Monday, November 20, 2006
Crary Lab Touch Tank
I just returned from an adventure in Crary Lab (once the most expensive building in the world per square foot), the most important building in McMurdo and named after Albert P. Crary, the first man to reach both poles. The adventure was a visit to the Touch Tank, a tank of Antarctic sea creatures that anyone can go in and touch.First, we made a stop at the J-Crib, Jesse the janitor's main jan-O closet. Him and his co-worker Nick made a fake aquarium in it. This first sign is modeled after the sign on the door to the Holding Tank room where the Touch Tank is located.
This is a photo looking down the main hallway at Crary Lab. There is a ramp on the right and a set of stairs on the left.
Entering the Holding Tanks Room - the sign I mentioned before.
These fish were not in the Touch Tank, but I took a photo of them anyways.
I loved this curly starfish!
Little, teeny-tiny starfish
Medium-sized starfish
Large and in charge starfish
Other side of the large starfish
Me poking at things in the tank - the water was SO COLD!!
A sea slug - love the bright color. Who would've thought that these things lived in the extremely frigid waters of Antarctica? I thought they'd all be grey and brown and ugly-colored.
This was my natural reaction when I picked up this squirmy cockroach-looking-thingy. It was the only thing that really moved when you took it out of the tank.
A sea spider
A sea urchin on the filter in the tank. It was spiky.
Walking back up the hallway of Crary.
Half-way up, there is a sign posted in one of the windows. The sign commemorates a snow drift named after Mike Ebel, a friend of a friend's that I sometimes sit with at dinner. He's worked something like 17 seasons on the Ice. I joke that you have to die here before they will name anything after you, but I see the good people of Crary Lab have named this after Mike. What an honor! :)
The Ebel Drift
Erin with Ana Bell behind her in the main entrance of Crary.
Hope you enjoyed the photos!!
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Hey girl! I'm reading & enjoying! Sometimes I check everyday, but like this past week - things get crazy & then I have to play catch up. I hope all is well with you. You look GREAT. Take care!! Love you
You can ride a rolling chair all the way from top to bottom of the Crary ramp in approximately 10 seconds, but you have to stick the landing after the second phase.