The Loch Ness Monster sometimes called "Nessie" or "Ness" is a mysterious and unidentified animal or group of creatures said to live in Loch Ness, a large deep freshwater loch near the city of Inverness in northern Scotland. Nessie is usually categorized as a type of lake monster. The first recorded modern sighting occurred on May 2, 1933. The newspaper Inverness Courier carried a story of Mr. and Mrs. John Mackay, who reportedly saw "an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface." It started a great tourist business.  Visitors arrive hoping to see this creature.  Even more valuable, wealthy explorers and adventurers arrived with mountains of scientific equipment to search for the monster in a scientific way. Even the National Geographic Society mounted an expedition in the 1970's to search the loch with sonar and underwater cameras.  They came up empty handed, but obtained some beautiful pictures showing the loch and surrounding area. None of the investigators have ever found anything conclusive, but their books, movies, and reports provide the basis for almost two million web pages reporting on some aspect of the Loch Ness Monster.  It doesn't hurt that the Loch Ness area of Scotland is very pretty.  It is so large that it actually forms a flyway for birds migrating from the Atlantic ocean to the North Sea.  If some of those cameras with the huge telescopic lenses had been used to take bird pictures the investigators might have returned with at least something of interest.  Looking at pictures of the Loch Ness area you can see the climate is very moist but also very cold.  Scotland is quite far north and in many ways the vegetation resembles that of alpine tundra elsewhere.  The country is very rugged and includes the tallest mountain in Great Britain at 4,400 feet.  It is clear that in a drive around the lake you would be able to collect many forest pictures.  If you timed your visit properly you cloud get sunset pictures across the Loch.  The early risers could no doubt obtain sunrise pictures.  For the determined, with a little luck, could probably also obtain great cloud pictures as storms and weather blow across the Loch.