It is the time of the year where leaves fall off the trees. That is, of course, if you live in a temperate zone on the Northern half of our planet, as in Australia and Patagonia, everything is just greening up again. and in the tropics, well, things just work different in all aspects of life :)

I found these hazelnut trees (actually they are called hazels and their nuts are hazelnuts) while cycling through Oregon. Even though they are unnaturally planted in rows and loosing their leaves, it still makes me happy to see so many trees together. And of course the hazelnuts that are grown here are delicious and healthy, with protein and unsaturated fat as well as vitamins and minerals. And no, I don’t do sponsored posts, I just really like real food :)

There are a lot of hazelnut trees in the USA state of Oregon, it is even the ‘official state nut’, (which would be the best job title, ever!). Not strange, as Oregon produces about 99% of all hazelnuts in the USA. Still Turkey is the world’s largest producer.

Related photos:

1. Cycling through the morning fog on the Oregon coast, USA
2. Mount Hood from Bridgeton, Portland in fall
3. Senecio trees in Rwenzori, Uganda, Africa

Thought it might be appropriate today to send some flowers..

The tall Cardon cactuses on the Mexican Baja California peninsula flower in March-June. The small flowers open up in the afternoon and close in the morning as they are dependent on bats for pollination!

Happy Valentine to everybody..

Related photos:

1. Hummingbird feeding in Baja California
2. Badwater, Death valley, California USA
3. Happy Woman in Kathmandu with prayer flags

Looking up in the wet (and very slippery!) rainforest zone on Kilimanjaro, you will see huge ferns, making you feel you are in Jurassic park and not sliding down from the highest point of Africa :)

Related photos:

1. Kilimanjaro from the air
2. Kilimanjaro from Moshi after snow
3. Young Maasai man performing the adumu, also know as the ‘jumping dance’, Tanzania

As Fall/autumn is here/there, in Northern hemisphere…
A compilation of shots, made in just one street in North Seattle, a wonderful city, even in the rainy fall…

Related photos:

1. Seattle Skyline
2. Hazelnut trees in fall in Oregon
3. Mount Hood from Bridgeton, Portland in fall

The 3rd and last in this Black and White Joshua Tree series (see the first and second post in the series). If you liked them then later I will add some colour photos as well. For now, let’s move on to other places! Where shall we go next?

Related photos:

1. Joshua Tree national Park in Black and White (2)
2. Joshua Tree National Park
3. Skating rink in Central Park, New York, USA

As a follow up of yesterday’s post, here is another shot of the wonderful Joshua Tree national park in black & white.It is a mix of rocky spaces and empty flats, with many of the characteristic plants…

More to come unless you protest against it!

Related photos:

1. Joshua Tree National Park in Black and White (3)
2. Joshua Tree National Park
3. Meadow in Torres del Paine park, Chile

The Joshua Tree is not just a U2 album :)

It is the name of a wonderful park in the USA, named after the abundance of Joshua Trees found there. From Wikipedia:

Yucca brevifolia is a plant species belonging to the genus Yucca in the family Agavaceae. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names: Joshua tree, Yucca palm, Tree yucca, and Palm tree yucca

I personally found the more impressive than the Grand Canyon, but maybe that is because the latter was more like looking down from a mountain towards another, which I had done more often than visiting deserts :)

The plants/trees might be threatened by Global warming, which could wipe them out… So see them while you can. (And by the way, between all those plants, there are great rocks and boulders to climb!)

I will post a few more of the park in the next days if that is ok…

Related photos:

1. Joshua Tree national Park in Black and White (2)
2. Joshua Tree National Park in Black and White (3)
3. Patagonia: tree growing in the wind

First of all, I hope everybody had a great X-mas!

Now that X-mas is over, Santas reindeer (or caribou) can return to the Northern slope, Alaska, to graze amidst the cottonflowers at 70 degres latitude. That is, only close to the Arctic ocean, as the final stretch is completely owned by the Oil companies. But even that is not enough, as political (financial) pressure is put on lawmakers to lift the ban on drilling in the last remaining untouched wildlife refuge, the ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge).

Before you agree with this as you are tired of paying ‘high’ (about a quarter of European!) prices for your SUV, please realize 2 things:
- Even Bush’s own staff has admitted that the drop in price will be about 1ct per gallon, which might happen after a decade.
- Oil companies are (at least in the Western world) commercial companies. Demand creates supply and all big conpanies (misspelling intentional) are so globally spread, they do not care where they drill the oil, whether it is Russia, Alaska or Iraq. Besides, the OPEC will price the oil. (see also this link

Drilling in Alaska won’t help any US citizen, unless they have a job at the companies, are a bribed (they prefer the term ‘lobbied’) politician, or a shareholder…

Related photos:

1. Sunset in Alaska
2. Running Karibu in Denali park, Alaska
3. Salmon Glacier near Hyder, Alaska

British Columbia is a huge province in Canada and one of the best places on earth. It is stacked with beautiful scenery, a lot of wildlife and friendly people. While travelling through it I felt totally unable to capture all the wonders, as the scale was so big and being there, with all the smells, sounds, temperature, weather and more I felt the limitations of photography more than ever…

This was not one of the tourist places, not one of the ‘wild’ places, but just a small pond at the side of the Yellowhead Highway. Still there is more nature in here than in most of my home country :)

For more photos of Canada & Alaska, please see WorldOnABike.com, the visual description of my current trip through the Americas. It might also give a clue to whu I have not been posting much even though I had traveled on 6 continents in as many months earlier this year ;-)

Related photos:

1. Salmon Glacier near Hyder, Alaska
2. Dent du Geant in alpine clouds, Italy
3. Forest trail in Rwenzori mountains, Uganda

This is a composite image, I think from 6 or 7 images, covering about 180 degrees from a windy hilltop in the Khumbu Valley, taking with a Canon EOS5 and probably the 50mm or 70mm lens. To teh left, lovely village Khumjung can be seen, subject of a prevous photoseries on ExposedPlanet.com. Nuptse and Lhotse can be seen, but Everest is just a small peak in the distance, recognizable only because of the ever present snow-plume of her summit. Also beautiful Ama Dablam can clearly be seen, the solitary peak aiming for the heavens above, but the rest of the valley and the surrounding mountains are just as breathtaking, but maybe that was because of the quick hike up to 3800m in order to be able to see this wonderful panorama :)

Extra large size as a way to say: Merry Christmas everybody!

Related photos:

1. 29th Prayerflags Rainbow above Namche Bazaar, Nepal
2. Torres del Paine panorama, Chile
3. Khumjung (5): Sherpani carrying basket with goods from Namche