Room with a view?

So, I just want to let you all know that this blog entry is going to be one of my favorite ones. This will be one of my favorite memories of this season, no doubt. Now with all the build up...what did I do?


Let us start the story with yesterday, I was enjoying my "Kelly" day off, when I got a page from my captain looking for volunteers to cover the Pegasus airfield for an incoming flight. Pegasus, while very fun, takes a long time to get to now that the transition road is really crappy. The drive is roughly 2 hours of a bumpy one way ride in a Piston Bully. I volunteered, and gritted my teeth for what would be long day off. Turns out, my Captain, signed me up for a "boondoggle" as a reward for volunteering for this. I found out about this after I showed up to work, so I wasn't really expecting it.

A "Boondoggle" is a type of reward that often some of the work centers will sponsor for employees. It really is a morale boosting trip for hard working people. Yes, I still qualify, I do actually do work down here....jerks. So, a "Boondoggle" can be anything from helping a team of scientists in the field to dive tending, pretty much anything can happen. It can include work, but sometimes it can be purely recreational.


My trip was I think the best one that they offer down here. There is a trail that goes up to the top of this peak/hill and the trail end is called "Room with a View". It looks up to Mt. Erebus, and looks down to all of Ross Island. And the only way up there is via snowmobile. Yes, I said it...SNOWMOBILE. I was wicked excited. Though I didn't have my best friend in the world, and my favorite snowmobiling partner, Mike Brohm with me. (Shout out to Mike Brohm and all of my MV A6 family!!!) But I made do what I had.


The group was only 10 people, and thus, we did 2 per snowmobile. My partner was a DA from the galley. A "DA" is a technical term for a dinning assistant, basically a dish washer/kitchen slave. We started the day at 1300 hours, with a quick run through of the map. They asked if anyone had snowmobile experience...(I knew I went to school in NH for a reason! Stay in school kids.)

So after that we rode the piston bully out to the Happy Camper area, and got on our snowmobiles. This drive took roughly a half hour, the transition was very rough...again. I let my partner drive first, mostly because I wanted to take some video and photos. The journey took us roughly 45 minutes to get to the top. The visibility got really sucky at one point. One of our instructors stopped the group and asked us if we wanted to go back. "Evacuate?!?! In our moment of Triumph?" (Mr.Berman that quote is for you good sir. And anyone else who gets it.)

The group said no and we pushed forward. The visibility was like 20 feet or so during this portion of our journey. So yes Mom, it wasn't probably the safest thing I've done down here. I'm just kidding, it was great and totally safe. We made it up this wicked high peak to a lone scott tent. The visibility was wicked bad at the top, so our "room with a view" was similar to my sisters window in New York City. That means sucky. (Shout out to my sister! Yay Katie!)

But then, the winds picked up and we were able to get a great vista. The top of Mt.Erebus was still hidden, but the rest of Ross Island was clearly visibile. I could see Castle Rock, Willie Field, McMurdo, Scott Base, sea ice, Oden breaking ice, and last but not least OPEN OCEAN! It was really awesome. And the view that day I was told wasn't up to normal par. These photos don't do it justice, Tust me on that! While the visibility and the flat light made all the photos we took look horrible, I just sat there and enjoyed the view. I played a little Frisbee too. And had a snack, because snowmobiling is such hard work.


After a while, we had to get going back home. So I drove the way back. I took my time to enjoy the ride. Though after riding on a piston bully for the past month, 30 mph seems like 80 mph. And it doesn't help that everything is in kilometers on the snowmobile. I had to do a double take a couple times because of this. Our ride back was uneventful, but fun. I like tooling around on a snowmobile. This was probably my only moment where I wish I was back in Rindge. (Shout out to all the Rindge peeps...)


After we were back, I realized that I really enjoyed that outing. It sunk it deep. It put some energy back into me that has been drained by the groundhog day effect down here. Now, I'm ready to go back to work tomorrow and give 110%. It is amazing how a small outing away from McMurdo can really recharge you. So I hope you all enjoyed this entry. Obviously I wish I could portray this more. Anyway people, I'm having a blast down here. See you all in forty something days!