Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Today's Weather
This was our weather report at noon today. It's now after 5pm and much, much colder. The nacreous clouds are out in full force again too.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Back in MCM!
Hello folks!I'm back in McMurdo after two days of delays! Feels good to be home! Don't worry, Mom. Your place is always home to me, but it's YOUR home. More than any other place, McMurdo feels like my home. I've spent more time here in the past three years than I have anywhere else.
Anyways... we arrived in Christchurch (Chch) on the 18th of August, and I met up with Alissa that afternoon for dinner at a great Mexican cafe in the city center. We had a few margaritas too. The next day, I took a shuttle with the rest of my fellow coworkers to the Clothing Distribution Center (CDC) to pick up our Extreme Cold Weather gear (ECW). After making sure my gear all fit properly, I met up with Alissa for lunch and we headed to Sumner to enjoy the sun and the beach, although the temps meant it wasn't warm enough to actually go IN the water.
The morning of the 20th, I had all of my things packed up and carried down to the lobby of the hotel at 3:05am when I found out that we had a 24-hour delay. The shuttles picked us up at a much more reasonable hour of 8:15am to head out to the CDC to get our per diem of $80 kiwi and two more shuttle vouchers. That day I met up with some Ice folks to head out to the gondola, a tourist attraction that I have never actually visited in Chch. The ride up was great, and despite a few clouds the view was beautiful. You can see downtown Chch with its towering buildings (but not too many), the beach in New Brighton, and the Southern Alps in the distance. As a group, we decided to walk down the very steep hillside to the port town of Lyttelton. I had heard that there was an award-winning fish and chips shop in town, and I had to try it out. Everyone in our little group decided to give it a whirl, and even the non-fish lovers enjoyed our paper-wrapped lunch in the sun! Even though it's fried in oil, the meal was very light feeling, unusual for a fish and chips lunch. That afternoon I took the bus back to town and caught the opening of the new Tarantino film, and then met up with one of the new guys going down to the Ice for dinner at the Bicycle Thief, a great Italian restaurant not often frequented by Ice people. Luckily, Zach, my dinner companion, is a culinary student in Chicago and knew exactly what wine would go perfect with dinner. We splurged on a bottle as it was to be our last nice dinner before the Ice.
The next morning I received a call at 2:30am telling me that we had another 24-delay. Another trip out to the CDC for more money and more shuttle vouchers at 8:15am and I was back in the city enjoying another semi-beautiful day. Any extra day in Chch is a beautiful day, no matter what the weather. I got my haircut and caught another movie and visited the Cheesemonger for a few delicious samples. Then for dinner I met up with some more Ice folks for a fantastic Italian meal at Valentino's, for what would hopefully be our last meal before the Ice.
This morning, I woke up and called the front desk of the hotel to make sure we were actually leaving. They said that we were still on, so I jumped in the shower and packed my bags and headed down to the lobby to meet my last shuttle. We were actually leaving! At the CDC we put all of our gear on and weighed our things. One of the guys checking us in was giving me a hard time about my carry-on not fitting into the carry-on box. Seriously? Look at everyone else's bags! I finally convinced him to let me through when I got the bag to fit half-way. He obviously had never flown to the Ice before. Most of the 130+ of us grabbed breakfast at the Antarctic Centre nearby. They open early to feed us on deployment days. We had to watch a briefing video before going through security and boarding a bus which took us to the plane, a C-17. We boarded the plane, and I immediately grabbed a side wall seat as they offer plenty of room and you don't have to climb over the person next to you to get into the aisle... you just jump up! There was a 45-minute delay, and my friend Brian and I started to worry that the flight would be canceled at that point. No, no, no! I told Brian that I was not going to get off that plane. Nope, sorry, won't do it. I'll sleep on it before I get off and go through all of that again tomorrow. Luckily, the flight crew was given the okay to finally take off. Five hours later we arrived at Pegasus White Ice Runway. I hugged four or five winterover friends that I could recognize in the -30 degree weather and blowing snow. My first lung-full of air almost made me rethink my desire to spend another Winfly here. And then after attending yet another video briefing and gathering all of my bags from Building 140... I was reminded why I wanted to come down early again this year (as I did in '06)... the nacreous clouds. I'll post some photos soon. Promise!
Then I opened the little fridge in my room to find that last summer's tenant didn't defrost the sucker properly. I had to bleach the mold and mildew out of that thing before I could load it with the selection of cheeses and fruits/veggies I had carried down with me.
Ah... back in McMurdo!