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View of the Piranhas from Piranha Pictures Company, located in Nashville, Tennessee

View of the Piranhas from Piranha Pictures Company

Two fish cams viewing the only active underwater volcano in North Wales, UK. The volcano erupts about once per hour, there is plenty of fish activity to enjoy on the fish cams while you wait for the massive eruptions

Two fish cams viewing the only active underwater volcano in North Wales

Watch them grow! View of the American Bald Eagles that have built a nest in the Botanical Garden, Norfolk, Virginia, USA

View of the American Bald Eagles that have built a nest in the Botanical Garden

This camera is a fully controllable live-feed system that allows visitors to view the west side of San Juan Island from the deck of the Center for Whale Research.

This camera is a fully controllable live-feed system that allows visitors to view the west

This cam provides an intimate view of a wild Oklahoma Bald Eagle nest. Children and adults from Oklahoma and around the world can observe life in an eagle nest, and scientists can make observations

This cam provides an intimate view of a wild Oklahoma Bald Eagle nest

The Shamu Cam is located in SeaWorld San Diego and runs between 9am - 5:30pm Pacific Standard Time daily. Starting at Midnight, we will replay the footage so you can see all of the fun from the previous day.

The Shamu Cam is located in SeaWorld San Diego

Brooklyn Bunny is the "Pet" project of DresserJohnson starring a little white bunny named Roebling. Located in Brooklyn, New York, United States

View the The Brooklyn Bunny

View of a turtle tank, located in Guernsey, Channel Islands, United Kingdom.

James' Turtles

Scenic view of Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. You can see falcons and birds

Falcon - Ledge cam

$Kim (AKA Kimba) was born 7/31/76 [5\'8, 146lbs, brown eyes, blonde] living in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. She is a Christian. There is never ever any nudity on this webcam. She is usually on cam after 7pm Eastern time.$

Kim

The Academiegebouw and the University Library are both in the Broerstraat. Also known as the "Broerplein" or "Academieplein".
The Academiegebouw has only a very limited number of parking places . Please park your car on a parking meter or in one of the public car parks. The closest car park is the Q-Park Ossenmarkt (Info in Dutch). Plan your route to carpark Ossenmarkt .

University of Groningen, Academiegebouw Broerplein

Be aware that you're using up somebody else's bandwidth, and these cameras can't handle very many connections at the same time.
So, be considerate and don't leave this window open for very long.

John Frost Bridge a Bridge to Far operation MarketGarden

Weather cam with a view from the balcony, in the Borkum city, Germany. You are able to see some horses and the landscape, as well as a clear view of the sky and skyline.

Borkum Weather Cam

Weather Station Altenessen

Looking West Toward Sugarbush, MT Ellen, Mad River Glen, in the Waitsfield city, Vermont state
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View the weather live from Ornellaia, Bolguery, Italy
Tenuta Dell'Ornellaia is an Italian winery in the DOC Bolgheri in Toscana, known as a producer of Super Tuscan wine. Ornellaia is considered one of Italy's top Bordeaux-style red wines.[1] The estate also produces a second wine, Le Serre Nuove, the blend Le Volte, the Merlot varietal wine Masseto, in addition to estate production of grappa and olive oil.
History
Tenuta Dell'Ornellaia was established by Marchese Lodovico Antinori of the Antinori family, behind one of Italy's most historic negociant firms,[2] with the help of winemaker Tibor Gál. The property is adjacent to Tenuta San Guido. producer of Sassicaia considered the seminal Super Tuscan, and Ornellaia was suggested to be Lodovico Antinori’s competitive answer to his cousin Nicolò Incisa’s Sassicaia, and his older brother Piero Antinori’s Solaia.[3]
The vineyards of the Ornellaia estate were planted in 1981, producing the first vintage in 1985.[4][5] A modern winery was built in 1987, and a second 56 hectares (140 acres) property was later added, Bellaria, situated north of Bolgheri.
Robert Mondavi Winery took a minority interest in the estate in November 1999, and were full owners by 2002, while initiating a partnership with the Frescobaldi family.[6][7] In April 2005, Frescobaldi bought the remaining 50% shares of Ornellaia from Constellation Brands after their acquisition of Mondavi holdings, coming to own the whole estate.[8][9] Axel Heinz is the current winemaker with Michel Rolland, involved with the estate since its beginning, is retained as consultant oenologist.[10]
The sequence of ownership is featured in Jonathan Nossiter's film Mondovino, containing statements by Lodovico Antinori, and the Frescobaldi and Mondavi families then joint owners during the time of production, which displays opposing accounts on the events.[11]
A Salmanazar (9-litre bottle) of Ornellaia 2005 was sold for USD$ 33,600 at Christie's of New York.[12]
Production
From a 91-hectare (220-acre) estate, the vineyard area extends 76 hectares (190 acres) in two separate locations, Ornellaia and Bellaria. The grape varieties are predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc,[4] as well as a small plot of Petit Verdot planted in 1995.[5]
In addition to Ornellaia, Merlot grapes from the 7 hectares (17 acres) Masseto vineyard have since 1986 been produced as a varietal wine, initially simply as "Merlot", and since its second vintage by the name Masseto. Le Volte, first released in 1991, is a 50% Sangiovese and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend. The official second wine, Le Serre Nuove, has been produced since 1997.

