Heights

Good Evening, my Darling,

I've been up for a couple hours, this morning really was a sleep-in for me, lol. But, that's good for both body and mind, to be well rested. I hope you had a nice Sunday, and now I will catch up to you. I liked your Humans Of New York post on both levels : the purely physical and adventuresome aspect of hiking through the Himalayas, and the perseverance shown by the Tibetans in making such a trek so that they can be free to live and practice their religion without persecution. It's amazing that the Himalayas can be walked through, even if it takes 28 days. I have seen some Youtube videos, just of car rides through some of those high altitude passages, and they look so precipitous and downright terrifying that I find it frightening just to watch on a computer screen!

But I guess if you live there, and it is your environment, then such a trek would be more "in your DNA", so to speak. You'd still have to have strong motivation, though, to make that crossing, and I guess freedom would be that motivation. In my comparatively minor hikes (apprx. one tenth of those elevations), my own motivation is simply to do it because it's something I've never done before. When I was a kid, about five or six, I discovered I had a fear of heights. My Dad had a business associate who worked in a top floor of a skyscraper in L.A. or Hollywood (don't recall which), and I remember that the man's office had a picture window that extended from floor to ceiling. I remember the feeling I got when my Dad called me to come look out the window - I couldn't come right up to it. I could only look out from several feet away, and I am kind of like that on my hikes, though it's not as bad anymore. But that's why I like wide trails, and ones with a mountain wall on at least one side. I will never, ever, walk close to the edge on any trail, and there is no reason to, anyway, but it is interesting, and encouraging, to note that in my hikes I have pushed myself to a more secure comfort level as far as my fear of heights goes. Because of the nice wide trail going up to Mission Point, I now wanna see the trail for Oat Mountain, if there is one, and maybe eventually try Mt. Lukens, which is in the San Gabriel mountains at the east end of the Valley. Mt. Lukens, at 5000+ feet, is the highest peak in Los Angeles County, almost twice as high as Mission Point. But, I figure I made it up that trail in less than an hour, and it was steep. So if Mt. Lukens has a nice, wide trail (and only if, cause I won't do anything risky) I'd like to eventually try to get up there, too. Maybe a year from now or thereabouts.

But a Himalaya hike is probably out of the question! (Or is it?.......)  :)

I will head back to Pearl's at 4:30, but I just wanted to check in. Speaking of religion (re: your post again), one thing I would love to do is attend Mass in Italy one day. I am not a big church person, but that would be an amazing experience, and it would just be awesome to be there on a Sunday morning and observe all the people going to church, and the feeling in the air. So that's on the To Do List as well.

Enjoy the rest of your evening, my Angel, and I will write more later tonight at the usual time.

I Love You, Elizabeth!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)