When I came to Denver, it was like my world was snatched away from me. Everything was alien. The place was beautiful but it wasn’t home. I was gloomy and irritated. That’s when the diamond family adopted me and life turned a shade of rosy pink! Whose the diamond family? Well, there is this crazy Indian lot that stays near my apartment. They just gatecrashed into my life…yes they gatecrashed coz I am like this snail who just enjoys the comfort zone of its shell. Fellas, these guys made sure they stamped the shell until it broke into a thousand pieces and since then I am exposed to the feel good virus that each of them exudes:) And now all of us are what we call THE DENVER DIAMONDS!

Last weekend, some of the diamonds planned to hike Lookout Mountains. Siva, our friend from Golden, was the only one who had done it earlier. Though I love nature walks and sightseeing I wasn’t sure if this was for me. But when you are a girl on an H4 VISA, without a TV at home, living the predictable life cooking and eating in vicious circles, there isn’t much you can say no to. And to top it all Balu’s expired license had made made our love nest more of a prison.

So off we went to Golden. Me, Balu, VC (aka Saravanan) on Saturday morning. Bala went ahead and joined Siva Friday itself as roomie Ravi (aka Saddist) was busy preparing for PMP and didn’t have enough time to shower his attention on buddy Bala.

Now this is not fun! Six people and only one car. We had no option but to make Thambi Vijay, Siva’s roomie, prop himself on the floor of the car in the backseat. To add to his comfort we covered his head with a jacket;-) Oops! there goes a police car! Phew! narrow escape…Yup! what is life if you don’t take little chances like these?

Now guys we were supposed to take a trail but the bikers in Denver had other plans. They had decided to race that day and so the road to the trail was closed. To walk to where the trail begins was out of question coz by the time we get there…we’d lose considerable amount of time. The only option-climb the mountain. Boy! I wasn’t prepared for this.

We started the ordeal. VC and Siva seemed to be comfortable. Balu and Thambi were also doing good but me and Bala. God! Just after the first few steps, it was difficult to breathe and for the first time in my life I could make out how heavy I actually was. Yup the fight against gravity is not easy you see;-) We stopped for water every few minutes…placed our arses on every other rock and tried to get our breath back. And Silly me! I had thought it was my lucky day to adorn the bermuda I had been saving for long. I must have been pricked by a 100 thorns easily. But by the time we reached somewhere in the middle, it started to get easier and smoother. The view from each step was  kind of an inspiration to reach the top.

Finally, we did get there and it was pure heaven! The view was amazing and the zing of making it to the top without giving up made me feel higher than I actually was. We munched on biscuits and came to a consensus that this is something we want to do more often. We wiled away time talking and taking pictures and admiring nature. The  climb down was a bit difficult towards the end. My feet had started to ache by then and that is when I decided that I need to sit and made the unforgivable mistake of plonking myself on a cactus plant! Ouuuchhh!! There wasn’t much I could do with four guys around. So I was trying to smile even though I was hurting on the inside…or should I say downside;)

All said and done, it was worth the pain. A beautiful sunny day, with friends in the midst of nature. what more can one ask for? It was all I wanted but I got more. A delicious buffet at Taj Masala and another hour relaxing at the pool. Just purrrrfect!!! Cant wait to go back again!