View the Tenuta dell'Ornellaia vineyard

Live Webcam Sunnyvale, California, U.S.A. Camera facing West towards Black Mountain.
Sunnyvale (pronounced /ˈsʌniveil/ or /ˈsʌnivəl/) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 131,760.
The city is bordered by the San Francisco Bay and portions of San Jose to the north, Moffett Federal Airfield to the northwest, Mountain View to the west, Los Altos to the southwest, Cupertino to the south, and Santa Clara to the east. It lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101.
As part of the Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale is headquarters to several high-tech companies such as Maxim Integrated Products, Juniper Networks, Palm, Inc., AMD, NetApp, Spansion, Yahoo!, Mirapoint, and Ariba. Sunnyvale is also home to several aerospace/defense companies; Lockheed Martin has a major facility in Sunnyvale, and Honeywell, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems - Marine Systems (location of the Hendy Iron Works Museum), and Spirent Communications also have offices in Sunnyvale. Sunnyvale is also the home to Onizuka Air Force Station, where its main building, locally known as the Blue Cube, is its most prominent feature. The base, named for the deceased Space Shuttle Challenger astronaut Ellison Onizuka, is the primary artificial satellite control facility of the United States armed forces.
Sunnyvale is one of the few U.S. cities to have a single unified Department of Public Safety, where all personnel are trained as firefighters, police officers, and EMTs, so they can respond to an emergency in any of the three roles.
Library services for the city are provided by the Sunnyvale Public Library, located at the Sunnyvale Civic Center.
Geography
This section requires expansion.
Sunnyvale is located at 37°22′7.56″N 122°2′13.4″W / 37.3687667°N 122.037056°W / 37.3687667; -122.037056.[4]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 22.6 square miles (58.6 km²), of which, 21.9 square miles (55.8 km²) of it is land and 0.7 square miles (1.8 km²) of it (3.05%) is water. The elevation is 130 feet above sea level.
[edit] Climate
This section requires expansion.
Like most of the San Francisco Bay area, Sunnyvale has a Mediterranean climate, with mild, moist winters and warm, very dry summers. Average daytime summer temperatures are in the 80s, and during the winter, average daytime high temperatures rarely stay below 50 °F (10 °C).
On May 4, 1998, during an unusually strong thunderstorm, Sunnyvale and its neighbor Los Altos were hit by two tornadoes of nearly F2 intensity, causing upwards of $4 million in property damage. No serious injuries were reported. Tornadoes are not common in the San Francisco Bay Area, and these were particularly unique because they exhibited anticyclonic rotation.[6][7] This was the first time that weather radar data of such high quality had been collected for an anticyclonic supercell thunderstorm with tornadoes.[8] Though smaller tornadoes are not completely unheard of in the area. Sunnyvale experienced another small tornado at the Lockheed-Martin facility at Moffett Federal Airfield two months prior to this one.[9]
On January 21, 1962, and on February 5, 1976, measurable snowfall occurred in Sunnyvale and most of the San Francisco Bay Area.
[edit] History
When the Spanish first arrived in the 1770s at the Santa Clara Valley, it was heavily populated by the Ohlone native Americans. In 1777, Mission Santa Clara was built by Ohlone converts to Christianity.
In 1842, Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas was granted to Francisco Estrada and his wife Inez Castro. Portions of the land given in this grant later developed into the cities of Mountain View and Sunnyvale. Two years later, in 1844, another land grant was provided to Lupe Yñigo, one of the few Native Americans to hold land grants. His land grant was first called Rancho Posolmi, named in honor of Posolmi village of the Ohlone that once stood in the area. Rancho Posolmi was later known as Rancho Ynigo.
Martin Murphy Jr. came to California with his father as part of the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party in 1844. In 1850, Martin Murphy Jr. bought a piece of Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas for $12,500. Murphy established a wheat farm and ranch named Bay View. Murphy had the first wood frame house, which was shipped from New England, in Santa Clara County built. The house was demolished in 1961 but was reconstructed in 2008 as the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum. When he died in 1884, his land was divided among his heirs.
In 1860, The San Francisco and San Jose Rail Road was allowed to lay tracks on Bay View and established Murphy Station. Lawrence Station was later established on the southern edge of Bay View.
In the 1870s, county property tax laws, imports and soil degradation caused wheat farming to become uneconomical in Santa Clara County. Small fruit orchards replaced the large wheat farms. In 1871, James and Eloise Dawson established the first fruit cannery in Santa Clara County. Fruit agriculture and canning soon became a major industry in the county. The invention of the refrigerated rail car further increased the viability of an economy based upon fruit. The fruit orchards become so prevalent that in 1886, the San Jose Board of Trade called Santa Clara County the "Garden of the World".
In the 1880s, Chinese workers made up 48 percent of the farm labor in Santa Clara County. This percentage reduced over time after the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. In the following decade, the 1890s, multitudes of immigrants from Italy, the Azores, Portugal, and Japan arrived to work in the orchards.
In 1897, Walter Everett Crossman bought 200 acres (809,000 m²) and began selling real estate. He advertised the area as Beautiful Murphy. Later, in the 1900s, real estate developer Walter Crossman described it as "the City of Destiny". Also in 1897, Encina School opened as the first school in Murphy. Previously, children in the town had to travel to Mountain View for school.
In 1901, the residents of Murphy were informed they could not use the names Encinal or Murphy for their post office. They decided to use the name Sunnyvale for the name of their town.
Sunnyvale continued to grow and in 1904, dried fruit production began. Two years later, Libby, McNeill & Libby, a Chicago meat-packing company, decided to open its first fruit packing factory in Sunnyvale. Today, a water tower painted to resemble the first Libby's fruit cocktail can label identifies the former site of the factory.
Also in 1906, the Joshua Hendy Iron Works relocated from San Francisco to Sunnyvale after the company's building was destroyed by fire after the 1906 earthquake. The ironworks was the first non-agricultural industry in the town. The Joshua Hendy Iron Works switched from producing mining equipment to other products such as marine steam engines.
In 1912, the residents of Sunnyvale voted to incorporate, and Sunnyvale became an official city.
Fremont High School first opened in 1923. It served as a military base before the school opened and through World War II. Planes flying to and from Moffett Field, which opened in 1933, commonly stopped here for fuel top-offs. A 1948 yearbook shows a military aircraft parked at one of the buildings as students watch nearby. Fremont High School has old military buildings on its campus including a Quonset hut installed after WWII, now used as a wrestling team facility.
In 1930, Congress decided to place the West Coast dirigible base in Sunnyvale. This naval airfield was later renamed Moffett Naval Air Station and then Moffett Federal Airfield and is commonly called Moffett Field.
In 1939, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, the forerunner of NASA) began research at Ames Laboratory.
During World War II, the war economy began a change from the fruit industry to the high-tech industry in Santa Clara County. The Joshua Hendy Iron Works built marine steam engines, naval guns and rocket launchers to aid in the war effort. As the defense industry grew, a shortage of workers in the farm industry was created. Immigrants from Mexico came to Sunnyvale to fill this void of workers.
Following the war, the fruit orchards and sweetcorn farms were cleared to build homes, factories and offices. In 1956, the aircraft manufacturer Lockheed moved its headquarters to Sunnyvale. Since then, numerous high-tech companies have established offices and headquarters in Sunnyvale, including Advanced Micro Devices and Yahoo. The first prototype of Pong, one of the first arcade videogames, was installed in Sunnyvale in September 1972, in a bar named Andy Capps,[10][11] now Rooster T. Feathers.[12]
By 2002, the few remaining orchards were demolished and replaced with homes and shops. However, there are still city-owned orchards, such as the Heritage Orchard next to the Sunnyvale Community Center.
In 1979, an indoor mall called Sunnyvale Town Center opened in what used to be a traditional downtown shopping district. After years of successful operation, the mall started to decline in the 1990s. After numerous changes in plans and ownership, the mall was demolished in 2007, and a new downtown shopping district is being constructed in its place.[13]
Demographics
Historical populations
Census Pop. %±
1920 1,675 —
1930 3,094 84.7%
1940 4,373 41.3%
1950 9,829 124.8%
1960 52,898 438.2%
1970 95,976 81.4%
1980 106,618 11.1%
1990 117,229 10.0%
2000 131,760 12.4%

Standard marker at city entrancesAs of the census[14] of 2000, there were 131,760 people, 52,539 households, and 32,679 families residing in the city. The population density was 6,006.5 people per square mile (2,318.7/km²). There are 53,753 housing units at an average density of 946.0 persons/km² (2,450.4 persons/sq mi). The racial makeup of the city is 53.27% White, 32.27% Asian, 2.22% African American, 0.46% Native American, 0.32% Pacific Islander, 7.19% from other races, and 4.25% from two or more races. 15.48% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 52,539 households out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.0% were married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.8% were non-families. 27.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.06.
In the city the population was spread out with 20.4% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 41.3% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 105.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.5 males.
Under the 2000 Census, the median income for a household in the city was $74,409, and the median income for a family was $81,634, but under the Census Bureau's 2007 estimates, these figures have risen to $87,417 and $104,439, respectively.[15]
Under the 2000 Census, males had a median income of $65,165 versus $43,051 for females. The per capita income for the city was $36,524. About 3.7% of families and 5.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.5% of those under age 18 and 5.2% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Politics
In the state legislature Sunnyvale is located in the 13th Senate District, represented by Democrat Elaine Alquist, and in the 22nd Assembly District, represented by Democrat Paul Fong. Federally, Sunnyvale is located in California's 14th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D +21 and is represented by Democrat Anna Eshoo.[16] As of March 20, 2009, Sunnyvale had 56,466 registered voters: 25,677 were Democrats, 12,716 Republicans, with the remaining 18,073 not belonging to either major party.[17] The mayor and vice-mayor of Sunnyvale are not directly elected. Instead they are selected from the city council members by the city council, serving two-year and one-year terms, respectively.
Transportation
Sunnyvale is served by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (both light rail and buses) and the Caltrain commuter rail. The SR 85, US 101, SR 237, and I-280 freeways run through the city. A segment of State Route 82 runs through the center of the city, following the path of historic El Camino Real. Sunnyvale has also been listed by the League of American Bicyclists as a Bicycle Friendly Community at the bronze level, having multiple on-street and off-street bike lanes, bicycle-activated traffic signals, and bicycle accommodations on both VTA and Caltrain. The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee advises the city council on the continued development of the bicycle plan for the city.
For commercial passenger air travel, Sunnyvale is well served by three nearby international airports. The closest, Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) is a 9.5 mile drive from downtown Sunnyvale by car. It is also accessible by Caltrain, VTA light rail and VTA bus (with both the Caltrain and Light Rail stations requiring transfer to a free shuttle bus to get to the airport terminal). The next closest is San Francisco International Airport (SFO), which is 27.7 miles by car. SFO is also transit accessible via Caltrain and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). The Metropolitan Oakland International Airport (OAK), which is 37.5 miles by car. Access to Oakland airport by public transit is possible via multiple transfers.
See also: List of airports in the San Francisco Bay area
[edit] Crime
Sunnyvale has consistently ranked as one of the safest ten cities (for cities of similar size) in the United States according to the FBI's crime reports. From 1966 to at least 2004, Sunnyvale never placed below fifth in safety rankings among U.S. cities in its population class.[26] In 2005, Sunnyvale ranked as the 18th-safest city overall in the U.S., according to the Morgan Quitno Awards.[27]. In 2009, Sunnyvale was ranked 7th in U.S. by Forbes Magazine in an analysis of America's safest cities.[28].[29]
[edit] Folklore
A long standing legend of Sunnyvale is of a ghost that haunts the town's Toys 'R' Us store. A purported psychic, Sylvia Browne, claimed to have made contact with the ghost on the 1978 TV show "That's Incredible" and named him Johnny Johnson. This story was also explored in a 1991 episode of "Haunted Lives: True Ghost Stories." Furthermore, she stated that he had been a farm hand who worked in the orchard where the toy store now stands and that he bled to death from an accidental, self-inflicted axe injury to his leg.[30][31]

View the Sunnyvale

View toward Barcelona of the weather and wind/sky conditions. The webacam is located on top of the weather station LLefia in Badalona, Spain.

