leaving very soon, so we're gonna get on and go to OoAah Point.
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I'll be the Oo, you be the Ah.
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Okay, deal.
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We got on the shuttle to the OoAah Trail, but little did we know, we would catch our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon on this bus.
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This is the final boss of the picture doesn't do it justice.
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No, it looks so much crazier than this image right now that you're seeing.
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We're getting off the bus at Ooa Trail now, we are so excited.
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We have arrived to the starting point of Ooa Trail.
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It's about an hour to two hours of hiking.
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It's a moderate difficulty, which means for us this might be quite treacherous.
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We're gonna see how long it takes us to do this trail.
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I did just meet some people that did it.
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It was good.
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Yeah, it was, let's see, it was very steep down, but it was a really fun scenic view.
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Worth it?
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Oh, very much.
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You guys say, ooh-ah?
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Ooh-ah.
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Nice.
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All right, here we go.
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Let's start hiking.
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Oh my gosh, Hailey.
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Is this ooh-ah?
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You're on your way down to ooh-ah point.
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All right, thank you.
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You've got plenty of time to get to it.
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All right.
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There's a sign there, so that's where you start.
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Okay, thank you very much.
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Thank you.
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Oh my gosh, Hailey.
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How is this not oo-ah already?
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This is not oo-ah yet?
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This is the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life.
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It's actually crazy.
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What?
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Hailey, the good news is, it's downhill on the way there.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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I definitely get the sense that we're slightly underprepared.
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We don't have any hiking poles.
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Hello.
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Look out for the doo-doo.
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Stinky.
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Looks like I found the culprit.
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Mules.
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Greetings.
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Oh my gosh, Haley.
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We're within the Grand Canyon.
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I will say this is the most adventurous I've felt in the bucket list series.
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I don't think my dad's shoes were built for this.
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I got my phone out to capture some videos of the absolute canyon in front of us.
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What even is this thing?
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Oh, buddy.
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You got this, buddy.
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How was it?
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Good, this is it.
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Nice.
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Oh my goodness.
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Oh my goodness.
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Hi.
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Oh my gosh, he's puking.
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That's a scary graphic.
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How is this not the ooh-ah spot already?
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I mean, this is at least ooh.
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Oh, look at him.
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He's eating the flowers.
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He climbs a little.
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He's really using his hands.
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I wonder if he realizes how insane the view that he's looking at is.
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How's it going?
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Chilling.
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How was the view?
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Amazing.
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All right.
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It's better the more you go.
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Really?
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All right.
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Yeah, nice seeing you on Thursday.
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You too.
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Take care.
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Yule Blockade.
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Greetings.
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All right.
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Careful. That bug just spiked.
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I'm getting trolled by a whole animal kingdom right now.
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Ooh, ah, point.
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It's in the game.
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Uh, yeah, that'll do.
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That view will do.
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I cannot believe my eyes.
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I can't believe we are in this image.
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I feel like I'm in art.
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Agreed.
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I'm gonna eat probably the first Joyride Cherryberry Rope at Ooh Ah Point of all time.
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Cheers.
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Cheers.
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I'm just thinking about Rad Dad's review right now.
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He was the one who said you had to smell the air, feel the breeze, hear the sounds, step to the edge, but not too close.
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This is the most marvelous thing I've ever seen.
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All right, we're gonna drink some water, refuel a little bit, and hike back up.
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It took us 29 minutes to get down.
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Let's see how long it takes to get back up.
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These are some of my new favorite photos.
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Nobody tells you this, but you gotta stay hydrated when you're out hiking in extreme heat in the Grand Canyon.
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The squirrel from earlier followed us to the lookout point.
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I love him.
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Semi-Quincentennial!
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Of course, it took us a bit longer to hike back up to the mountain.
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It was much harder to hike uphill rather than downhill.
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Nobody tells you this stuff.
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Oh my goodness.
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This is National Geographic level.
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And just like that, we've done it.
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We're at the top.
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Point complete.
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Good job, Haley.
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Grand Canyon.
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We adventured.
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Bucket list.
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That was quite the hike.
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I'm hungry.
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I've been hungry.
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I'm so excited.
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This sign points us towards restaurant, lodging, and tours.
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We're here for the restaurant.
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Tour of the restaurant, please.
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Honestly, I would consider lodging here because I'm so sleepy from that hike.
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Dinner time?
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Dinner time.
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Welcome to Restaurant and Tavern at the Grand Canyon.
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Inside you'll find a pavilion full of weary travelers and digital kiosks for ordering.
