MONGOLIA

We yielded to the vastness and sealed friendships in extreme weather.

Mongolia tested my limits.

We slept in gers that burned swelteringly hot just before bedtime, fueled by fires fed with electronics and trash, and that froze to -30deg in the middle of the night.

We dog sled on rickety planks for eight days with crazy dogs that you wanted to adopt but not not necessarily allow to commandeer your vehicle.

Our eyelids froze shut from the tears of joy brought about by huskies pulling us into low lying tree trunks and up steep banks off the designated route.

We ate lunch in a beat-up Russian van, crying as our toes defrosted.

But I would not trade it for the world - that broad, untouched nothing and all, and the clear sound of crisp snow cracking under our sleds, no traffic, no chatter, a haunting reminder of just how small we really are - I yield to the vastness.