View toward Barcelona of the weather and wind/sky conditions

View of the weather from the Symington, South Lanarkshire, Great Britain. The Camera points south towards the low lying Coulter Hills.
Symington, South Lanarkshire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Symington is a small village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The nearest town is Biggar. Geographical features near Symington include Tinto Hill and the River Clyde. Symington has one shop, which includes a post office. Both The Tinto Hotel and Wyndales Hotel are situated near the village, and they both allow tourists to visit the village. Although Wyndales has now shut and is subject to re-development. Symington is located within commuter distance of both Glasgow and Edinburgh. The wine and whisky distribution company Inverarity Vaults can be found in Symington. Situated in the village is the Symington Weather Station, an amateur weather station run by Tinto PCs, publishing detailed weather reports on the internet for Symington and the surrounding area. Although small in size, Symington possesses two parks, both of which conatain swings and various other activities for children.
[edit] Sport
Currently, the village has one football club, Symington Tinto Amateur Football Club. Within this club, two amateur teams exist, who play in the Caledonian and Lanarkshire amateur football leagues respectively. There was formerly a golf course in Symington, but this has not been present for a number of years.
[edit] Education
Symington has a nursery and a primary school, Tinto Primary School. The pupils of Tinto Primary typically go on to Biggar High School.
[edit] External links

View the Symington Weather Station

View on the Ski lift Road next to the Salmon House restaurant. West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada .
West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Part of Metro Vancouver, the municipality is northwest of the city of Vancouver on Burrard Inlet and Howe Sound, and is adjoined by the District of North Vancouver to its east. It forms the North Shore municipalities together with the District of North Vancouver and City of North Vancouver.
West Vancouver has a population of 42,131 (2006 census)[1]. As of 2007, the mayor is Pamela Goldsmith-Jones. Cypress Provincial Park, mostly located within the municipal boundaries, will be one of the venues for the 2010 Winter Olympics. West Vancouver was also named a Cultural Capital of Canada for 2006.[2] West Vancouver is also home of Canada's first shopping mall, Park Royal Shopping Centre.[3]
[edit] History
The Municipality of West Vancouver was incorporated on March 15, 1912, after separating from the District of North Vancouver. The first municipal election was held on April 6, 1912. In November 1938, the Lions' Gate Bridge was opened to traffic, allowing extensive growth of the semi-populated community, previously only accessible by ferry. Some homes in West Vancouver date back to the 1920s and 30s, though most of the currently existing dwellings were built in the 1970s and 80s, and mostly in British Pacific Properties' developments.
Parks and recreation

West Vancouver Aquatic Centre.West Vancouver is mainly a residential district as many residents are retired, work at home, or take the short commute to downtown Vancouver. A 25-block strip of Marine Drive serves as a commercial district, featuring shops, small offices, garages and gas stations, restaurants, banks, and other common amenities. This area is commonly known as 'Ambleside', with a one-block section separated from that area known as 'Dundarave'. West Vancouver is also home to Park Royal Shopping Centre, Canada's first mall. Opened in the 1950s, it now consumes 2 km of both sides of Marine Drive near North Vancouver, and is home to several department stores and large retailers, as well as many small retailers. Park Royal is also the largest mall on the North Shore, and is a bus terminal for Blue Bus and North Vancouver TransLink buses.

West Vancouver Memorial Library.Ambleside Park and the 15 block long West Vancouver Seawall are popular spots for families and outdoor enthusiasts. Whytecliff Park is regarded as one of the best scuba diving spots in Western Canada. The District also has many other small parks, as well as Lighthouse Park at Point Atkinson, which contains some old-growth forest and has with views of Vancouver from downtown to Point Grey and is the boundary-point between English Bay and the Strait of Georgia.
West Vancouver has several public recreation facilities including an 18-hole par 3 golf course, a pool, an ice rink, basketball and tennis courts, skateboard parks and numerous public parks. The new West Vancouver Community Centre (or WVCC) has been rebuilt and opened Spring 2009. West Vancouver is also home to Cypress Provincial Park with mountain biking trails and a large ski and snowboard facility, and which will be one of the venues for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
The West Vancouver Memorial Library, located in Ambleside, has a circulation rate of 21.32 per capita, the highest circulation rate per capita in Canada.[5]
[edit] Demographics

Lighthouse at Point Atkinson[edit] Population
According to a Statistics Canada 2006 census, West Vancouver has a population of 42,131.[1] It has the second highest percentage of persons aged 65 or older in BC with 22% of persons fitting into the category, compared with 13% for the rest of the province. The top five professions in West Vancouver are professional science and technical services; retail trade; health care; finance and insurance; and educational services. A large portion of the population is involved in senior management in comparison with the rest of the province.[6]
Transportation

A West Vancouver Blue Bus.West Vancouver is served by the Blue Bus, Canada's longest running municipal transportation system and Canada's first 100% wheelchair accessible transit system. Blue Bus is one of two bus companies in the Greater Vancouver region operating under contract for TransLink, and transfer is free between the Blue Buses and other TransLink buses.
The only freeway route within municipal limits is British Columbia Highway 1 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway), which begins in the community of Horseshoe Bay and continues east into the District of North Vancouver. Highway 99 also runs through West Vancouver, sharing the freeway alignment with Highway 1 between Horseshoe Bay and Taylor Way, and connects the municipality with Downtown Vancouver (via the Lions' Gate Bridge) and Whistler (via the Sea-to-Sky Corridor).
Additionally, BC Ferries operates routes departing from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo, Bowen Island, and the Sunshine Coast.
Scenery

The Lions Gate Bridge viewed from Ambleside Park.West Vancouver is known for its parks such as Cypress Provincial Park, which offers scenic views of Howe Sound and the Metro Vancouver area. Whytecliff Park and Lighthouse Park, near the community of Horseshoe Bay, at the continental terminus of the Trans-Canada Highway. All of West Vancouver is situated on the side of the Coast Mountains. Because of this position, most homes in West Vancouver have views of Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland, and/or Howe Sound.
[edit] Affluence

Apartment and condominium towers lined along the seawall.West Vancouver is home to some very large and expensive properties and houses. Occasionally, houses have been priced and sold at around CAD$20,000,000. As of 2006, West Vancouver's average house sells for over CAD$1,250,000;[7] 70% of the houses or close to 8,000 homes were worth over CAD$1 million. West Vancouver is often referred to as one of the wealthiest municipalities in Canada, though two Ontario municipalities west of Toronto (Oakville and Mississauga) as well as Westmount in Quebec are often considered contenders for the same title. 40% of the male population and 18% of the female population of West Vancouver earned over $60,000 in 2000. Average total incomes were $86,253 for males and $37,133 for females, almost double the provincial average. Over 50% of the population has a total family income of at least $90,000.[6]
[edit] Politics
West Vancouver ridings typically include Squamish and Whistler, and sometimes the Sunshine Coast.
Provincially, Joan McIntyre and Ralph Sultan of the BC Liberal Party were elected to the West Vancouver-Garibaldi and West Vancouver-Capilano ridings, respectively, in the 2005 Provincial election (West Vancouver-Garibaldi includes Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton).
Federally, West Vancouver-based ridings historically voted Liberal prior to 1974, then voted Conservative, electing John Reynolds of the Reform Party of Canada (later the Canadian Alliance) from 1997 to 2004. Reynolds declined to run for re-election in 2006, however, and Liberal Blair Wilson defeated Conservative John Weston to replace Reynolds as Member of Parliament from the West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country electoral district. Wilson left the Liberals in 2007 and joined the Green Party in 2008, becoming the first Green Member of Parliament. The re-election in 2008 saw a rematch between Weston and Wilson. This time Weston emerged as the victor, carrying nearly triple the vote of his incumbent opponent to handily return the riding to the Conservatives.

View on the Ski lift Road next to the Salmon House restaurant.West Vancouver

View of the weather conditions on Vattaro (TN) 880mslm, Italy. Provided by the Hotel Al Pian.