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Our turn to order.
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We both opted for the seared salmon, sounds pretty good.
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And Haley convinced me to get Brussels sprouts.
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Thank you.
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Hey, bro.
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You're looking at the newest owner of the Grand Canyon souvenir cup.
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This will literally get me free refills for life.
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The rest of my life, if I come to the Grand Canyon, free fountain drink.
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Haley and I both ordered the salmon with a side of Brussels sprouts.
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This is potentially going to be the first vegetable not only that we've eaten during this series, but perhaps the first vegetable I've eaten on this channel in about a year.
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And I've had a lot of meals on camera.
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This dining hall is very cozy and, oh, Haley is going to eat a vegetable.
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You know what they say about fish in the desert?
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Mmm.
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That's good.
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We've had one too many chicken nuggets.
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Everyone's saying this in the ad like, oh, Ryan can't eat a Brussels sprout.
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Ryan's never eaten a Brussels sprout on camera.
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Guys, Brussels sprout, down the hatch.
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Just like that.
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Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
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We have an exciting evening at Grand Canyon.
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We are gonna walk to sunset later on whenever the sun starts setting.
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Apparently there's an easy walk
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and a beautiful lookout point to just soak up the view in probably one of the best sunsets in the world, if not America.
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All right, by the looks of it, I'd say we have about 15 minutes until sunset.
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I've collected a bunch of cool souvenirs from the Grand Canyon.
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I'm even bringing home a rock.
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As y'all know, this series was made possible by Shopify, and they challenged me to make these bucket list boxes and start my own store while on the road.
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I'm going to be launching all 10 boxes on the next episode because it's the finale.
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And now it's time to set up a sale.
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I'm going to ask Sidekick to set up a 50% discount on all products in my store.
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I also asked Sidekick to call this the big sale.
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Now you can see every bucket list box listed on our website is officially half off thanks to Sidekick.
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Creating this business has been so fun and easy with Shopify.
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And if you want to start your business alongside me, start your trial today at shopify.com slash Ryan.
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We're walking to the sunset point.
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It's gonna be beautiful.
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Oh!
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There's a little bit right there.
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We had to put our hoodies on because it's actually getting really cold We are in the desert.
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Only a five minute walk This way.
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Oh my gosh people are running What's going on?
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There is something so special about chasing a sunset No two sunsets are ever the same
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and this one was specially made for our day at the Grand Canyon We made it to the sunset spot Oh,
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it looks like a green screen.
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It really does.
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That'll do.
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That'll do.
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Yeah, that'll do.
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Honestly, we purchased ice cream for this occasion.
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It had to be done.
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Y'all, this is it.
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This is the magic we've been looking for.
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You just can't put this kind of joy into words.
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Raddad was right.
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We got some photos at the sunset lookout that I truly think Haley
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and I will treasure for the rest of our lives.
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Well, that was incredible.
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We drove an hour and a half back to our hotel.
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We have an early flight in the morning one more time tomorrow.
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You know this by now, but this is our bucket list book.
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We'll probably have this book for the rest of our lives, and these are the first 10 pages that are going in it.
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And it is now time to update our rankings of the top 10 tourist attractions in America.
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Here's our list so far, and today we add Grand Canyon.
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Here's Haley's scrapbook page of our time in the Grand Canyon.
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It's our first horizontal Polaroid.
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I'm glad you noticed.
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As y'all know by now, we rate these experiences based on three criteria.
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Experience, scenery, and magic.
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We don't normally consider ourselves hikers, but we hiked and we had a good day.
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The hiking was really fun, but honestly, the two looking points without hiking were equally as amazing to me.
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Okay, let's start with experience.
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One, two, three, seven.
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Our highest experience rating so far have been New York City and Disney World.
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The Grand Canyon surprisingly has a bunch of amenities.
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There's a shuttle bus that's constantly running taking you to different lookout points.
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There's restaurants.
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There's gift shops There's general stores restrooms, which I find very important.
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It was a really curated good experience Is there as much to experience as Disney World in New York City?
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I don't think so.
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I think seven is really good
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Next up scenery just as a reminder here's some of the visuals we got today on iPhones
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and 360 cameras Do we even need to do a countdown?
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I mean, let's do it.
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1, 2, 3, 10!
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I would give this an 11 if I could.
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I was going to say that.
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Really?
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The first moment that we saw the Grand Canyon, we were on the bus.
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That was the most stunning visual I have ever seen.
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I was shocked.
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I don't know what I expected, but it was not that.
