Fire on the mountain...(work travel)

Tony works at a tourism NGO so Joe and I went up to have some meetings with his organization. We talked about marketing ideas and the trying to work of the logistics of bringing up our scouts for a 2 week summer camp this year. It is unbelievably beautiful. I was also shocked by the differences in culture. We were about 20 Km from Russia and it was like a whole different world from the Kazakh south where I live, specifically in respect to their relationship with nature. The folks in the south are far less inclined to be active outdoors - which possibly effects their views on the environment in general. After the business was out of the way we trekked into the Altai Mountains using cross country skis and snow shoes. I havent been cross country skiing since i went with my parents when i was little. All i remember about it was that it was really tiring - which it is of course. But all i could think about was how thankful i was to do that when i was little and how amazing it is, but like a punk never really appreciated it until now....am i growing up? ughh.