Pian dei Pradi

View of the Lake Wallenpaupack, Greentown, Pennsylvania, United States. You can see weather and sky conditions.
Horn Harbor Marina and Boatyard is a full service Chesapeake Bay marina and boat repair facility located in the lower Chesapeake Bay at Horn Harbor in Mathews County, Virginia. Serving outlying middle peninsula areas of Lancaster, Irvington, Deltaville, Middlesex and Gloucester, Virginia. The marina offers covered floating slips, open slips, gas, diesel, and complete sailboat and power boat repair and maintenance facility including a travel lift for haulouts. Our mechanical and structural repair shop handles design and fabrication of wood, fiberglass, and aluminum structural boat repairs as well as complete restorations of boats, sailoats, and power boats.
The marina in United States in the city of Tanglewood Estate has a varied range of services available to its customers. . If you are looking for a port with nautical services, Lighthouse Harbor Marina has some available.
Those who enjoy playing nautical sports at sea may request more information at the marina about the various sporting activities, which it arranges. Well connected and not only accessible by sea, it is also close to the nearest airport.

Lighthouse Harbor Marina

The spectacular Taormina panorama, that guests of the Hotel Villa Ducale can enjoy. From the fabulous panoramic terrace overlooking Taormina, Italy.
Taormina (Sicilian: Taurmina, Greek: Ταυρομένιον - Tauromenion, Latin Tauromenium) is a comune and small town on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy, in the Province of Messina, about midway between Messina and Catania. Taormina has been a very popular tourist destination since the 19th century. It has popular beaches (accessible via an aerial tramway) on the Ionian sea, which is remarkably warm and has a high salt content. Taormina can be reached via highways (autostrade) from Messina from the north and Catania from the south.
History
[edit] Ancient
Taormina's area was inhabited by the Siculi even before the Greeks arrived on the Sicilian coast in 832 BC to found a town called Naxos. The theory that Tauromenion was founded by colonists from Naxos is confirmed by Strabo and other ancient writers.
The new settlement seems to have risen rapidly to prosperity, and was apparently already a considerable town at the time of the expedition of Timoleon in 345 BC. It was the first place in Sicily where that leader landed, having eluded the vigilance of the Carthaginians, who were guarding the Straits of Messina, and crossed direct from Rhegium (modern Reggio di Calabria) to Tauromenium[1]. The city was at that time still under the government of Andromachus, whose mild and equitable administration is said to have presented a strong contrast with that of the despots and tyrants of the other Sicilian cities. He welcomed Timoleon with open arms, and afforded him a secure resting place until he was enabled to carry out his plans in other parts of Sicily[2]. Andromachus was not deprived of his position of power when all the other tyrants were expelled by Timoleon, but was permitted to retain it undisturbed till his death. (Marcellin. Vit. Thucyd. § 27.) Little is known about Tauromenium for some time after this. It is probable that it passed under the authority of Agathocles, who drove the historian Timaeus into exile; and some time after this it was subject to a domestic despot of the name of Tyndarion, who was contemporary with Hicetas of Syracuse and Phintias of Agrigentum[3]. Tyndarion was one of those who concurred in inviting Pyrrhus into Sicily (278 BC), and when that monarch landed with his army at Tauromenium, joined him with all his forces, and supported him in his march upon Syracuse.[4] A few years later we find that Tauromenium had fallen into the power of Hieron of Syracuse, and was employed by him as a stronghold in the war against the Mamertines. (Id. p. 497.) It was also one of the cities which was left under his dominion by the treaty concluded with him by the Romans in 263 BC[5].

Taormina as seen from the Saracen castle overlooking the town. The Greek amphitheatre is visible in the distance.There is no doubt that Tauromenium continued to form a part of the kingdom of Syracuse until the death of Hieron, and that it only passed under the government of Rome when the whole island of Sicily was reduced to a Roman province; but we have scarcely any account of the part it took during the Second Punic War, though it would appear, from a hint in Appian[6], that it submitted to Marcellus on favorable terms; and it is probable that it was on that occasion it obtained the peculiarly favored position it enjoyed under the Roman dominion. For we learn from Cicero that Tauromenium was one of the three cities in Sicily which enjoyed the privileges of a civitas foederata or allied city, thus retaining a nominal independence, and was not even subject, like Messana, to the obligation of furnishing ships of war when called upon[7]. The city, however, suffered severe calamities during the Servile War in Sicily (134-132 BC), having fallen into the hands of the insurgent slaves, who, on account of the great strength of its position, made it one of their chief posts, and were able for a long time to defy the arms of the consul Publius Rupilius. They held out until they were reduced to the most fearful extremities by famine, when the citadel was at length betrayed into the hands of the consul by one of their leaders named Sarapion, and the whole of the survivors put to the sword[8]. Tauromenium again bore a conspicuous part during the wars of Sextus Pompeius in Sicily, and, from its strength as a fortress, was one of the principal points of the position which he took up in 36 BC, for defence against Octavian. It became the scene also of a sea-fight between a part of the fleet of Octavian, commanded by the triumvir in person, and that of Pompeius, which terminated in the defeat and almost total destruction of the former[9]. In the settlement of Sicily after the defeat of Pompey, Tauromenium was one of the places selected by Augustus to receive a Roman colony, probably as a measure of precaution, on account of the strength of its situation, as we are told that he expelled the former inhabitants to make room for his new colonists[10].Strabo speaks of it as one of the cities on the east coast of Sicily that was still subsisting in his time, though inferior in population both to Messana and Catana.[11] Both Pliny and Ptolemy assign it the rank of a colonia[12], and it seems to have been one of the few cities of Sicily that continued under the Roman Empire to be a place of some consideration. Its territory was noted for the excellence of its wine[13], and produced also a kind of marble which seems to have been highly valued.[14] Juvenal also speaks of the sea off its rocky coast as producing the choicest mullets. (Juv. v. 93.) The Itineraries place Tauromenium 32 miles from Messana, and the same distance from Catana. (Itin. Ant. p. 90; Tab. Peut.)
Middle Ages and Modern Era
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Taormina continued to be one of the more important towns of Sicily, and from the strength of its position was one of the last places that was retained by the Greek emperors; but it was taken by the Arabs in 902 after a siege of two years, and totally destroyed. Taormina was renamed "Al-Muizzia" in honour of Imam al-Muizz, who was a Fatimid Caliph. Muslim rule of the town (see History of Islam in southern Italy) lasted until 1078, when it was captured by the Norman lord Roger I.
After the fall of the Normans and of their heirs, the Hohenstaufen, Taormina followed the history of Sicily under the Angevines and then the Aragonese. In 1410 King Martin II of Sicily was elected here by the Sicilian Parliament. Later Taormina was under Spanish suzerainty, receiving the title of City in the 17th century.
In 1675 it was besieged by the French, who had occupied Messina. Under the Bourbons dynasty of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, Taormina did not have a relevant role; however, it obtained an easier access when part of the Catrabico promontory was partially cut and a seaside road connecting it to Messina and Catania was created. It received also a station on the second oldest railroad in the region. Starting from the 19th century Taormina became a popular tourist resort in the whole Europe: people who spent vacation in Taormina include Oscar Wilde, Nicholas I of Russia, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Nietzsche (who here wrote his Also sprach Zarathustra), Richard Wagner and many others.
[edit] Contemporary age
In the late 19th century Taormina gained further prominence as the place where Wilhelm von Gloeden worked most of his life as a photographer of predominantly male nudes. Also credited for making Taormina popular was Otto Geleng, best known in his hometown of Berlin for his fine paintings, which he composed and painted in Italy but exhibited in Germany. What distinguishes Geleng, however, is his choice to depict the more southern regions where he captured the spectacular views and light of Sicily. He often painted the area's Greek colonial ruins, including Taormina. Taormina's first important tourist was Johann Wolfgang Goethe who dedicated exalting pages to the city in his book entitled "Journey to Italy," but perhaps it was Geleng’s views that made its beauty talked about throughout Europe and turned the site into a famous tourist center. The artist arrived in Sicily at the age of 20 in search of new subjects for his paintings. On his way through Taormina he was so enamoured by the landscape that he decided to stop for part of the winter. Geleng began to paint everything that Taormina offered: ruins, sea, mountains, none of which were familiar to the rest of Europe. When his paintings were later exhibited in Berlin and Paris, many critics accused Geleng of having an ‘unbridled imagination’. At that, Geleng challenged them all to go to Taormina with him, promising that he would pay everyone's expenses if he were not telling the truth.
During the early 20th century the town became a colony of expatriate artists, writers, and intellectuals. D. H. Lawrence stayed here at the Fontana Vecchia from 1920 to 1922, and wrote a number of his poems, novels, short stories, and essays, and a travel book, Sea and Sardinia. Charles Webster Leadbeater, the theosophical author, found out that Taormina had the right magnetics fields for Jiddu Krishnamurti to develop his talents, so the young Krishnamurti dwelt here from time to time. Halldór Laxness, the Icelandic author, worked here on the first modern Icelandic novel, Vefarinn mikli frá Kasmír.
By this time Taormina had become "a polite synonym for Sodom" as Harold Acton described it. Later, however, after the Second World War Acton was visiting Taormina with Evelyn Waugh and, coming upon a board advertising “Ye Olde English Teas” he sighed and commented that Taormina 'was now quite as boring as Bournemouth'.
Main sights
[edit] Archaeology
The present town of Taormina occupies the ancient site, on a lofty hill which forms the last projecting point of the mountain ridge that extends along the coast from Cape Pelorus to this point. The site of the old town is about 300 m above the sea, while a very steep and almost isolated rock, crowned by a Saracen castle, rises about 150 m higher: this is undoubtedly the site of the ancient Arx or citadel, the inaccessible position of which is repeatedly alluded to by ancient writers. Portions of the ancient walls may be traced at intervals all round the brow of the hill, the whole of the summit of which was evidently occupied by the ancient city. Numerous fragments of ancient buildings are scattered over its whole surface, including extensive reservoirs of water, sepulchres, tesselated pavements, etc., and the remains of a spacious edifice, commonly called a Naumachia, but the real destination of which it is difficult to determine.

