Stars vs. fireworks - Happy New Year!

December 31st and January 1st we spent hiking in Shenandoah National Park and later the day drove to Blackwater Wildlife Refuge in Maryland.
The woods in Shenandoah are a bit frustrating right now, full of bare and windswept trees, maybe a bit mystical.

Bare trees in Shenandoah.



Dark Hollow Falls.





On the trail.







And this is it: Happy New Year!





And on the next day: Blackwater.

Sunset at Blackwater.



Thousands of Canada Geese gather there in the winter.





Swamp land.



Bald Eagle and Canada Geese.

Christmas in America

Quite frankly, we planned to work more or less during Christmas. We thought there is nothing else to do. But then, Dale, a fantastic colleague at Johns Hopkins invited us to celebrate Christmas Eve together with him and his family who gave us a warm welcome in their home. They insisted on not being called a 'typical American' family, not celebrating 'typical American' Christmas, and so we spent the night eating, playing and talking about adventures in every possible corner of the world. ;)

Anyway, later the evening we decided that we wanted to see something typical American as well, and so we drove to the 'Miracle of 34th' street, which is - guess what - in 34th street in Baltimore. For years now they decorate their houses for Christmas, and people from all over the area come and watch the lights there. It's hard to stand it, really, and the hip swinging Santa really caught my mind. And another thing I was wondering is... what if the house owners don't want to decorate their houses?

But have a look now, here are some pictures I took on Christmas Eve (which is December 25th, here, just to let you know).

The sky is alive. Prime Hook.

I had quite a busy life the last weeks - exams for my University, work on the project... whatever. But finally we managed to get out again and drove to Maryland's eastern coast to visit Prime Hook Wildlife Refuge. At this time of the year, literally thousands of snow geese gather there during fall migration. It's a spectacle that you should see - and it's especially beautiful at evening, when the geese start flying in perfect formations, and huge flocks.