happy new year

I wish you and your families all the best for 2010!!!

Happy New Year!

And watch out the fireworks...

happy holidays

Merry Christmas to you and your families!

Ruby Beach

Ruby Beach on the Pacific coast of the Olympic Peninsula offers beautiful views of the "peaceful sea", yet depending on the weather it is not as quiet and peaceful as its name may suggest. Great amounts of driftwood and large sea stacks (steep columns of rock in the sea near the coast) are very characteristic for the coastline in the Northern Pacific area.

First snow of the saison

This morning, winter has started in Evanston and after all we had the first snow for this year. Let's see how long it will last or if we even get some more inches over the next days.

Olympic Mountains

Sunset on the Olympic Peninsula in different variations.

Olympic National Park

Some nice views from the Olympic National Park in the State of Washington.

More rain, more forest

Some more impressions from the Hoh Rain Forest. Nowadays, this fascinating natural scenery received a huge amount of fame for being the stage for the Twilight saga. Fortunately, no vampires showed up during our stay ;-)

Hoh Rain Forest

Hoh Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula in the Pacific Northwest near Seattle is with up to 4.3 meters rain per year probably the place with the biggest annual precipitation in the United States. These outstanding climatic conditions led to the formation of a fascinating fauna. Big trees reaching up to 100 meters in height are covered with huge amount of different mosses. Somehow, these scenic beauties reminded me of the Ents in Lord of the Rings.

Halloween

It's Halloween. And most of my neighbors decorated their gardens accordingly. But maybe this is just a small training for their very big christmas decoration this year.

Hogwarts at Northwestern

Some of the Dormitories for the undergraduate students at Northwesten University just look like being directly taken from the Harry Potter Land.
Welcome to Hogwarts!