mountain range, volcano, ocean, rain forest -- washington has it all

if you want to visit a place with at least half a dozen different ecosystems within a few hours of driving, washington state is your place. certainly different than ohio and the dc area, this short photo essay exemplifies some of the interesting natural features of washington state.



















on the oregon side of the columbia river gorge, multnomah falls plunge 188 m (620 feet) down. a bridge at about a third of the height gives a neat view between the two parts of the waterfalls. a hike to the top of the water flow is about 2 km (1.25 miles) long, quite a steep hike but doable and rewarding.















apart from the columbia river, the pacific is a great place to see. i am told there a many of these little hidden, rugged bays along the coast. this one is close to the lewis & clark interpretive center at cape disappointment. the interpretation center requires a fee (i forgot how much) but it can easily take you a couple of hours to follow the excruciatingly strenuous trail of meriwether lewis and william clark until they found the ocean at the spot where the museum is now built.














from the point of the light house at cape disappointment you can see the ocean and how the columbia river flows into the pacific. a cloudy sky is often your companion in washington, i dubbed it the permacloud that says hello almost every morning.


















from water to fire. a feature of washington geology that i have been particularly excited about is the volcanic activity. germany has a row of dormant volcanoes (as i have to admit i just learnt recently, as the saying goes you learn more about your home country being abroad) and some hot springs but i never got to see their signs. unfortunately, also the model volcano of washington, mount saint helens, has been hiding from me in fog and clouds for most of the time during my visit. but the landscape around the volcano is pockmarked by remnants of previous lava flows. this year marks the 30th anniversary of mt. st. helens latest violent outbreak which killed 57 people.
















so, spiting the fog we followed the traces the volcano has been leaving us. the photo above shows where a tree used to live; it's part of the short board walk trail of two forests. the flowing lava set the stem on fire, burnt the whole tree, and turned the empty holes into what looks like wells when the lava stones cooled.














holes like these show glimpses into more horizontal lava tubes. after the lava was cooled on the surface by the air, its hot parts kept flowing inside creating tunnels of different sizes. by the way, the light green plant layer covering most of the area like a fine net is lichen [Flechten].














as for the tubes, you can even crawl in them...














...on knees and hands and in parts waddling like a duck. at snail's pace we worked our way through a few meters of tight tube.


















the light of the exit was always there. in contrast...














...to the big gaping mouth of ape cave. after the entrance a succinct warning sign is the last human feature before the everlasting darkness begins.

















choosing the easy trail it tooks us about an hour and a half to stumble along it. in the hope of an exit at the end we climbed down a couple of boulders, stepped into many puddles and flashlighted our way along on fist sized rocks. alas, no exit awaited us but an asymptotic like narrowing of the tube. the diagonal size ranges from a few meters to around ten meters at least. the utter darkness is only disturbed by the little lamps and glowing sticks of the tourists.














from caves to snow-capped mountains. olympic national park allows you to drive up to about 1,500 m (5200 feet) on hurricane ridge. another part of the forest around mount olymp features half a dozen glaciers, reachable after at least a dozen miles of hiking. we decided to let the car climb for now. in the morning fog filled valleys wafted around the tall and straight fir forests.















we didn't even want to reach so high. in fact it as the fault of a cul de sac at night. what we were actually after was a rain forest. it's not a tropical but a temperate rain forest but definitely a natural feature that germany doesn't have to the best of my knowledge.














the height and circumference of the trees is bigger than i have seen before. sure, there are th gigantic big sequoia trees and the redwood forest in the united states, too. but neither of them i have visited (yet). what's unique to the hoh rain forest is that everything is covered in moss, lichen, leaves, ferns, shrubs.


















the bid cedar develops from a twisted root structure into about half a dozen big trunks dwarfing any human.















curtains of moss and lichen inhabit every branch...


















