Our Trip To India

We started the year off with a Pack Retreat to India. This short video captures some of the color, customs, food and treasures of this amazing country.

This group photo was taken on a trekking adventure into the foothills of the Himalayas.

We started the day at a Hindu temple to watch the sun rise over the mighty Himalayas and with a clear, chilly morning we were not disappointed.  With us were other early risers and one small group pulled on our heart strings.  They joined hands and  welcomed a new day with prayer, song, friendship and gratitude - a lesson for all.  Onward to our starting point where we met snowy slippery roads around curving mountain passes.  We made it within a mile of the base and found inclines too steep for the car on the snow covered roads, so the men got out and pushed us to the closest safe spot for the car.  Climbing to the top we came upon this family from Nepal, now tenant farmers on this farm/orchard.  They laid rugs on their stone wall and fed us a delicious hot meal using local ingredients.  Our daughter and her friend had a snow ball fight with the children, probably their first time at that.  Earlier we met one of the women on our trek to her home and she was up a tree with a machete cutting branches for new family of goats on the farm.  I  had to remind myself this is not a movie set - this is real world!  We could only communicate to the family through our guides, but we understood with the help of sign language, smiles and handshakes. We decided that the day was our top travel experience ever and it left us with an afterglow of new friendship,  an amazing new adventure and a satisfied, contentment that people share the same values across the world.  We hope to return.