The Whole Wide World

One hundred days, fifty-one thousand words on here, and guess what I just saw…the sun! Well, kind of.

I had my coffee shift first thing, which was still busy despite the potential flight coming in later in the day. After coffee, I went back to my room and read and drank coffee for a bit. As my brother was quick to point out with my recent laptop disaster, it’s back to books. I am reading three at the moment: On Trails, by Robert Moor; Atomic Habits by James Clear; and a little book called The Meditation Handbook by Gehe Kelsang Gyatso. I’ve also been watching a few movies on YouTube on my phone, which kind of feels like I am camping again, haha. I haven’t tried to power my laptop up, it’s propped up in a tent like position and I am making sure it’s good and dry before I reassess the damage.

At lunch, there was lots of chatter about going to Hut Point to catch the sunrise, and Chase kindly offered to run the store so that I could go take a peek. I took Chase up on his offer and bundled up and started walking towards Hut Point. Not long after I started walking, a truck full of McMurdans stopped and offered my a ride, so I hopped in. At Hut Point, there was orange and yellow coming from the general direction of the sunrise, but the sun was too low to actually be seen with the our little volcano, Mt. Erebus, hiding it. It was a clear day though and the Transantarctic Mountains across the sea were perfectly visible, with hues of pink and blue making a beautiful backdrop in either direction. The sun was only up for an hour and when I went back out later there was a beautiful sunset and fingernail moon over Hut Point. I’ve posted pics of both events on the socials, so check my Instagram for those snaps.

Despite the clear sky in town, it’s still nice and chilly out. -27F with the wind chill out of range. It’s also always worse weather/colder out at the airfield and as I got back to town from Hut Point, I learned that the flight has once again been cancelled. I am indifferent to the cancellations and delays, but I do feel for those who are stuck in the rotation of checking in only to have the flight cancelled each time. It’s a lot of work getting all bundled up and dragging your bags to transport and the same goes for everyone in New Zealand patiently waiting to get down here. They have to make the trek to the airport in Christchurch every day, only to then have to head back to hotels that are scrambling to get rooms sorted for them. It’s a process for everyone involved.

My off-ice date is October 16th, so I still two more months of ice life. I won’t be posting daily during the next two months, perhaps weekly though. I’m in the process of making plans for when I leave here, but I don’t have anything concrete yet, so more on that in time as plans come together.