As 2007 ends, I am reflecting back on this entire year as well as my experience in Antarctica. And I realize that Antarctica has permeated much of this year. It was this time, one year ago, that I…
Before I left for Antarctica, Stacy sent me a diagram of a photo frame that Bob had designed for an underwater student experiment. My students looked for ways to improve the frame design, and then I…
"Ice people say that when you leave the Antarctic, part of you stays behind forever.”
From Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica, by Sara Wheeler
I do feel as if I have left a bit of myself on…
"Under its worst conditions this earth is a good place to live in."
This quote, by Henry Robertson "Birdie" Bowers, exemplifies the positive attitude of many polar explorers. Bowers was one of the…
"Ross Island is not a place for a settlement; it is a place for an elaborately equipped scientific station..." A prescient statement by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, when you consider all the science that…
"Exploration is the physical expression of the Intellectual Passion."
Another applicable quote by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. People can explore so many different topics in such a variety of ways. It…
"All the world loves a penguin: I think because in many respects they are like ourselves, and in some respects what we should like to be.” This quote comes from Apsley Cherry-Garrard in The Worst…
"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." is the concluding line of Alfred Lord Tennyson's Ulysses, and was placed on the cross honoring Scott and the men that died with him on their return…
"He is happiest who hath to gather power and wisdom from a flower." is the quote I found inside of the McMurdo Greenhouse on my visit today.
The outside of the McMurdo greenhouse
When I walked…
"A man doesn’t begin to attain wisdom until he recognizes that he is no longer indispensable.” These words are by Richard Byrd while camped alone in Antarctica.
Flying above the land and ice of…
"The wind evaporated the ice just as fast as it arrived. In one of nature's greatest magic tricks, the glaciers in the Dry Valleys vanish into thin air." …
"The McMurdo Dry Valleys contain cold desert soils millions of years old, unusual biological communities, special geological features and minerals and spectacular scenery.” From the McMurdo Dry…
