We're in Gorak Shep

(elevation 16,995 ft!)  We left Dingboche for Luboche yesterday and had a pretty challenging day in terms of terrain and elevation change.  I still have the Khumbu crud and was feeling pretty bad.  I hit the wall.  I had to give up my pack to one of the sherpas and, even then, came in well behind the rest of the group.  I was nearly incapacitated.   I feel much better today, but still not up to par.  I had to again give up my pack, which made it much easier for me to do the trek from Luboche to Gorak Shep.  We had beautiful clear skies and the most amazing scenery today.  We followed the Khumbu glacier for the last two hours today, hiking on the lateral morain - pretty rough terrain, but the scenery was amazing.   This was why we came - to see the big peaks, including Nuptse and Changtse (in Tibet), plus the others along the valley (Luboche, and several I don't know the names of without looking at the map).  We've had good views of Lhotse and Everest along the way.  If the weather cooperates tomorrow, we'll have a spectacular view of Everest from the peak of Khala Patar - about a 1000 feet higher in elevation than Gorak Shep.   We saw Everest Base camp from the trail today.  It sits on the western edge of the Khumbu glacier.  We had good views of the Khumbu ice fall and met some climbers along the way, including a Russian team who was at the tea house in Gorak Shep where we are camping.   Only four of our group went up to EBC - another 4 - 5 hr hike on the morain.  There was a chance that we'd miss climbing Khala Patar by going up to EBC, so most of us stayed behind.  I hope the weather cooperates.   Day after tomorrow we head to lower elevation.  I'm sure our bodies will appreciate fatter air.