What single memory comes to mind when you think of good friends? (Nora's Memory)

If you are like me, there are so many shared adventures that picking only one is tricky? When I think about Jeannette, the top two memories are a horseback ride in Griffith Park that involved a near miss with a dump truck. This still gives me shivers. And skiing at Mammoth Mountain during a white out with following my bright orange jacket? Visibility was so low, that I only knew where she was by listening to her hilarious commentary about not going over the edge.

If I’m thinking about memories of our close friends there was the time we camped in Yosemite and swam above a waterfall without realizing how unsafe it was. And a few embarrassing moments on airplanes when we’ve flown together as a group. One occasion involved duck hats and alcohol. There have also been lots of unplanned adventures in places like Kenya and India. But since I can only pick one, the choice has to be . . . drum roll please.

Trekking through Mongolia on horseback. The travel brochure stated we’d stay in Ulaanbaatar and then the ride on the steppes, aka grasslands. On our arrival, the guide explained that was the itinerary for previous year. There would be no hotels, no restaurants and no clubs for these city girls.

The journey began on a bumpy dirt road that came to an abrupt stop. We got out of the van, loaded our gear onto an ox cart and mounted our horses. Yes, we followed a man we’d never met before without a clue about where we were heading. For the next week we rode on unmarked trails over mountains and through forests. At the end of each day, we stopped in a meadow, put up small tents and set around a camp fire. The night sky, void of city lights, displayed a massive number of stars. And until our small group spotted the van again on the following Saturday, we saw only our guides, the other riders and a few nomadic people. It was a completely different experience than we’d planned, but it was magical.