The Teatro Greco ("Greek theatre").But by far the most remarkable monument remaining at Taormina is the ancient theatre (the teatro greco, or "Greek theatre"), which is one of the most celebrated ruins in Sicily, on account both of its remarkable preservation and of the surpassing beauty of its situation. It is built for the most part of brick, and is therefore probably of Roman date, though the plan and arrangement are in accordance with those of Greek, rather than Roman, theatres; whence it is supposed that the present structure was rebuilt upon the foundations of an older theatre of the Greek period. With a diameter of 109 metres (after an expansion in the 2nd century), this theatre is the second largest of its kind in Sicily (after that of Syracuse); it is frequently used for operatic and theatrical performances and for concerts. The greater part of the original seats have disappeared, but the wall which surrounded the whole cavea is preserved, and the proscenium with the back wall of the scena and its appendages, of which only traces remain in most ancient theatres, are here preserved in singular integrity, and contribute much to the picturesque effect, as well as to the interest, of the ruin. From the fragments of architectural decorations still extant we learn that it was of the Corinthian order, and richly ornamented. Some portions of a temple are also visible, converted into the church of San Pancrazio, but the edifice is of small size.
Others
The Duomo (Cathedral), dating from the 13th century
Palazzo Corvaja (10th century)
Baroque fountain (1635)
Church of San Domenico

The Duomo dates from the 13th century
This old house in Taormina dates from the 15th century[edit] Culture and tourism
Just south of Taormina is the Isola Bella, a nature reserve; and further south, situated beside a bay, is the popular seaside resort of Giardini Naxos. Tours of the Capo Sant' Andrea grottos are also available.
The village of Taormina is perched on a cliff overlooking the Ionian sea. Besides the ancient Greek theatre, it has many old churches, lively bars, fine restaurants, and antique shops. Taormina is approximately a forty-five minute drive away from Europe's largest active volcano, Mount Etna.
Icelandic writer Halldór Laxness, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1955, wrote most of his first novel, Vefarinn mikli frá Kasmír ("The Great Weaver of Kashmir"), in Taormina which he then praised highly in his book of autobiographical essays, Skáldatími ("The Time of the Poet", 1963).
Between 1948 and 1999 the English writer Daphne Phelps lived in the Casa Cuseni designed and built by Robert Hawthorn Kitson in 1905, and entertained various friends including Bertrand Russell, Roald Dahl, and Tennessee Williams.

The spectacular Taormina panorama

Skyview from Biguglia, Haute-Corse, France. You can see westward on daylight hours.

Skyview from Biguglia, Haute-Corse

View of the weather from the village of Strathy, located along north coast of Scotland.
the Strathy Inn provides homely and comfortable bed and breakfast accommodation on the spectacular North Coast of Sutherland set within the Highlands of Scotland.
We are located only 30 minutes from Thurso and 45 minutes from Durness.

The North Coast of Sutherland is home to a countless number of beautiful sandy beaches and Strathy beach is one of the best.
Spring, summer or winter, Strathy beach is a favourite spot for holiday makers and locals. But don't be surprised if you have the beach to yourself.
Viewed from a near by hill top the Strathy Inn offers visitors a spectacular view of the North Sutherland Coast.
Whatever the weather, the North Coast of Sutherland offers visitors some of the most spectacular scenery in Scotland.
What to do on the North Coast.
cyou will find the north coast of Scotland more than meets your expectations.
Our links page contains a number of suggestions for the visitor to the north coast.
Strathy (Scottish Gaelic: Srathaidh) is a scattered community in the Highland area of Scotland.
Strathy is on the north coast of the kingdom on the A836 road some twenty miles of the west of Thurso.

View of the weather from the village of Strathy

This breathtaking view of the famous Canadian Rockies Three Sisters Mountain Range is taken facing south from Canmore, Alberta. These mountains are the inspiration for many artists.
Three Sisters (Alberta)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Three Sisters.
The Three Sisters are a trio of peaks near Canmore, Alberta, Canada. They are known individually as Big Sister, Middle Sister and Little Sister.
It was Albert Rogers, a nephew of Major Rogers, the discoverer of Rogers Pass in the Selkirk Mountains, who named the three peaks in 1883. He recalled, "There had been quite a heavy snowstorm in the night, and when we got up in the morning and looked out of the tent I noticed each of the three peaks had a heavy veil of snow on the north side and I said to the boys, 'Look at the Three Nuns.' They were called the Three Nuns for quite a while but later were called the 'Three Sisters,' more Protestant like I suppose." The name "Three Sisters" first appeared on Dr. George Dawson's map of 1886 and it is quite likely it was he who thought that the name Three Sisters would be more appropriate.

View the Three Sisters Mountain

View of the Lake Vermilion "Eagle Eye", located in Cook, Minnesota. In the 1940's the National Geographic Society declared Lake Vermilion one of the top ten most scenic lakes in the United States.
Lake Vermilion is a freshwater lake in northeastern Minnesota, United States. The Ojibwe originally called the lake Onamuni, which means "Lake of the Sunset Glow".[1] French fur traders translated this to the Latin word Vermilion, which is a red pigment. Lake Vermilion is located between the towns of Tower on the east and Cook on the west, in the heart of Minnesota's Arrowhead Region and at the northern fringe of the Mesabi Iron Range. The Vermilion Range was an area known for mining during the late 1800s and early to mid 1900s, and the Soudan Mine operated just at the eastern edge of the lake. One of the early mining families, the Pequerzinya family, has been in the area continuously since the "gold rush" of 1865-66. Mai Pequerzinya lives in the area and finds time for ice fishing during the long winter.
Lake Vermilion is known for its walleye and muskie fishing. The fish tend to spend time near humans more than fish in other lakes. In the spring of 2005, Lake Vermilion was host to the annual Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener Weekend.
The lake attracts visitors from all parts of Minnesota and the Midwestern United States, who lodge at the lake's numerous resorts and hotels. Tourists are drawn by Lake Vermilion's reputation as a fishing destination, as well as its setting in the northern Minnesota wilderness. The lake is surrounded by parts of the Superior National Forest and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).
The Minnesota DNR rates Lake Vermilion as the fifth largest lake by surface area within Minnesota borders. The surface area of Lake Vermilion is 40,557 acres (164.13 km2) or 63.37 square miles.[2]
In 2007, Governor Tim Pawlenty announced the state was negotiating the purchase from U.S. Steel of a large area of land on the eastern shore of the lake for a proposed new Minnesota state park.
The claim that "in the 1940s, the National Geographic Society declared Lake Vermilion one of the top ten most scenic lakes in the United States"[3] has been rebutted by a representative of the National Geographic Society who wrote:
There are no references in our files indicating that National Geographic magazine has said Lake Vermilion is one of the worlds [sic] most beautiful lakes. We are asked from time to time whether the National Geographic Society has ever rated lakes and sunsets as to beauty or towns as to climate. It has not generally been our policy to do so, since personal opinion plays so large a part in determining such things.
Lake Vermilion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Lake Vermilion (disambiguation).

View the Lake Vermilion

View of the Laibach Wine Estate near Stellenbosch. Enjoy the exceptional range of wines from Stellenbosch.

Laibach Vineyards

This cam shows pictures of the Moselle valley in the romantic resort Bernkastel-Kues. In the foreground is Kues to see in the background Bernkasteler Vineyards, Bernkastel, the castle ruin Landshut and Bernkasteler hostel.

