Shop Antarctica

if you come to Antarctica, you gotta get the T-shirt!

Our little store has a great selection of souvenirs you have to physically come to McMurdo to get.

a special party treat

Antarctica has some nice things about it and some that are a bit more extreme. The bathrooms in some of the buildings are not wonderful. This is a picture of the bathroom at the previously shown WEIRD party...gotta go outside (condition 2 here) and into a very cold, very unheated sort of porta potty thing.














It seemed worth a picture

W.E.I.R.D. Party

The WEIRD Party means:Winterovers Entering Into the Realm of Decadence




Cesar & Susan as some type of viking things

















Tony makes a beautiful bride and is standing in front of the Waste Barn or garbage plant.













Nathan & Craig as rock stars



















The main stage












Kevin sporting a sweet new style!

a week of midwinter

Our week of the mid winter celebration ended with a feast over at Scott Base (The New Zealand Winter Camp). There are 14 Kiwis that live 2 miles away. 60 of us went to dinner there and it was a great way to wrap up a week of celebrating the middle of winter.

The bowling alley

We have a very old 2 lane bowling here at McMurdo. So the process for bowling is, bowl the ball with really no idea where it will go. The lanes are pretty warped...The ball knocks down the pins
and then the magic happens....2 lucky and kind volunteers hop off the ball watching perch and manually retrieve the pins.

This is Julie & Brianna waiting on the perch for the next ball to come through. You have to wear the striped socks so the bowlers can see you and not send a ball at you before you are back up on the perch. Its really hot and loud back here. It takes about an hour for a group to bowl 1 game, and an hour of manually setting the pins is alot of work!!

The Southern Lights

This is a great picture of the "auroras" or Southern Lights. I am by no means a Scientist and dont really understand how this happens, but when it does its incredible! I have been told we are on some type of 22 year rotation that determines when we will have good auroras. Who knows....its a treat when they come out and dance across the sky for us.

Happy Happy Fathers Day

This is for Dad, who as I type this is on a plane to Scotland to trace the family roots. Many of you reading this know my dad and will agree when I say he is AWESOME!

I miss you dad, have a really fun trip and thanks for being such a great dad!!!

Mid Winter!!!

Mid Winter here in Antarctica is a big deal! In my 31 years I have never paid much if any attention to the solstices, other than reasons to have fun parties. The solstice that is in a few days is a giant milestone for us as it means we have reached the peak of winter and are on the downhill portion. In coming down here 9 months did not seem like a long period of time, however when the majority of that time is in dark, windy and unbelivably cold conditions it has changed my perspective on time.

Mid Season!! We celebrated last night with a fantastic meal, dancing and the most incredible Auroras (or Southern Lights) I have seen since I have been here. It was a truly memorable night and we will be soon see the light at the end of the dark tunnell. Rumor has it the sun will be back the end of August.

Firemans Ball

Lots of parties down here on ice, this one was deadicated to our 11 fireman. 6 of them were able to come to the party and the other 5 were working. Have I mentioned that people LOVE to
dress up down here?





















me and Stacey paying our respects










Rachel as a fire survivor
















one of our local musicians Craig

our dark little town

McMurdo under the black sky...the sun will start to come back up the end of August. I will be very happy to see that!

just out for a casual hike....

Just out for a casual evening hike, no problem as long as you dont freeze to death or fall in a crevasse.
The night ended with a sledding trip where the guy we were with says "make sure you stop by the pisten bully or you will fall into a crevasse".
During
After
Before