LAZAROW WORLD HIKE-ABOUT

San Ramon: At first, I thought it needed explanation. Not true. Top Left: "You're kidding me. After hiking 4 miles from the base below, you still want to climb up there...and snakes...?" The stance revealed it all. The rest is self-explanatory, too. (Not part of the formal trail either).

'LAZAROW WORLD HIKE-ABOUT: WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HIKE-ABOUT?'

Hike-about is an adventure that commenced June 2010. After storing our household movables, ridding ourselves of a house but retaining our 'home' together, we set off with the purpose of hiking in different parts of the world, not forgetting the home country, the USA.

Our primary focus is hiking to mountain peaks but any challenging hike will do just fine. Extended stays enable us to enjoy and experience living in various places amongst differing cultures. Hike-about has evolved into a way of life. It's also a process of discovery, both the world and ourselves.

We work and live 'on the road' but return to the city in which our grandchildren reside, every couple of months. This provides us the wonderful opportunity to be with them as well as a child or two, even three and of course, friends.

By the end of 2023, the blog contained over 1,560 hikes (less than that actually undertaken), each a set of pictures with stories and anecdotes from the trails. An index to the right allows the viewer to identify earlier experiences.

Finally, we are often asked about the journey's end.
O
ur reply, as accurate as we can state, is: "When we are either forced to cease through health issues or the enjoyment level no longer reaches our aspirations, we will hang up the boots."

"A Life Experience As No Other: Dare to Seize the Day Together", published by Fulton Books, depicts our life on the road and mountains until the beginning of 2017. It has developed 'exponentially' since then.

Jenni and Jeffrey Lazarow

Whereas we continue to update the blog regularly, we circulate email notifications infrequently.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Joyous Humility

Simultaneously on top of the world and humbled


We set off on our third hike in a row in the Santa Fe Mountains, at the ski area. We believe this hike and strenuous climb is the highlight of the current trip. Then again, that’s not important. We gained 2,300 feet over 3.5 miles, one-way. Most of the trail was a steady gain except for a couple of very steep sections. The interesting part is that we overlooked Nambe Lake from an elevation 1,000 feet above or at nearly 13,000 feet. If you remember, we sent pictures on Wednesday with Jen and me at lake level. I remember looking up from the water surface and wondering about the mountains above. Our wonderings were satisfied today.


Unfortunately, a thunderstorm struck when we reached the summit, forcing us to limit our stay. Lightning flashed directly above and our editor, as courageous as she is, wisely bolted. We now have an editor without a computer and red pen. For the latter, we are thankful.


When we stood at the summit and looked out into the world, we were dumbstruck. It was an awesome sight that made us feel very small and, sad to say, insignificant. It is amazing to be confronted with a situation that takes the breath away because of its beauty and magnitude while also leaving one as humble as a ‘shul mouse’. We write often about the beauty we see in Hashem’s world because it is a fact. Whenever one feels important about oneself, it might be a good idea to climb to the top of the world and change one’s perspective…a little. (Perhaps that’s why I need to do this that often.) In the one photograph attached, I literally felt that I was standing on top of the world. It was not so much an issue of height but rather the position.
Editor begins descent as storm erupts

We love the order, beauty, and the regeneration of nature’s cycle—we glimpse a tiny bit of the Architect’s ways. It’s never untidy, even when the trees lie across the paths, the grass is not cut or the flowers run wild. It is very attractive, always, and seems so…natural.
Trail viewed from side

We feel fortunate that we are seeing these miracles daily—it gives us a different perspective of the world, a vision of things to come. B’H.
Thank you.

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