northern mountains

So we just got back to town after an incredible trip to the mountains north of here - the eastern end of the Himalayan range.

And during one of our long stretches in the car I got so excited thinking, "This is really just the beginning, our best years of family travel are definitely ahead of us!"

Last summer in Colorado Matt and I realized that if we wanted to live healthily (body, mind, soul) in this big (often grossly polluted) city - when neither of us are really 'city people' - then we needed to figure out a way to leave the city more often.

So this fall, right in the middle of the November crazy, we took a trip.  The timing was a little insane, and Matt left at the crack of dawn Monday morning, bound for the airport, but it was way worth it!

Wednesday afternoon we drove north.  We start heading into mountain territory about two hours outside the city, but this trip our first destination was 6 hour drive.  The first two hours are on four lane divided highway where we pretty consistently hit about 100 km/h (60 mph).  The last four hours are roughly half that speed :)

We finally arrived at our hostel-like destination a bit after 9pm.  It was inside the old city walls, which were all lit up at night - so pretty!  and a nice sight after hours on the road.

I had to hop out of the passenger seat to help Matt maneuver into our parking 'spot'.  There's nothing quite like hopping out of a warm car in the dark and spotting the snowy patches on the ground to help you realize really quickly how under dressed you truly are!  The outdoor temp was about 30 degrees, and everyone was tired and we mostly just focused on finding the place, getting to our room and getting everyone into the bed!

The next morning we got dressed in many layers (which we didn't take off for the next four days - ha!) and went out looking for breakfast.  Then it was off to the nearby national parks for the day.

Beauty.  Everywhere.

Off to visit Zhaga waterfall.  The viewing platform at the base was a popular spot, but the long climb up the waterfall and back down the other side didn't draw much crowd.  Nice for us :)  All those young sets of legs can climb stairs!

(looking down the waterfall)

Obligatory family shot at the base of the waterfall.  I hope the smiles in our Christmas card pic turn out better than these.  sigh.  And without a fancy lens we were only able to get about half the waterfall in the picture... but it's the thought that counts.

Next we headed 20 minutes down the road to a different park.  Lucky us, this one was widely discussed at the previous spot as "dry" and "not so pretty in the winter".  Matt had to talk the attendants into selling us tickets.  But Matt is an expert at these kind of conversational turns and with tickets in hand, we traipsed in.  For the next three hours we were alone except for a small group of maintenance men we passed halfway up the trail.

And beauty beauty beauty.

In the sunshine we felt "warmish".  In the shade I put on mittens.

{Eating lunch next to a small lake with an eerie green color.  Some of the lakes had thin sheets of ice on top, but nothing frozen solid - yet.}

After a wonderful afternoon with plenty of snow play, a few miles of hiking and even a lukewarm hot springs (which prompted a bit of conversation.... "Luke" - warm?) we drove the half hour back to our hostel and walked down the road for a quick dinner.

Yaks-in-traffic.

It was an earlier take on bedtime than our previous night, and we rested well.  good thing too, for we had more places to drive the next day!