T at the Bottom of the World: Antarctica: 2012

Day 74 -December 23rd

December 23^rd – Day 74

The VMF Christmas party is tonight. I volunteered to photograph it. The party started a little slow, but when the dancing started…..

Even though I was “working”, I enjoyed watching my friends get crazy! I laughed a lot- mostly AT them.

My roommate Tressa and her boyfriend Otto

Hi Alysa

Lisa, Queen, Dacre ,Dave

Luke, Twan, Queen,?, Craig

Lisa nad Craig

Tressa

Mel and Danny

Spring and Tricia

Alysa and I

Alysa and Dacre

Cindy and Joe

Mike thanking me for taking Pix

The Live Nativity Matt, Baby Burke and Tavo

Hilary and Danny

A-T-O !!!

Alysa, Me and Cindy

Me and Nate

Me and Jeff

When VMF opened the big overhead doors at midnight, hoping everyone would take the hint and leave or realize the party was supposed to be over and go home. What does ATO do? Move the dance party outside to the parking lot. It was a sunny night and kinda warm out, so it became a ‘shirts off dance off’ until 2am. Too funny and a great time!!

Day 72- December 21st

December 21^st – Day 72

I love the Christmas song “O Holy Night”. It made me miss Christmas cantatas and Christmas Eve Service and their soloists.

I saw Collin in the Galley and asked him if he knew how to play it on his violin. He said he did and that a matter of fact, he was accompanying a soloist (Kate) at the Waste Barn Christmas concert.

I shared with him my excitement and told him it was my favorite and how homesick I was.

I was definitely going to the concert now regardless of how late it would be and I needing to be up for work the next morning.

Collin is an amazing violinist who is from Fairbanks. He did a set with Tim who played guitar and ukulele. Then he accompanied Kate who before she sang “O Holy Night”, gave me a shout out and dedicated it to me. So Sweet of Collin to ask her to do that! I of course was bawling my eyes out at this point.

Because of the how genuinely caring and thoughtful my new friends are, I feel a little better now, a little less homesick and a lot more Christmas Spirit. There are so many wonderful people here. I feel privileged to know them.

Day 71 - December 20th

December 20^th – Day 71

It’s Christen’s birthday! Jamie and Talia decorated her corner and had a tiny cake made for her and I brought her a mocha coffee from the coffee house.

Day 68 and Day 70- December 17th and 19th

December 17th – Day 68

Got an awesome box from Mom and Dad with Hickory Farms and assorted nuts and dried fruits!! Yummmy!

December 19^th – Day 70

Got an awesome box from Jerry! Gardettos, coffee, chocolates and several cured meat products!!

I am in snack heaven now!

Day 66 -December 15th

December 15^th -Day 66

Hung out at the coffee house with Tim, Alysa, Jeff and Cindy. I needed to unwind after a very busy day. It was just Tom and I and even he admitted to it being extremely busy.

Note: No pic of Jeff. Don't know why.

Days 62 thru 64- December 11th-13th

December 11^th-13^th – Day 62, 63, 64

I am off Sunday, Monday and Tuesday while I transition back to day shift.

A new roommate named Morgan moved in. She seems very nice. Much more considerate than the last roommates we had.

Tuesday the theater played “Love Actually”. A bunch of us transitioners watched it together.

I worked in the library a lot and hung in the coffee house the rest of the time.

Transition complete. I only wish I wanted to work on days. I loved nights, but at least all the same team switches.

Day 61 December 10th-- Pressure Rige Tour

December 10^th – Day 61

Today I hiked the Pressure Ridges off Scott Base. They are amazingly beautiful. Shuttle Shelly and her husband Veto were the tour guides.

Veto led while Shelly brought up the rear. She stayed with me and took pix of me for me.

Weddell seals were pretty close to the trail. The closest one kept lifting his head looking at us as if to say “What is going ON here? I’m trying to take nap.” It kept wiggling to turn its back on us. It made big, obvious yawns hoping we’d all catch a clue and go away.

The pressure ridges are chunks of sea ice that have shifted and pushed up against the shoreline causing them to crumple up and make giant sculpture like formations.

Day 57 - December 6th '11

December 6^th – Day 57

My friend Joe is a Scott Hut tour guide. He has a key so that he can show people inside to the past. 100 years of history in one small building. It’s a 1 mile roundtrip walk

The hut was amazing. It was originally a prefab building designed in Australia to keep the interior cooler inside than the searing heat of the Outback. Unfortunately for Scott, it worked all too well exactly like that. It kept the inside even colder than the outside. When in Antarctica, that’s not a good thing.

I was in awe that I was looking at things from a period of time that had been written about, studied, journaled and immortalized in history.

There was a mummified seal that has laid outside the hut for over 100 years, intended for food and fuel for fire. Inside there were remains of a seal carcass on a makeshift hearth. Sheep/mutton carcasses to be thrown to the dogs in the yard, still hung in the attached shed. Pants still hung to dry; boxes of dog biscuits and cans of food sat stacked and shelved throughout. At one point during a winter spent in Antarctica, snow had filled most of the hut from an open window. When the explorers made it to the hut, they only dug out a space big enough for the three of them and the hearth. They practically starved to death except for an occasional seal or penguin, while all the while, canned food were stacked 2 feet behind them buried in snow.

The walls were covered with black soot from burning seal blubber inside and hay was still in the doorway for the ponies that used to be stabled there. Very cool!