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| So many Bikes! |
Hello family, friends and followers.. If you haven't already heard I have made my way back down to the ice. Lacking fear of the unknown this time, my journey from Grand Rapids down to Antarctica was quite entertaining and, dare I say it, incredibly fun! Lucky for me, I have some good friends living in Denver that I was able to meet up with both nights I was there. One of the nights I even participated in the "Denver Cruisers". What is that you ask? Well, a group of us rode our bikes (I borrowed one) about 4 miles into downtown Denver, where we met up with hundreds of other cyclists at the Pepsi Center circle. Actually, there was a bar that everyone met at, that happened to be right at the circle. I was amazed at how many bikes were there! Each week in the summer Denver Cruisers has a theme where you have to dress up. The theme the night I went was"Snow bunnies". So there were hundreds of people on bicycles dressed up at crazy skiers from the 90's or actually bunnies. Some people even attached big boom boxes to burleys or wagons on the back of their bikes. From there, someone leads the pack and you do a little bar hopping. There is just something incredible about seeing hundreds of people dressed up, on bikes, rocking out to music, riding through the streets of Denver. Unfortunately, due to having to wake up at 6 a.m. the next morning I was unable to participate in the full event, but we rode about 14 miles or so.
As for orientation, it was the exact same spiel as last year. In fact, even the same power point presentations. While on our six hour layover in L.A, I ended up making a few friends, walking past Sinbad, and helped manage to get the attention of the whole terminal whilst entertaining ourselves. We decided that to occupy some of our time we would try to pick up a piece of standing folded paper with our mouths, all the while, standing on one foot, squatting, and hands behind our backs. Needless to say, all eyes turned to the Raytheon group and people even applauded when someone actually was able to do it.
From L.A we flew to Auckland, then on down to Christchuch. Christchurch is a broken city from all of the earthquakes that have happened over the year. The city center was completely closed and random buildings were either removed completely or damaged severely. Many churches have walls missing and steeples sitting on blocks next to the church. I found that the Kiwis are quite open to talk about their experiences about the major earthquake that happened last February. My heart just ached with the pain that many of them went through.
On a brighter note, the Botanical Gardens were beautiful! My friend Spring and I even went paddling, or punting as they call it, up and down the river through the gardens.
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| Its like the Secret Garden! |
The following day I was up at 3 a.m. to catch a 3:45 Shuttle to the International Antarctic Center to prepare for our flight to the ice, which, to my luck, was put on weather delay until 9 a.m. Then at 9 we found out it was a 24 hour weather delay, meaning an extra day of fun and exploring in Christchuch. My friends and I went to a local brewery and then made our way to Sumner beach where we enjoyed Indian take out seaside on the rocks :)
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| New Friends Zach, Spring, and Lisa loving life at The Tannery Brewery |
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| Sumner Beach |
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| Spring and I |
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| Instant friends :) |
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We decided to put our feet in the sea only to come across this
sign after |
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| That's me walking into the Terminal :) |
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| First class for the 2nd time in my life :) |
The next day, for round 2, the weather was beautiful. I'm not sure how I managed it, but I flew first class from Christchurch to McMurdo. Life on the ice is the same as it was when I left. In fact, after a few days in, it felt like I never left. It’s been great being reunited with old friends, and even more great meeting new friends. I have found myself being a social butterfly, which is actually quite exhausting. If you can believe it, I actually went out to one of the local bars on a Wednesday night to watch a live band. That night consisted of a lot of dancing and singing. It’s amazing how many talented people I walk among. I have also been attending weekly yoga and boxing classes, with the occasional run here and there. Life is so convenient down here. As far as work goes, it’s been a little rough in the shuttle world with so much training and refreshing. I'm ready to start 12 hour shifts and get a good routine down. As of now, we are stilling waiting for about ½ of the Shuttle crew to still come in.
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| I got my bunny boots on ready to get to the ice |
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| Ross Island... McMurdo is behind the Mountain on the right |
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| Reunited and it feels so good :) |
My living situation is so much better this year than last. I started out in building 155, the same as last year, but now just moved to a new building called Mammoth Mountain Inn, but known around Mcmurdo as MMI. It’s a lot smaller, but I have only one roommate, instead of the 4, whom I am good friends with
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| My roommate Lisa |
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| So much snow! |
Since being here most things have been the same, but some have changed. Because the sea ice pretty much completely melted out last year there is about an 8-10 feet (I think that’s what I heard, it’s hard to tell from a distance) difference in height between the permanent ice and the sea ice. Because the sea ice is so “young”, there has been a lot of movement and a lot of cracks. This has resulted in the Sea Ice Runway to be moved to a different location, closer to the permanent ice. Also, with so much movement and cracks all trips out to Cape Evans and the Ice Caves will most likely not be an option this year, which is a huge bummer.
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| from left to right I'm driving the 2nd vehicle |
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So much snow the steps going up to my work
building had to be dug out |
Well, that’s about all for now. Once the station is fully up and running for the summer I will have much more interesting updates. I must say that I am thoroughly pleased with my decision to come back down to the ice. I have a good feeling it’s going to be an Awesome season! Much Love!
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| Beautiful Antarctic sunset over the Royal Society Mountains |
