Passport to Outdoors

  All Photos from DeCaLiBron Hike When my good friend proposed the DeCaLiBron hike, I was first thinking if I could afford the time on that particular weekend but on second thought I agreed to it as I was always hoping to climb up these four fourteen thousand feet peaks (Mount  De mocrat, Mount  Ca meron, Mount  Li ncoln, Mount  Br oss) all at once. I have never done more than two in a day before and I thought this would be a good challenge. Years back I had done just Mount Democrat (one of the four) as part of our annual Peak Challenge charity hike. At that time I didn't do the full loop as I wasn't too sure about the weather and more importantly my physical abilities.  After leaving work a little early, we started our drive to the town of Fairplay in the high mountain plateau of South park, Colorado. On the way, we picked up dinner for the evening at Qdoba and lunch sandwich at Which Wich for the next day. There was not much traffic on our way to Fairplay...

My beloved tiffin carrier takes me back in time to the days of long train journeys as well as picnics with family. I have vivid memories of the sights and smell of a variety of food that my mother packed in different containers of the tiffin carrier. On the train or at the picnic, I would always wait in excitement and suspense for lunchtime to discover the variety of food that my mother had packed. The big tiffin carrier is a family heirloom passed down through the generations and has great many stories to tell.  I still love to carry it on summer picnics. I love to open each container one at a time savoring the smell of each food item. Then I like to place all the containers together and look at the colorful bounty in front of me. And finally I like to dig in one morsel at a time.  After a wonderful meal from the tiffin carrier I like to lay a mat on the grass and doze off dreaming under the blue sky.  There are so many endless combinations of food that I like to pack in...