MoselTalCam

These Cameras are near the lake or Ski Resorts around Lake Tahoe. Located exactly on the border of California and Nevada.
Lake Tahoe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Tahoe" redirects here. For other uses, see Tahoe (disambiguation).
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains of the United States. It is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevada. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America.[2] Its depth is 1,645 ft (501 m) making it America's second-deepest, (Crater Lake, in Oregon, being the deepest at 1945 feet (594 m) deep).[1]
The lake was formed about 2 million years ago and is a part of the Lake Tahoe Basin with the modern lake being shaped during the Ice Ages. It is known for the clarity of its water and the panorama of surrounding mountains on all sides.[3] The area surrounding the lake is also referred to as Lake Tahoe, or simply Tahoe.
Lake Tahoe is a major tourist attraction for both California and Nevada. It is home to a number of ski resorts, summer outdoor recreation, and tourist attractions. Snow and skiing are a significant part of the area's economy and reputation.[4][5] Mountain and lake scenery are attractions throughout the year. The Nevada side also includes large casinos. Highways provide year-round access from Reno, Carson City and Sacramento.
[edit] Geography

Rocky terrain is highlighted by a recent snow on US Highway 50 southwest of South Lake Tahoe.Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the U.S., with a maximum depth of 1,645 feet (501 m),[1][6] trailing only Oregon's Crater Lake at 1,949 ft (594 m).[6] Tahoe is also the 16th[7] deepest lake in the world, and the fifth deepest in average depth. It is about 22 mi (35 km) long and 12 mi (19 km) wide and has 72 mi (116 km) of shoreline and a surface area of 191 square miles (490 km2). Washoe Indians used the lake. Approximately 2/3 of the shoreline is in California.[8] The south shore is dominated by the lake's largest city, South Lake Tahoe, California, which adjoins the town of Stateline, Nevada, while Tahoe City, California is located on the lake's northwest shore. Although highways run within sight of the lake shore for much of Tahoe's perimeter, many important parts of the shoreline now lie within state parks or are protected by the United States Forest Service.
The lake situates in parts of two counties in California and three in Nevada. According the Census Bureau, it has a surface area of 496.210 km² (191.588 sq mi) distributed among these five counties in the given percentages:[9]
Placer County, California (40.961%)
El Dorado County, California (28.626%)
Douglas County, Nevada (13.207%)
Washoe County, Nevada (10.955%)
Carson City, Nevada (6.251%)
Natural history
[edit] Geology

Lake Tahoe from spaceThe Lake Tahoe Basin was formed by a geologic block (normal) faulting. A geologic block fault is a fracture in the Earth's crust causing blocks of land to move up or down. Uplifted blocks created the Carson Range on the east and the Sierra Nevada on the west. Down-dropped blocks (a graben) created the Lake Tahoe Basin in between.[1]
More technically, Lake Tahoe is the youngest of several extensional basins of the Walker Lane Deformation Belt that accommodates nearly 12 mm/yr of dextral shear between the Sierra Nevada Microplate and North America.[10][11] The Lake Tahoe basin is formed by a series of large down-to-the-east normal faults, including the West Tahoe—Dollar Point fault, Stateline/North Tahoe fault and the Incline Village fault.[12] These right-stepping en-echelon faults are capable of large magnitude 7 earthquakes, with the most recent M7 paleoquake (~1500 AD) occurring on the Incline Village fault with nearly 9.7 ft (3.0 m) of vertical offset.[13] The West Tahoe-Dollar Point Fault (WTDPF) appears to be the most active and potentially hazardous fault in the basin. A study in Fallen Leaf Lake, just south of Lake Tahoe, used seafloor mapping techniques to image evidence for paleoearthquakes on the WTDPF and revealed the last earthquake occurred between 4,100-4,500 years ago.[14]
Some of the highest peaks of the Lake Tahoe Basin that formed during process of Lake Tahoe creation are Freel Peak at 10,891 feet (3,320 m), Monument Peak at 10,067 feet (3,068 m), Pyramid Peak at 9,983 feet (3,043 m) (in the Desolation Wilderness), and Mount Tallac at 9,735 feet (2,967 m).[1]
Eruptions from the extinct volcano Mount Pluto formed a dam on the north side. Melting snow filled the southern and lowest part of the basin to form the ancestral Lake Tahoe. Rain and runoff added additional water.[15]
Modern Lake Tahoe was shaped and landscaped by scouring glaciers during the Ice Ages, which began a million or more years ago. Lake Tahoe is fed from 63 tributaries with the Truckee River as the only outlet.[2] The Truckee flows northeast through Reno, Nevada and into Pyramid Lake, Nevada which has no outlet.
Soils of the basin come primarily from andesitic volcanic rocks and granodiorite, with minor areas of metamorphic rock. Some of the valley bottoms and lower hill slopes are mantled with glacial moraines, or glacial outwash material derived from the parent rock. Cryopsamments, Cryumbrepts, rockland, rock outcrops and rubble and stony colluvium account for over 70% of the land area in the basin (see USA soil taxonomy). The basin soils (in the < 2 mm fraction) are generally 65-85% sand (0.05–2.0 mm).
Given the great depth of Lake Tahoe, and the locations of the normal faults within the deepest portions of the lake, modeling suggests that earthquakes on these faults can trigger tsunamis. Wave heights of these tsunamis are predicted to be on the order of 10 to 33 ft (3 to 10 m) in height, capable of traversing the lake in just a few minutes.[16] A massive collapse of the western edge of the basin that formed McKinney Bay around 50,000 years ago is thought to have generated tsunami/seiche wave with height approaching 330 ft (100 m).[17]
Climate

Fallen Leaf Lake and Lake Tahoe in background from Angora Ridge Rd. to the Angora Lakes ResortMean annual precipitation ranges from over 55 in (1,400 mm) in watersheds on the west side of the basin to about 26 inches (660 mm) near the lake on the east side of the basin. Most of the precipitation falls as snow between November and April, although rainstorms combined with rapid snow melt account for the largest floods. There is a pronounced annual runoff of snowmelt in late spring and early summer, the timing of which varies from year to year. In some years, summertime monsoon storms from the Great Basin bring intense rainfall, especially to high elevations on the east side of the basin.
August is normally the warmest month at the Lake Tahoe Airport (elevation 6,254 ft (1,906 m)) with an average maximum of 78.7 °F (25.9 °C) and an average minimum of 39.8 °F (4.3 °C). January is the coolest month with an average maximum of 41.0 °F (5.0 °C) and an average minimum of 15.1 °F (-9.4 °C). The all-time maximum of 99 °F (37.2 °C) was recorded on July 22, 1988. The all-time minimum of -29 °F (-33.9 °C) was recorded on December 9, 1972, and February 7, 1989. Temperatures exceed 90 °F (32.2 °C) on an average of 2.0 days annually. Minimum temperatures of 32 °F (0 °C) or lower occur on an average of 231.8 days annually, and minimum temperatures of 0 °F (-17.8 °C) or lower occur on an average of 7.6 days annually. Freezing temperatures have occurred every month of the year.[18][19]
[edit] Ecology
Vegetation in the basin is dominated by a mixed conifer forest of Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi), lodgepole pine (P. contorta), white fir (Abies concolor), and red fir (A. magnifica).[20] The basin also contains significant areas of wet meadows and riparian areas, dry meadows, brush fields (with Arctostaphylos and Ceanothus) and rock outcrop areas, especially at higher elevations. Ceanothus is capable of fixing nitrogen, but mountain alder (Alnus tenuifolia), which grows along many of the basin’s streams, springs and seeps, fixes far greater quantities, and contributes measurably to nitrate-N concentrations in some small streams.
Beaver (Castor canadensis) were re-introduced to the Tahoe Basin by the California Department of Fish and Game and the U. S. Forest Service between 1934 and 1949. Descended from no more than nine individuals, 1987 beaver populations on the upper and lower Truckee River had reached a density of 0.72 colonies (3.5 beavers) per kilometer.[21] Despite controversy that beaver are not native to the area, the historic range of beaver included all areas of the United States, excepting southern Florida, and even reached the deserts bordering Mexico on the Rio Grande and Colorado Rivers.[22] Until recently, beaver were considered pests who caused flooding and impaired the passage of spawning trout and salmon. However, water levels in beaver dams can be easily controlled with flow devices;[23] and it has been shown that trout and salmon move freely across beaver dams.[24] In spite of the published literature, all of the beaver dams in Taylor Creek, which flows from Fallen Leaf Lake to Lake Tahoe, are destroyed annually each fall by the U. S. Forest Service in order for Kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) to spawn. A recent study of Taylor Creek showed that the beaver dam removal decreased wetland habitat, increased stream flow, and increased total phosphorus pollutants entering Lake Tahoe - all factors which negatively impact the clarity of the lake's water.[25] In addition, beaver dams located in Ward Creek, located on the west shore of Lake Tahoe, were also shown to decrease nutrients and sediments traveling downstream (United States Geologic Survey 2002). Beavers increase wetland areas which trap sediments and improve water quality. The presence of beaver dams has also been shown to either increase the number of fish, their size, or both, including a study of brook, rainbow and brown trout in Sagehen Creek, which flows into the Little Truckee River at an altitude of 5,800 feet and is a stream typical of the eastern slope of the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains.[26] Unfortunately, in November, 2009 a beaver family was caught in snares underwater and drowned in a King's Beach, California stream when Placer County Fish and Game ordered their removal for fear that the beaver would cause flooding.[27]
Human history
[edit] Native people
The area around Lake Tahoe was originally inhabited by the Washoe tribe of Native Americans. Lake Tahoe was the center and heart of Washoe Indian territory, including the upper valleys of the Walker, Carson, and Truckee Rivers. The English name for Lake Tahoe derives from the Washo dá’aw, "lake".[28]
[edit] Exploration
Lt. John C. Frémont was the first person of European descent to see Lake Tahoe, during Fremont's second exploratory expedition on February 14. 1844.[29] John Calhoun Johnson, Sierra explorer and founder of "Johnson's Cutoff" (now U.S. Route 50), was the first white man to see Meeks Bay and from a peak above the lake he named Fallen Leaf Lake after his Indian guide. His first job in the west was in the government service, carrying the mail on snowshoes from Placerville to Nevada City, during which time he named the lake "Lake Bigler" in honor of California’s third governor John Bigler. In 1853 William Eddy, the surveyor general of California, identified Tahoe as Lake Bigler. In 1862 the U.S. Department of the Interior first introduced the name Tahoe. Both names were used until well into the next century. The lake didn't receive its official and final designation as Lake Tahoe until 1945.
California and Nevada reached the compromise to partition Tahoe between the two when Nevada became a state in 1864. With the state line east of the approximate centerline of the lake and then at 39 degrees north latitude, the state border runs southeasterly towards the Colorado River.[30][31]
[edit] Mining era

