I have Rhododendrons in my front yard but when I was the most surprised to see them was between 8000 and 10,000 feet in elevation growing near patches of snow in the Himalayas and higher. I walked up to the blooming rhododendrons recognizing them from them growing in California where I live thousands of miles away. What was amazing to me is that I was at least 10 miles from the nearest human dwelling high up in the mountains in Nepal. The nearest large city would be Katmandu probably at least 2 days travel away by foot and by bus back to there. So, being remote in my family with us all wearing rain ponchos and backpacks walking through the patches of snow with the temperature being about 30 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit through the Himalayas was a very amazing experience. Luckily, we had a guide so we never got lost but this journey changed us all a lot because we never really expected to get this remote and away from people especially after experiencing first hand the 1 billion people in India previously on our journeys.
This took place when I was 37 and my now ex-wife was 37 also. My son was 10, my step daughter was 12 and my step son was 14. And we all did this amazing trek through Japan, Thailand, India and Nepal from December 11th 1985 until late April 1986.
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