Happy Lunar New Year 2010!

以我們親手做的年夜飯，祝大家虎運亨通，金銀財寶滾滾來，數錢數到數不完，心還沒想事已成!

想了解這裡每道菜色的意義，可以點這裡看詳細解說喔！

Farewell trip to White mountain NH

Before moving south to Virginia in June 2009, we took a farewell trip to New Hampshire, a northern state of New England. It is famous for its white mountain state park and the wired-looking moose. What a memorable trip!

Our first destination was Lost River, a glacier-shaped cave park. After being squeezed like lemons while pass some narrow tunnels in Lost River, we stayed in Gorham for the night, taking a moose tour to see those gentle giants roaming in the forest. Later on our way back to the hotel, we were surprised by a black bear trespassing on the parking lots outside our room!

The next day we climbed onto the top of Mt. Washington, the highest mountain of New England. We visited a small house chained on the ground where the fastest wind speed was recorded. The house is now a lovely gift shop selling souvenirs to the brave souls that dare to reach the summit of New England. We also visited several beautiful falls and then enjoyed the golden sunset on the way home.

I had posted several articles about this trip; however, there are still some photos to be shared. If you are interested, you can visit the "White mountain ● NH" set on my Flickr site.

Are we snow magnets?

"Who said that there is less snow in Virginia?" I asked a German postdoc in the lab several days ago when this year's first winter storm made its strike.

"Actually, there were only a one day light snow last winter," he said.

Yesterday I received a phone call from my boss, who traveled back to MA last week just before the winter storm. "Are you guys OK? There was almost no snow in MA. You and Yaling brought all the snow with you when moving down to VA," he joked. What I can say? Maybe we are really snow magnets.

Today, we are hit by another snowstorm. Or I should say a blizzard. The amount of snow was much less than last one; however, the wind was much much stronger, which blew snow into the air, reducing the visibility, make the driving condition even worse. I guess you can also feel it by looking at the photo above: wind blew lots of snow onto our window; the snow was slightly melted by the heat coming form our living room and formed a thin ice on the window.

I have no choice but stayed at home whole day. Hope this was the final snowstorm this winter.

After the snow storm

Virginia 的天氣像極了一個愛恨分明的少女。昨天還下著百年難得的大風雪，今晨起床，窗外已是陽光普照，連代表初春的新芽，都被這溫暖的太陽喚醒，站在樹稍伸懶腰了！

今天又加了幾張照片到 Flickr 的 Snow ● Ashburn 系列，有興趣的人，點這裡。

Snow storm is hitting VA!

這次雪下得就真的是大了！

有看我昨晚的 Blog 的人，應該可以感覺的出，雖然氣象局預報這次的風雪會是百年難得一見，我還是一派輕鬆，完全不把它當一回事。直到今早起來，才發覺大事不妙，門口的樹都給埋了一半了，雪還是完全沒有要停的跡象。本來打算午餐到 Farm 裡去吃的，結果出門一看，所有的車都變成了一個個小雪堆，要不是我記得停車格的位置，還真是連車都找不到。好不容易把鏟雪的工具從後車箱拿出，看了看車四周的雪況，就又把工具放了回去，因為根據我過去的經驗，這樣的深度，至少要一個鐘頭才能把車開出，路上狀況又不明，說不定開一開還會卡在路邊，到時就叫天不應、叫地不靈了！

當下決定走到離家約 0.5 mile 的溫蒂漢堡吃午餐，順便看看街上的雪景。出乎意料的，路上的雪被除得還算乾淨，至少車開起來應該沒什麼問題，不過幾乎沒什麼車就是了。走在雪白的馬路上，有種身在阿拉斯加的錯覺，周圍的樹木都覆上厚厚一層白雪，漫步其中，頗有北國的浪漫風情。

好不容易走了 0.5 mile，溫蒂竟然沒開！我還以為速食店是浪人們的好朋友，無論再艱苦的環境，它們都會準備好熱騰騰的餐點，等著幾乎不可能出現的客人上門，唉！失望了！只好慢慢走回家吃泡麵了。

記得要搬來 VA 的時候，有人跟我們說，VA 和 MA 比起來雪少很多，鏟雪機會不大。現在回想起來，完全不是這麼回事，還好當初有把鏟雪工具帶下來，否則現在就只能學土撥鼠，用手挖了！

對照片有興趣的人，請到 Flikr 的 Snow ● Ashburn 系列，我把今天的照片跟前幾天的雪景照放在一起。

Snow Tree

今天 Virginia 又被大雪襲擊，這個冬天的第二次了。Farm 在中午就關閉了，以免員工被困在路上。不過因為我們在 MA 的時候一天到晚下雪，所以也就不是很在意，仍然在實驗室待到七點才離開。回家的路況還算不錯，可能因為有上次被殺得錯手不及的經驗，今天州政府有備而來，四處都可以看到鏟雪車在除雪。

回家吃完晚餐後，發現家門口的樹覆上了一層冰雪，看起來十分有趣，就用相機照了下來。這張照片曝光時間高達 30 秒，所以看起來像是白天的樣子。

Snow ● Ashburn

昨夜的一場好雪，讓早晨的 Ashbrun 變成了一個童話世界。


更多照片點這裡。

Natural History Museum ● DC

豐富且獨特的館藏，細心的展場規畫，加上簡單明瞭又充滿教育性的解說，DC 的 Natural History Museum 毫無疑問是個世界級的博物館，而且免費，period。

目前已經去了兩次，都還看不完，應該近期內還會去第三次吧。

對這兩次所照的照片有興趣的人，點這裡。

Washington capitol building

這陣子去了 DC 兩次，第二次正好遇到下雪，照幾張以 capitol 為背景的照片和大家分享。