Sunday

Sundays usually means sleeping in a little (usually to around 0800), go to the gym and go and have brunch. Today after the brunch I headed out to the ice runway and got the opportunity go in and look at the Challenger that FAA uses down here to certify the runways.

Inside 

On the Ice runway

We went out hiking for a few hours. We did to trails today, the Observation Hill loop and the Hut point loop. The weather the past 2 days have been fantastic. Sunshine, blue skies and barely any wind in town. Out on the trails it is always windy and when we got up on the hills it was really windy and cold. I have learned how to dress to stay warm here now, so it was not an issue with the cold. The wind beats on the face pretty good and I have not found a solution to the fogging up of my sunglasses when I have to pull up the gaiter to cover up most of my face.

Neal and Liz at the beginning of OB Hill trail

OB Hill trail

End of OB Hill trail with Mt Erebus puffing up smoke in the back

The cross raised for George T Vince by Discovery Hut "To the memory of George T Vince of the "Discovery" who was drowned near this spot March 11th 1902"

Cracks in the sea ice

Dinner tonight was lamb, a little bit over cooked but ok. The best part is that we have been able to have salads almost everyday this week and the Caesar’s salad tonight was fantastic. I need to remember to write a comment card to the galley about that. We have been told that we should be able to expect to have “freshies” available the whole month of November, but things can change. We are enjying it while we can.

Tomorrow I am actually going to be heading to Antartica for real. McMurdo is actually not on the continent itself. It is an island close to the continent. I got signed up to go and assist in digging out a fuel cache in a place called Roadend. It is going to be really exciting. Everybody has told me to dress warm, it is apparently really cold out there. Pictures will follow.