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I was a little nervous going into today because it's always, you know, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon, it's like the thing in America.
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I'm always nervous that I'm not gonna like the thing that the whole world seems to like
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And then that bus pulled up and suddenly boom it was just there
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that thing that everyone's been talking about this whole time My whole life all these old people talking about Grand Canyon.
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Well, it can't go up to 11,
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so we'll settle at 10 Last but not least the magic rating my favorite criteria because it doesn't actually make much sense.
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It's just a feeling What was the most magical part of your day?
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I'm kind of getting joked up thinking about it.
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I mean, it's just so fast.
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It's so much more
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layered and shadowed and has so much more depth than you can portray in photographs
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and just standing there as a tiny human being and beholding that was truly a remarkable feeling.
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Honestly, Grand Canyon is an understatement as a name.
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It's such a good name though at the same time.
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I would almost call it the greatest canyon.
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Oh, Magic Canyon.
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I think the most magical part of my day was watching
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that squirrel grab on those little thistles While he had the most remarkable view any squirrel has probably ever had.
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Yes, he was really grabbing those suckers.
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We've had some pretty high magic ratings in this series, and it's kind of fun to reflect on them now.
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Disney World was 10, Washington DC was 9, New York City was 8.
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With that being said, our magic rating for Grand Canyon is 1, 2, 3, 9 Okay, it was an impulse.
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It was an impulse.
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I could- nine.
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Nine is reasonable.
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Hayley.
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Ryan.
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The Grand Canyon has a point total.
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A 26, putting it at number one in the rankings.
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If you asked me to guess the order before we filmed this series, I would have never guessed.
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I think at the start, I thought Niagara Falls was going to be number one.
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And Grand Canyon is kind of the thing that I thought of that would have been because of that.
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Well, there you have it.
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We're waking up at 4 a.m yet again tomorrow morning.
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So it's time to do the stamp.
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We will see you next time.
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Good night, guys.
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Wow.
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We have a new number one tourist attraction in America.
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There's only one more episode remaining.
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Tomorrow is our finale and you can watch it by clicking the video on screen.
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I will see you there!
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Why practice speaking with this video?
The video "I Visited the Top 10 Places in America - Grand Canyon" serves as an excellent resource for English learners looking to improve English pronunciation and fluency. The speaker enthusiastically describes their journey to the Grand Canyon, a renowned tourist attraction. This engaging context provides an authentic backdrop for practicing spoken English, allowing learners to connect with real-life experiences and vocabulary. By imitating the speaker, learners can enhance their intonation, rhythm, and emotional expression in conversational English.
Furthermore, the dynamic nature of travel content makes it easier for learners to relate to themes of adventure and exploration while simultaneously practicing their spoken English skills. By shadowing this video, learners can effectively incorporate new phrases and expressions into their speaking repertoire, thereby boosting their confidence in real-world conversations.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
The transcript contains several useful grammatical structures and expressions learners can analyze:
- Present Continuous Tense: The speaker frequently uses the present continuous tense to describe ongoing actions, such as “we are awake at 4 a.m.” This structure emphasizes current activities and experiences, which is helpful in casual conversations.
- Future Intention: Phrases like “we are probably gonna sleep” illustrate how to express future plans in a relaxed manner. This conversational style is common in everyday English.
- Descriptive Adjectives: Terms like “very remote location” and “coolest thing” add vivid detail to the speaker's narrative, enriching language use. Using effective adjectives can enhance storytelling in speaking.
- Expressions of Excitement: The speaker uses phrases like “I cannot believe” and “very excited” to convey emotions. This adds a personal touch to conversations, making them more engaging.
By practicing these structures, learners can develop their speaking capabilities for IELTS speaking practice and other conversational settings.
Common Pronunciation Traps
When watching this video, learners should pay close attention to certain challenging words and phrases:
- Grand Canyon: Ensure clear diction when pronouncing place names. Pay attention to syllable stress on “Grand” and “Canyon” to sound more fluent.
- Excited: The 'i' sound in “excited” can be tricky. Focus on producing a clear, sharp sound to improve clarity in your speech.
- Remote location: The phrase requires careful attention to both words. The 'r' in “remote” and the 'l' in “location” should be pronounced distinctly for better understanding.
Using shadowing techniques, such as repeating after the speaker, is a great way to practice these challenging words. Integrating practices from a shadowing app like Shadowspeak allows you to visualize and mimic appropriate intonation and rhythm, further enhancing your ability to learn English with YouTube.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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