Currently Tasha and Bernd are stationed up in Fort Drum, New York.  Ft. Drum is co-located with a small post-industrial town called Watertown, located in upstate New York about five miles east of Lake Ontario and 35 miles south of the Canadian border.  For a picture, click here.  We are definitely not here by choice.  We would both much rather be down south where it is warm and sunny and where both of us have our extended families.  We have been here for about three years, having been stationed here following Bernd's completion of flight school.  This area is famous for its "lake effect snow".  We receive more than our fair share because of the moist air that rolls off the great lakes.  This year we have had 190 inches!  While it is nice to have a white Christmas, after about a day the sand from the road crews covers everything and it all just begins to look like piles of mud everywhere.  Not to mention, it is easy to lose things.  Last year we put a trash can out on trash day and did not find it until spring five months later!  To be quite honest, Tasha could not care less if she never saw another snow flake again for the rest of her life.

Nearby are the Adirondack Mountains and state park, and it is very pretty in the fall, when all the leaves change.  We have not done as much exploring as we should.  To the south and west is the Finger Lakes region, a series of glacial lakes that extend for dozens of miles north to south, but are very narrow.  The region is famous for its wines, and Tasha and I can attest that they are indeed very good!

Note: Click on the images for larger pictures.

Below are some pictures of our home, somewhere in the snow!