...and object in the forest.

this was just a cursory journey through the natural riches of the other washington, the state that is. it sure is different than the groomed and urbanized coast on the east around dc and the beginning rolling hills of appalachia in south east ohio.

and there is more: the hot springs, mount saint helens itself, the pumice plain, and the columbia river gorge.

thinking of my first train ride in the u.s.

a lovely little train station sits in sleepy small town kelso, washington. you can see it from the distance: a tall modern clock tower with single short stubby strokes where the numbers of the clock would show hovers high above a little red brick station. it tells the accurate time. 9.46am.

the swing doors open up to a spacey hall with wooden waiting benches. a big old-fashioned round clock with roman numbers dominates the inside. in the middle of the hall sits a dainty little girl in bronze on a traveling chest waiting for her train to come. national geographic and the daily news offer themselves for reading. brochures on kelso, longview, mount st. helens, portland, and seattle lay on the window sill to lure the visitor to sights in the region. a warm friendly glow is in the air.

at the far end of the hall behind wooden windows with old-fashioned gray metal bars sit an elderly man and an elderly woman in an office. their name tags read "depot volunteers". they both have silvery gray hair; he has a mustache; she wears glasses. when a fresh train rolls into the station the man announces its arrival and direction. he misspeaks but apologizes over the station microphone: "pardon, going south".

then he hurries toward the door out on the station platform. in passing he asks if i still tickets are bought best online, there are discounts for students and seniors, maybe also for round trips. need to catch this train. no, for now i am just cherishing the atmosphere of the little station and the thought of my first train ride in the united states.

the brochure from amtrak -- which is the passenger train line in the united states -- tells me it's about an hour to portland, oregon (in the south) and two hours and 45 minutes to seattle, washington (in the north). the friendly man says train fares depend on the day of the week and the time of the day -- unlike in germany, where there is a fixed price for each distance (at least until prices go up) is tell him with an interest in the different details. but i am not telling him anything knew. "i know, i was in leipzig about five years ago", he says. the united states, he adds, tried to model their system after the german one.

a round-trip from kelso to portland should cost between $30 to $40 (€24.50 to €32.50 as of today), he says. only on labor day a single trip costs outrageous $52 (€42.30) -- one way.the amtrak cascades, as the regional train is called, is a nice train, the elderly lady adds.

kelso-portland would be a bit as if i would be going from my small german home town of zeitz to medium-sized leipzig with its stores, restaurants, museums, universities, and markets. it reminds me of the day trips i took with girlfriends in teenage days. we would ride the train to go breath big town air, buy tops at our favorite h&m store and others, and to eat out fancily. wild rice with fish filet at the nordsee restaurant. back on the train riding home with full bags we would marvel at our new treasures bought.

how fun to do it all over again, maybe already tomorrow? on the nice train.

west coast, the final frontier

west coast...the final frontier. these are the voyages of your german blogger. her continuing mission: to explore strange new u.s. worlds, to seek out new u.s. life forms and new u.s. civilizations, to boldly blog from where no german girl has blogged from before.

okay, blogging right now from the airport in phoenix, arizona, i am not quite there yet. but at least i am already on pacific time. plus with 103 degree fahrenheit/39 degree celsius (yes a 3 and a 9), it's even hotter than swampy humid dc in the hatching summer time.

before the big move west i quizzed my friends and colleagues what it is about the west coast. one said people there are wearing clothing in more earthy tones. quite fittingly my friend gave me a soft orange and brown dress of that kind to take.

another friend said the people there are more laid-back. for instance, when my friend and i strutted right to the counter of a frozen yogurt store we brushed by a few undecided people stood indecisively in the entrance area. i remarked that they must be confused not to be in line. my friend said, there you go, at the west coast lingering would be okay.

in that line of thought a colleague menionted that there is more of a work-life balance. that is there is a life after work. hard to fathom in the 24/7 news industry where breaking news get your brain going where ever you are.

