Pictures I made at during my stay in the USA May-July 1999

This page is about my stay in the United States from May through July 1999. The first pictures are on Washington DC where my stay started, but the pictures are actually from an earlier trip in November.

Because the total of the pictures is some 2 MB, which may be a problem to download by modem, this page only presents small images. If you click on a picture, you will get a larger version. You can also click here now to get the same page as this but then with the larger images.

Here is a nice view from the bottom of the United States Congress with a beautiful blue sky.

This is in the library of Congress the reading room in the Jefferson building.

The entrance hall.

During most of my stay I was in Seattle where I had an apartment in the Fremont area of the city, the apartment has a view on Mount Rainier.

Fremont is known as a funky area of the city. I don't think it comes up to that reputation very much any more these days. But they still have their solstice parade at the mid summer point in June.

The so-called nude bicyclists are an important part of the solstice parade though they are not officially a part of it. This year they were extra special because the police had said and that they would be arrested, but when the time was there they didn't do that.

Another parade that took place during my stay in Seattle was the gay pride parade.

The teletubbies were definitely the theme during this parade. Some religious fanatic had apparently accused teletubbies of having a secret agenda to favour homosexuality. This teletubbie was the focal point of this accusation, a doll who speaks with a boys voice but wears a handbag moreover has a triangular antenna on top of its head. Now that this secret agenda had come out the teletubbies were celebrated more openly of course.

Here's another beautiful view on Mount Rainier. The picture is taken from the back of the train to Portland. Regrettably the train had a four hour delay before leaving Seattle. But it was a very nice train with at least half a foot more leg space than we are used to over here. The irony wants that Amtrak is now advertising with European style trains which are just as narrow as over here.

In Portland I've visited Bob and Lynn. Bob is a former colleague who moved to Portland after his retirement. Earlier in his career he's spent some time in Japan to do epidemiologic research on atomic bomb survivors. That explains probably the interest of Lynn to volunteer in the Japanese garden in Portland of which you see one view here.

Fountains are a big thing in Portland so here you see a big fountain.

Back in Seattle I've visited also camp TRC which is not in Seattle but not far from it in the woods. It is a gay a campsite. With the little possibilities that are there the visitors of the campsite take there camp to be as much as possible an adjective instead of a noun.

I visited on a not so very pleasant day with the rain and being cooler so here the dog is waiting until his bosses are coming in.

After my stay in Seattle I made a trip by car along the West Coast my first stop was near Tillamook in Orgegon. There I've stayed with kind Servas hosts. To show how rural their place is, here a picture of a deer in the very street they are living.

The morning fog along the coast can show some very nice rays of Sun coming through.

Here you see the process of clamming. A clam is an animal with a big shell that digs into the sand of the beach leaving only a little hole in the sand for getting in its food and air.
When you stick a thin stake in to where the little hole is reaching the surface you can use that as a guide for digging up the clam, wash it, take it home and eat it.

Other people in that very early morning were after other animals than clams. Here a grandson of my host is holding up a crab. He didn't catch it himself but borrowed it from the one who did to show it for this picture.

The way along the coast of Oregon has some very beautiful views.

It is that way that let me into northern California where I met my next Servas host. During the day she is a doctor but in the evening she wanted to start with letting out her goats to let them eat of the leaves in the woods around the house.

There are very big trees in Northern California. This is in the Redwood State Park. Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world, but if you try to make a picture of them and catch them in this mall frame you don't really see how tall they are.

Hopefully this shows a bit better how big these trees are at least they give an impression why they are called Redwoods.

Walking through that Park led me to the beach where I found some elk grazing.

After Northern California I stopped in Napa Valley, but I didn't make any pictures there because I was sick.

So, this picture is from my next stop which is in Yosemite park. Here is a view from the bottom up of El Capitan.

Yosemite park also has several waterfalls that fall a long way.

And it magnificent views on granite structures. Here is the Half Dome.

The granite is really barren because it has been formed not so long ago.

Here's another waterfall the upper and lower Yosemite fall please realize that this fall is about a mile high.

Do you see the two people on the top of this cliff?

Here is another view on El Capitan this time from a higher standpoint.

This is a fissure. A breach in the granite that has started eroding.

I can also be amazed by how trees and shrubs are actually growing on this barren granite.

When I was on the bottom of the Sentinel Dome, I didn't believe I would walk up to that, now that I see this picture taken from the top of it I still can hardly believe that I made it. It was very much worth the while again because of the magnificent views.

Here is the Half Dome again.

And yet from another standpoint.

Yosemite park does not only have granite structures that a huge, but also trees. This is a Sequoia tree, not the tallest but the oldest kind of tree we have in this world.

The Redwoods were not half as thick as this Sequoia.

Some of these trees are so thick that they dug a tunnel through them. Here your narrator is showing one of these.

Because of all of the huge granite structures and thick trees, one would almost look over the small and beautiful. Here are some flowers at seven thousand feet high.

This is the road out of Yosemite park. As soon as you are out of the park the land gets very dry and barren or actually I shouldn't say barren because there seemed to be for arms around there. The flat scenery apparently didn't invite to make something bending in the road.

The straight road let me into gay San Francisco, where I didn't make a lot of pictures because I've been there several times before. It just happened that there was a little fire when we were somewhere. While being a tourist I couldn't help myself but making pictures of that.

The fire was so small and in the cellar but they were making a fuss out of it by entering through the roof. Peculiarly enough a month later there was a big fire in my own neighbourhood so that I could feel the warmth of it in my apartment, but I didn't make any picture then because I was not a tourist then.

South of San Francisco along the coast there is the area called Big Sur. It has been called the most beautiful place on Earth.

I suppose that is due to the beautiful coastline.

The coastline leading to beautiful views along that coast.

Going south from San Francisco leads to Los Angeles. As you know the city of film and entertainment industry. Here is a Walt Disney building. Please note the detail on top of the fence and the dwarfs holding up the roof of the building.

Apparently the entertainment industry is associated with big advertising.

As well as with big money as is showing off here in Beverly Hills.

Apparently the Jurassic hype is still not over.

Also despite the rigorous anti smoking laws of California there are still people smoking so there is still are advertising against smoking necessary. Here is an adaptation of the Marlborough advertising. I am told that it was originally a real Marlborough advertising with some adjustments such as the cigarette

Further south is San Diego where they have a big park with an area of museums and exhibitions inside it.

The greenhouse in this area is not a glass house but just rods to keep up the structure. The weather in San Diego is apparently so nice that there is no need for glasshouses.

There was no further way south in the United States along West coast therefore this next picture you see it is in Philadelphia. This is the building of the first bank of the United States.

This is to show how similar some of the buildings in Philadelphia are two buildings in parts of Dutch cities.

Here is the Liberty Bell. I am told that most people see it as a symbol of the liberty of the United States from the colonising England. However, the guard here told us that it started to off as a symbol of the abolitionists. That means that it's not so much liberty of the country as well it is the liberty of slaves from their white oppressors.

My last stop on this trip to North America was in Ottawa, Canada. This is a view in the evening on the Parliament buildings.

And here is a view over the river into the province of Quebec.