Boat at Lake TahoeUpon discovery of gold in the South Fork of the American River in 1848, thousands of gold seekers going west passed near the basin on their way to the gold fields. European civilization first made its mark in the Lake Tahoe basin with the 1858 discovery of the Comstock Lode, a silver deposit just 15 miles (24 km) to the east in Virginia City, Nevada. From 1858 until about 1890, logging in the basin supplied large timbers to shore up the underground workings of the Comstock mines. The logging was so extensive that loggers cut down almost all of the native forest. In 1864, Tahoe City was founded as a resort community for Virginia City, the first recognition of the basin’s potential as a destination resort area.[32]
[edit] Development
Public appreciation of the Tahoe basin grew, and during the 1912, 1913, and 1918 congressional sessions, congressmen tried unsuccessfully to designate the basin as a national park.[32]
While Lake Tahoe is a natural lake, it is also used for water storage by the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District (TCID). The lake level is controlled by a dam built in 1913 at the lake's only outlet, the Truckee River, at Tahoe City. The 18-foot (5.5 m) high dam can increase the lake's capacity by 744,600 acre·ft (0.9185 km3).[33]
During the first half of the 20th century, development around the lake consisted of a few vacation homes. The post-World War II population and building boom, followed by construction of gambling casinos in the Nevada part of the basin during the mid-1950s, and completion of the interstate highway links for the 1960 Winter Olympics held at Squaw Valley, resulted in a dramatic increase in development within the basin. From 1960 to 1980, the permanent residential population increased from about 10,000 to greater than 50,000, and the summer population grew from about 10,000 to about 90,000.[32] Since the 1980s, development has slowed due to controls on land use.
Government and politics
Lake Tahoe lies within the borders of both California and Nevada, and as such is not governed by any single entity. In California, Lake Tahoe is divided between Placer County and El Dorado County. In Nevada, Lake Tahoe is divided among Washoe County, Douglas County and Carson City (an independent city).
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) is a bi-state compact between California and Nevada, that is charged with environmental protection of the Lake Tahoe Basin through land-use regulation and planning.[34]
[edit] Mansions
Lake Tahoe is also the location of several 19th and 20th century palatial homes of historical significance. The Thunderbird Lodge built by George Whittel Jr once included nearly 27 miles of the Nevada shoreline. Vikingsholm was the original settlement on Emerald Bay and included an island teahouse and a 38 room home. The Ehrman Mansion is a summer home built by a former Wells Fargo president in Sugar Pine Point and is now a state park.
Environmental issues
Water quality

Secret Beach on Lake Tahoe's Nevada sideIn spite of land-use planning and export of treated sewage effluent from the basin, the lake is becoming increasingly eutrophic (having an excessive richness of nutrients), with primary productivity increasing by more than 5% annually, and clarity decreasing at an average rate of 0.25 meters per year. Until the early 1980s, nutrient-limitation studies showed that primary productivity in the lake was nitrogen-limited. Now, after a half-century of accelerated nitrogen input (much of it from direct atmospheric deposition), the lake is phosphorus-limited.
Test results over the last eight years have shown a stabilization in lake clarity, announced the Lake Tahoe Research Group in March 2009. Fine sediment, much of it resulting from land disturbance in the basin, accounts for about half of the loss in clarity. Charles Goldman from UC Davis was directly responsible for prompting Tahoe officials to pump all sewage effluent from the basin when Tahoe was being greatly developed in the 1950s. Goldman made local officials understand that even treated sewage would greatly affect the water quality of Lake Tahoe.[35]
Lake Tahoe is a tributary watershed drainage element within the Truckee River Basin, and its sole outlet is the Truckee River, which continues on to discharge to Pyramid Lake. Because of the sensitivity of Truckee River water quality (involving two protected species, the cui-ui[36] sucker fish and the Lahontan cutthroat trout), this drainage basin has been studied extensively. The primary investigations were stimulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who funded the development of the DSSAM model to analyze water quality below Lake Tahoe.
Lake Tahoe never freezes.[37] Since 1970, it has mixed to a depth of at least 1,300 ft (400 m) a total of 6 or 7 times. Dissolved oxygen is relatively high from top to bottom. Analysis of the temperature records in Lake Tahoe has shown that the lake warmed (between 1969 and 2002) at an average rate of 0.015 °C per year. The warming is caused primarily by increasing air temperatures, and secondarily by increasing downward long-wave radiation. The warming trend is reducing the frequency of deep mixing in the lake, and may have important effects on water clarity and nutrient cycling.
[edit] Ecosystem changes
Since the 1960s, the Lake's food web and zooplankton populations have undergone major changes. In 1963–65, opossum shrimp (Mysis relicta) were introduced to enhance the food supply for the introduced Kokanee salmon (Onchorhynchus nerka). The shrimp began feeding on the lake's cladocerans (Daphnia and Bosmina), and their populations virtually disappeared by 1971.[38] The shrimp provide a food resource for salmon and trout, but also compete with juvenile fish for zooplankton. Since the 1970s, the cladoceran populations have somewhat recovered, but not to former levels.
In June 2007, the Angora Fire burned approximately 3,100 acres (1,300 ha) throughout the South Lake Tahoe area. While the impact of ash on the lake's ecosystem is predicted to be minimal, the impact of potential future erosion is not yet known.[39]
Environmental protection
Until recently, construction on the banks of the Lake had been largely under the control of wealthy real estate developers. Construction activities have resulted in a clouding of the lake's blue waters. Currently, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is regulating construction along the shoreline.[40] (and has won two Federal Supreme Court battles over recent decisions). These regulations are unpopular with many residents, especially those in the Tahoe Lakefront Homeowners Association.[citation needed]