yet another group of people mentioned the west might have more of a european feel. everyone told me about this wonderful green emerald city, portland, oregon: tree huggers ride on manifold bicycle lanes to shop for vegan food at their favorite organic bakery. i'll soon find out.

what i know for sure from my favorite u.s. american is that the most popular book store of emerald city is as big as a city block AND has german Duden copies sitting on its shelf. i have seen german novels and of course language learning books. but the Duden is the merriam-webster for german language, an authority, and i hadn't seen it on a u.s. book shelf before. (i am sure they exist in language departments. but the only time i saw a Duden in the u.s. was when a lovely German package arrived with the bright yellow brick-like word collection inside.)

another intelligence report from my favorite u.s. american promised a bakery close to book heaven that makes german breads upon pre-order. on the website of the bakery the german bread looks at least dark enough and shows a list of the right ingredients to be taken seriously.

only four and a half hours separate me from emerald city. upon arrival my favorite u.s. american will swoop me up to go straight to the bakery.

i'd say, make it so!

why most u.s. americans don't like soccer

a rare species: a soccer fan rooting for the u.s. team at the dupont circle public viewing area in washington dc

maybe it's been a riddle to you. or on the contrary, you never thought about it. fact is, most u.s. americans don't like or don't care about soccer. washington dc being an exception with its international minded mini-population from all corners of the earth.














for the first time for a soccer world cup, dc set up public screens - rather small ones however

i know little to nothing about the german national soccer league, the Bundesliga, which is maybe somewhat of an equivalent to the national football league in the united states. but i do get enthusiastic about the soccer world cup. germans have won it three times before and these days are hunting for the fourth victory. never mind they screwed losing 0:1 against serbia after the hubris following the 4:0 dream game against australia.

but soccer is an odd thing in the united states. at the start of the world cup several voices arose to psychoanalyze the u.s. american relationship with the game.

stephen colbert tried in his show on june 11, 2010 to which he invited two guests, one dissing, one defending soccer. but first he set the tone the debate:

"Speaking of crimes against humanity: soccer. ... As an American, I don't care about soccer. Soccer is just one more thing the rest of the world is trying to jam down our throats like the metric system and the Geneva Convention. Here to viciously confirm my prejudice, please welcome Washington Post columnists and noted soccer ball-buster Marc Fisher. Okay, Marc, first question: the rest of the world loves soccer. Why is the rest of the world wrong?"

apart from the fact that colbert in his typical style lets neither fisher nor his opponent, veteran newsweek contribute and global post contributor mike starr, finish their sentences, the arguments on the con side are rather weak.

fisher says soccer is un-american because it’s too simplistic. it’s for little kids running around on a field, he says, getting their cardio in. "they go there, eat cookies. then they grow up and crave complexity". (think four hour-long baseball matches with nothing happening but sunflower seed munching, think american football with the ball buried under a pile of plastic-protected flesh and muscles while the people in the bleachers stuffs itself with baked potatoes). just because it's popular it doesn't make it right, fisher adds. aha, suddenly there is popularity.

that's where sports columnist for nation magazine david zirin comes in. he gave a more economically and culturally founded analysis for the u.s. soccer aversion in an interview on al jazeera english at the eve of the games. he says there's been a bit of a miss about it. soccer is the most popular sport among girls in the united states. and with the unites states growing more multicultural soccer is still gaining popularity. but it’s not highlighted by mainstream media such as bis sports channel ESPN. they do the world cup, zirin says, but soccer is not highlighted at other times.

plus, he says, there’s an old stereotype about the foreignness of soccer. there’s an american myth that baseball was invented in the united states, zirin says, which it wasn’t and that football started in the united states, which actually came from rugby. so soccer has maintained it’s foreignness, he says, so we have our own sports culture which is overladen with a lack of right-wing politics and official media saying it’s foreign. ultimately, he says, it has a lot to do with nationalism and culture.

picking up a similar line is an article in the atlantic monthly of june 11, 2010.

