“Hey Foster, remember when we went to the Grand Canyon?”

“Oh, yeah,” I replied to Panda’s inquiry. “That was our first time going on a flying carpet. Didn’t we find that one online?”

“Yes, I think so,” Panda answered. “It was kind of scary, since we had, like, no experience with flying back then.”

I laughed. “You’re right, it kind of was,” I said. “I remember we got so sleepy that we didn’t even notice we were flying to the Grand Canyon.”

“That was also my first time using a parachute,” Panda remarked. “I was glad I had brought it along.” I agreed. “You must have been raised by Swedes like Mom,” I said. “Caution is in her genes!”

“Well,” Panda commented. “At least I learned more about parachutes when I went to basic training. Anyway, I’ve been thinking. Now that we have our travel tunnel, wouldn’t it be fun to go back and see the rest of the Grand Canyon?”

I agreed. After a little research we boarded our travel tunnel and set off for the Grand Canyon! We landed near the airport, which caused Panda to ask, “You mean we could have taken a plane?” I shrugged. “I guess,” I replied. “Let’s just make sure we park this travel tunnel on the right side of the sign!”

We hadn’t forgotten our trip to Australia, where we had parked our trampoline on the wrong side of a sign and found that it had been towed away by airport personnel. “Seriously!” Panda agreed. “That was not fun!”

“Okay,” Panda said when we had landed. “I think this should be good enough.”

“If I were you, I’d park over here,” said a voice we’d never heard before. We looked up and were amazed to see two huge crows sitting on top of a sign that said, “Visitor Parking”. More than a little startled, we moved our travel tunnel right away. “Thanks,” Panda said politely. “Is there a limit to how long we can park here?” The crows shook their heads. “No, you can stay as long as you want. By the way, what are you planning to do here?” We explained that we wanted to see the sights we had missed the last time we were here.

“Oh wow,” said the crow who appeared to be in charge. “There are all kinds of cool things here. In fact, I can take you to see some of them right now!”

Before either of us had a chance to protest, the crow had picked up Panda in his beak and started to fly off with him! “Panda!” I called after them. But it was no use. They were already out of earshot. All I could do was follow them and hope for the best.

Panda told me later that the view over the canyon was breathtaking. He hadn’t really been scared, since this was not the first time a bird had picked him up and flown off with him. The scariest one was the first time in Machu Picchu when a giant condor picked him up and took him to its nest. Then it was a seagull at Monterey Bay, who wanted to show him a good place to go jogging. Later, he was rescued by another gull in Cayucos after falling off the pier.

The only part he didn’t like was when the crow decided to stop for a rest at the top of some tall, dried trees. Fortunately, the bird got its second wind pretty quickly and they were soon on their way again.

Meanwhile, I had managed to make it to the top of a lookout point just as the crow dropped Panda and went on its way! Panda fell head over heels and landed on the outside of the protective fence.

Fortunately, some nice tourists were there, and they helped him climb up and over the fence to safety. “That was a close one!” exclaimed one of the tourists. “How did you get up here anyway?” We explained about the crow, and the two men nodded gravely. “Crows think they know everything,” one of them said. “You can never tell what they’re going to do next. And they never take no for an answer.”

After thanking the tourists for rescuing Panda, we decided to go sightseeing on our own.

We found some stone stairs and Panda immediately jumped up onto the rocky edge. “Hey Foster,” he called. “You have to see this view!”

“Dude!” I replied, a bit irritably. “Get on the steps! You’re going to get hurt!” Panda complied, and I let him climb all the way to the top and back down again.

One thing we saw that we really liked was a telescope that made it so you could see all the way across the canyon!

“Here,” I suggested, realizing that Panda was having trouble climbing up to the telescope. “Climb up on my back and we can both look together.” Panda complied. “Thanks, Bro,” he said appreciatively. “Wow, this view is breathtaking!”

After looking through the telescope for a while, we continued on our way. Eventually we came across a ground squirrel, who turned out to be quite friendly. “Wow!” he exclaimed when he saw us. “Are you a real panda?” Panda replied in the affirmative. The squirrel appeared a little more hesitant about me. “Umm…and I suppose you’re a real cat?” I replied that I was, but that I never chase squirrels, so he was perfectly safe.

The squirrel told us that you can take a plane tour over the canyon. We thought that sounded fun, so we went back to the airport to sign up. It turned out there was a plane leaving in about five minutes.

The tour was really fun, and the view was breathtaking. It was while we were looking out the window of the plane that we noticed the tiny figures of people and mules below.

When we got back to the airport, we picked up a brochure about the mule riding tours. They weren’t that expensive, so we decided to go for it. Before we knew it, we were saddled up and ready to leave.

“You’d better ride with me, buddy,” our guide suggested to Panda. “You’re a little too small to ride by yourself.”

The ride was exhilarating. The guides really knew what they were doing, and we weren’t a bit scared. After a while we stopped at a vista point and looked down on the canyon floor.

“Hey, Fos!” Panda exclaimed as he looked over the vista’s edge. “There are two penguins down there!” To my surprise, he was right! With the hat and sunglasses, they could only be our penguin friends, whom we had last seen in Australia! We called out to them, and they recognized us immediately.

It turned out they had gotten a job as guides on the mule train tour. They were still in the witness protection program, and they were on an undercover assignment for the FBI.

As soon as the riding tour was over, and the penguins had clocked out from their tour guide shift, we met up at a nearby picnic table. To our surprise, we were joined by our friend the crow. “So, how’s your trip so far?” he asked cheerily. We hesitated for a minute before answering. “It’s been great,” I replied cautiously. “We’ve been very successful in getting around by ourselves.” The crow laughed. “Oh, that,” he said. “Sorry if I scared you by taking Panda to the vista point. I was just trying to help you get started. Who are your friends?”

We introduced our friends and gave the crow a brief history of our adventures, starting with when we first met in the Swiss Alps. We laughed heartily as we remembered how we hadn’t recognized them on the bus in Australia, because they were “incognito”. We also reminisced about our adventures in Yosemite and at the San Diego Zoo. The crow was enthralled by our stories. “You guys sure have had a lot of fun adventures,” he remarked. “My only adventures are when people come to the park and I can take them – umm, never mind.” The penguins looked at us curiously and we gave them a look as if to say, “We’ll tell you later”.

The penguins invited us to their RV for a delicious snack. We had been so busy seeing the sights of the Grand Canyon that we’d forgotten we were hungry.

“Hey this is a nice RV!” Panda remarked once we were inside. The penguins nodded in agreement. “Yes, we really like it,” one of them replied. “It’s part of our benefits from the FBI. They are the ones who got us the jobs as tour guides, too.” We were impressed. “Can you tell us what your mission is?” I asked curiously.

“Well,” the penguin explained. “There have been reports of a suspicious orange van in the area, and the FBI asked us to do some surveillance for them. As far as we know, there hasn’t been any crime, but they are trying to prevent one if possible.” Panda and I looked at each other, our eyes wide. “The van is orange?” Panda asked, for clarification. The penguins answered in the affirmative. “Okay,” Panda said thoughtfully. “I see where this is going.” Then, before I had a chance to say anything, he added, “Can we help you guys?”

Here are some scenes from Part Two. . .

Author’s Note: The background pictures of the Grand Canyon are from Unsplash and Pixabay, royalty-free photo sites.