u.s.a: patterson in winter

 

we were looking forward to seeing a winter for the first time ever (ok technically not true, but the last time i experienced a winter i was a kid and dont remember much.) as they say, be careful what you wish for....

actually, winter is beautiful. true, its mind-numbingly cold, but there is an awesome beauty in winter. the ugliest and filthiest landscape gets coated in pristine clean white garments, everything becomes quiet and soft - apparently snow absorbs sound - and it looks like no one has ever walked there before.

we couldnt stop looking at it. anytime it snowed, we were mesmerised.

we took quite a few hikes through the forests around patterson - totally worth coming back completely frozen!

of course it gives an opportunity for other activities as well...

the most mundane locations just look lovely under a coat of snow.

check out the animal tracks - not sure what this was but on another occasion we also found tracks of a rather large cat - about the size of my hand stretched out.

one of my assignments was dismantling, cleaning and reassembling door locks. if you need a lock picked, you know who to come to. so long as its this exact type of lock.

the famous patterson clock tower

and, from inside the clock tower....

next stop, even more snow!