Emerald Bay, Lake TahoeThe League to Save Lake Tahoe (Keep Tahoe Blue) has been the public interest watchdog in the Lake Tahoe Basin for 50 years. Founded when a proposal to build a four-lane highway around the lake—with a bridge over the entrance to Emerald Bay—was proposed in 1957, the League has thwarted poorly designed development projects and environmentally unsound planning. Currently evaluating the "Pathways 2007" comprehensive plan being developed by TRPA, the League embraces responsible and diversified use of the Lake's resources while protecting and restoring its natural attributes.[41]
Since 1980, the Lake Tahoe Interagency Monitoring Program (LTIMP) has been measuring stream discharge and concentrations of nutrients and sediment in up to 10 tributary streams in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California-Nevada. The objectives of the LTIMP are to acquire and disseminate the water quality information necessary to support science-based environmental planning and decision making in the basin. The LTIMP is a cooperative program with support from 12 federal and state agencies with interests in the Tahoe Basin. This data set, together with more recently acquired data on urban runoff water quality, is being used by the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board to develop a program (mandated by the Clean Water Act) to limit the flux of nutrients and fine sediment to the Lake.
Water sports
During late Spring to early Fall, the lake is popular for water sports and beach activities. The two cities most identified with the Lake Tahoe tourist area are South Lake Tahoe, California and the smaller Stateline; smaller centers on the northern shoreline include Tahoe City and Kings Beach.
Boating is a primary activity in Tahoe in the summer. There are lake front restaurants all over the lake, most equipped with docks and buoys (See the restaurants section). There are all sorts of boating events, such as sailboat racing, firework shows over the lake, guided cruises, and more. As an interstate waterway, Lake Tahoe is subject to the United States Coast Guard. Lake Tahoe is home to Coast Guard Station Lake Tahoe.[42]
SCUBA diving is popular at Lake Tahoe, with some dive sites offering dramatic drop-offs or wall dives. Diving at Lake Tahoe is considered advanced due to the increased risk of decompression sickness (DCS) while diving at such a high altitude.[43][44]
[edit] Hiking and bicycling

view from the Tahoe Rim TrailThere are hundreds of hiking and mountain biking trails all around the lake. They range in length, difficulty, and popularity. One of the most famous of Tahoe's trails is the Tahoe Rim Trail, a 165 mile (270 km) trail that circumnavigates the lake. Directly to the west of the lake is the Granite Chief Wilderness, which provides great hiking and wilderness camping. Also, to the southwest is the very popular Desolation Wilderness. One of the most popular trailheads is the Eagle Lake Trailhead. There are also several paved off-road bicycle paths.
Highways
Visitors can reach Lake Tahoe under ideal conditions within 2 hours from the Sacramento area, 1 hour from Reno or 30 minutes from Carson City. In winter months, chains or snow tires are often necessary to reach Tahoe from any direction. Traffic can be heavy on weekends due to tourists if not also from weather.
The primary routes to Lake Tahoe are on Interstate 80 via Truckee, US Highway 50 via South Lake Tahoe and Nevada Highway 431 via Incline Village. All of the highways accessing and encircling Lake Tahoe are paved 2-lane mountain roads. US 50 traverses part of the eastern shore of the lake.
California Highway 89 follows the western shore of the lake through the picturesque wilderness and connects camping, fishing and hiking locations such as those at Emerald Bay State Park, DL Bliss State Park and Camp Richardson. Farther along are communities such as Meeks Bay and Tahoe City. Finally, the highway turns away from the lake and heads northwest toward Truckee.
California Highway 28 completes the circuit from Tahoe City around the northern shore to communities such as Kings Beach, Crystal Bay, and into Incline Village, Nevada where the road becomes Nevada Highway 28. Highway 28 returns along the eastern shore to US Highway 50 near Spooner Lake.
[edit] In the media
The Ponderosa Ranch of the TV series Bonanza was formerly located on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.[45] The opening sequence of the TV series was filmed at the McFaul Creek Meadow, with Mount Tallac in the background. In September 2004 the Ponderosa Ranch closed its doors, after being sold to developer David Duffield for an undisclosed price.[46]
In the motion picture The Godfather Part II, the Corleone family lived in a compound on the shores of the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe. In a famous scene from the final minutes of the film, Fredo Corleone is taken out onto the lake for a fishing trip, only to be executed for treachery, on the orders of his brother Michael (Al Pacino), who watches from the shore. The house and grounds portrayed in the film are actually located on the California side of Lake Tahoe: Fleur du Lac, the summer estate of Henry J. Kaiser. The only structures used in the movie that still remain are the complex of old native stone boathouses with their wrought iron gates. Although Fleur du Lac is private property and no one is allowed ashore there, the boathouses and multi-million dollar condominiums are easily viewed from the lake.
Most of the film Smoking Aces was filmed In South Lake Tahoe and Stateline. Many of the hotels and casinos are visible in the film with their older names. The climactic scenes of the 1987 Charles Bronson film Assassination were filmed around and on Lake Tahoe. Tahoe features prominently in the plot of the noir classic Out of the Past. Both The Bodyguard and City Of Angels filmed their climactic scenes at and around Lake Tahoe and the surrounding Fallen Leaf Lake (California). Meg Ryan's bike-riding scene prominently features Lake Tahoe in the background.
The British TV program Top Gear filmed at Lake Tahoe in Episode 2 of Series 12 in 2008.

View the Lake Tahoe

View from the Annelies hotel on the Sheikh peak (2667m) and the Guttenberghaus Alpine. Ramsau am Dachstein is a municipality in the district of Liezen, province of Styria, Austria.
Ramsau am Dachstein
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ramsau am Dachstein is a municipality in the district of Liezen, state of Styria, Austria. It is also the name of the elevated plateau between the Dachstein range and the Enns valley on which this municipality is located.
The appendage am Dachstein is added to distinguish the municipality from others of the same name existing in Austria. It is usually omitted in common speech.
Geography
Ramsau am Dachstain is situated between the Dachstein range of mountains in the north and the Enns valley in the south. While the Dachstein range contains peaks up to 2,995 m (9,826 ft) and the towns of the Enns vally, such as Schladming, lie at around 700 m (2,300 ft) above sea level, the Ramsau plateau is a comparatively level piece of land at an elevation of around 1,100 m (3,600 ft). Towards the north, some hills at the foot of the mountain range rise up to 1,700 m (5,600 ft). At approximately 75 km² (29 sq mi), the plateau is an exceptional geological feature in the rugged terrain of the Alps which is more usually characterized by high mountain ranges and narrow valleys.
The municipality of Ramsau am Dachstein is made up of several smaller towns, namely Leiten, Rössing, Ramsau, Schildlehen, Vorberg and Hirzegg. Owing to their position on a plateau, the settlements are more spread out than in a typical Alpine valley. The overall population of the municipality was recorded as 2,701 in the 2001 census.
[edit] History
The name Ramsau was first recorded as Ramsowe in a document dated to around 1120 AD. Important landowners during the feudal period and beyond were the abbeys of Admont and St. Peter's. After the events of the Reformation and the Counter-reformation of the 16th century, the relatively secluded Ramsau emerged as one of the few thoroughly Protestant communities in Austria; something which it remains to this day. As early as the 15th century, the area established a tradition in the manufacture of loden, a thick cloth used in the traditional dress of the wider region. With the advent of commercial tourism in the late 19th century the area gained another steady source of income.
[edit] Tourism and sports
Due to its exceptional geography of relatively flat terrain at a high elevation, the Ramsau plateau has developed as a major center for cross-country skiing. Owing to the historically close connection of cross-country skiing and ski jumping (cf. Nordic sports), several ski jumps were erected in the region in the 20th century. The excellence of the Nordic venues of Ramsau am Dachstein was recognized by FIS when it awarded the region the 1999 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. There are also several smaller lifts for Alpine skiing along the hills on the north side of the plateau. In addition, Ramsau hosts the base station of the cable car leading up to the Dachstein glacier. On top of the Dachstein, there is a year-round resort for Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, and snowboarding.

View from the Annelies hotel on the Sheikh peak (2667m) and the Guttenberghaus Alpine

Panoramic view from the restaurant of the Hotel Nettuno on the Adriatic coast, located in Pesaro, Italy.
Se stavate pensando alle coste italiane, l'Hotel Nettuno di Pesaro, è sul mare, e potrebbe fare al caso vostro. La città offre diverse attrazioni turistiche nonché un programma culturale che spazia dal Rossini Opera Festival fino alla Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema, con proiezioni serali sottotitolate nella piazza principale del grazioso centro storico.

L'Hotel Nettuno si trova a pochi passi da una spiaggia sabbiosa. Accanto all'edificio, sul lungomare, troverete diversi negozi, bar e ristoranti, e l'hotel 3 stelle offre gratuitamente delle biciclette per esplorare i suoi dintorni. Tra i servizi dell'albergo, gli ospiti troveranno bar, sala TV, sala riunioni capace di ospitare fino a 20 persone, piscina privata e piscina per bambini, sala giochi interna e spazio attrezzato esterno per bambini, che faranno dell'Hotel Nettuno di Pesaro un posto ideale per le vostre vacanze in famiglia sull'Adriatico. Gli ospiti possono anche provare il ristorante panoramico dell'hotel, situato all'ultimo piano, specializzato nella rinomata cucina locale e interamente climatizzato. L'Hotel Nettuno vanta anche un Internet Point, e la connessione Internet wireless nelle parti comuni dell'edificio.

View the Pesaro Hotel Nettuno

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