"But here, the culture of soccer has become a badge of liberal cosmopolitanism. When you consider the timing of this trend, perhaps the adoption of soccer was a rejection of Bush/Cheney 2000s provincialism. If Karl Rove kept the I-4 corridor Nascar red in 2004, why then young Beltway wonks, Brooklyn MFA candidates, and Bread Loaf novelists, instead of moving to Europe (like they said they would) would adopt the red of Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal. Fine, but for me, soccer was always about inclusiveness; I'd kick a ball with anyone, talk about it with anyone. I was only too glad. With these "thinking fans"—or nouveau fans, as I like to call them—it feels exclusive, a networking tool for the elite."

but atlantic blogger for the world cup michael agovino admits that soccer does offer hope precisely because if its cosmopolitanism. maybe one day kids will pick up an atlas to find out where the strange people playing the strange game and scoring high come from.

a friend says the solution to the riddle is easy. it's because u.s. americans never win. so maybe it's all just about being sore losers? the famously cited example from way back in 1950 with the unites states losing 0:1 against its former colonial owner england was made up at least partially with the 1:1 tie this year. baby steps.

the future of soccer in the unites states is not here yet as another atlantic article of june 25, 2010, predicts.

"How will we know that the soccer future has arrived? A key plot point in The Secret in their Eyes, this year's Academy Award-winning film from Argentina, turns on the police grasping the significance of a suspect's encyclopedic knowledge of the annual rosters of a local professional soccer club. When the same thing can happen in an American film, we will have the answer. If it ever can."

Kindertag! Children's Day!

i got chocolate and candy, little toys, maybe a book. car dealerships in your city might put up bouncing castles [Hüpfburgen], smaller communities gather for food and games, libraries offer readings for kids.

june 2 seems to be the perfect day to celebrate the children on both sides of the atlantic.

yesterday, june 1 was traditional children's day in germany. tomorrow, june 3 was the first national children's day declared by a u.s. president. that was in 2001. subsequently the rule was established that every first sunday in june is supposed to be dedicated to the wee ones. never mind this doesn't seem to be followed in a noticeable way.

but to the best of my knowledge children's day is not a highly celebrated day in the united states. maybe because it is one of these shifting holidays that are pinned on a first day of something in the month of so and so as many of the u.s. holidays. maybe because people are still in recovery from their memorial weekend. germans, you remember -- again this shifting principle -- the last weekend in may is when in the united states the summer season is officially greeted with bbqs, the opening of pools, and the beginning of motorcycle season. talking of which i learnt that the biker meeting in dc, dubbed rolling thunder, even dwarfs the classical meeting of bikers in sturgis. around 40,000 bikes are waiting for around six hours to file in line to get to go on a half hour convoy showing of their chrome and leather.

you get the idea; there are many distractions from the children's day. indeed, the u.s. calender is at least of for 2010. instead of the first sunday in june, the second is chosen according to a national children's day website set up by an organization in illinois.

in bold big letters the website is begging for national children's day to "gain city/state/national recognition". well, president bush's declaration back in 2001 doesn't seem have gone far.

in germany, children's day even appeared in most popular newscast the other day. that was thanks to a study by the Christian aid organization World Vision in which researchers asked ca. 2,500 german children how they like their lives (the link leads to an English-language website from Deutsche Welle, the German pendan of Voice of America). participating children were between six and eleven years old. four out of five are "content with their life and well-being", the study found. In a nutshell:

"The study found that happiness is somewhat tied to material possessions, but not nearly to the extent that many might expect. Most important, it said, is that the children feel they are treated with respect. Education researcher Sabine Andresen said it was important for parents to find a balance between placing value on their children's opinions and enforcing rules that establish order in their daily lives."

if next or the next after sunday, i'll watch out for candy at eye height in stores and word about the status of the kids in america. i'm afraid, however, i won't see and hear much.