We left McMurdo early on December 8th. We were loaded onto Ivan the Terrabus for the half hour ride out to the Pegasus Ice Runway. Below is a view of all of us stuffed into the bus. Everyone was required to wear their extreme cold weather gear for the trip. Once near New Zealand, we would be stripping down to jeans and a t-shirt -- it was summer there.
Ivan dropped us off and we lugged our gear across the ice and onto the C-17 that was waiting for us.
Here's a view from inside the plane. We sat in rows of (very uncomfortable) jump seats that lined the walls and center aisle of the plane. It was a 5-hour trip.
As we left Antarctica, we stole peeks out the few windows that exist on a C-17. We could tell we were getting to warmer climes when we noticed the sea ice was melting and breaking up.
All in all, my trip to Antarctica was a wonderful experience that I'll never forget. I feel lucky to have seen it while the environment is still in good shape. Things will be changing fast as the Earth continues to warm.
