All good things must come to an end

Dudes...?  ahhh! Headless penguins are after me!

Sadly that dreaded day has arrived when I must say goodbye to this incredible continent 3,712 photos, 6 weeks, and a lifetime worth of memories later.  This will be my final post from Antarctica as our flight leaves in about an hour.  The last few days have been bittersweet taking down our equipment from the field, packing it all up, and saying goodbye to some wonderful people.  I wish them all a fabulous rest of the season. 

Yesterday we were sure to make our final full day down here epic as we returned to the sea ice edge via snowmobile to collect some final samples.  We were not disappointed as we saw emperor penguins, adelie penguins, seals, the sea ice edge, and the ice cave once again.  As I wrap up my thoughts, I'll include a few photos from the trip (you have to come visit me back in VT if you would like the rest).  I think I will conclude with a few lessons I learned from Antarctica:

Our geyser created a swimming pool!

- Weather dictates everything in the poles: when do you go, where do you go, what do you do, how do you do it, etc.  Despite valiant efforts, forecasts down here make those back home seem precise. 
- Antarctica is perhaps the most majestic, gorgeous, breathtaking, (fill in the blank with your favorite adjective) continent.
- Penguins are ridiculous creatures.  Emperors are incredibly curious, while God forgot to teach Adelies how to walk.
- Human ingenuity is unbelievable.  I don't think Shackleton, Scott, or Amundsen would have ever considered it a possibility that humans would establish a permanent base on this continent.
- Antarctic is not a harsh continent.  When it comes to temperature, wind chill, and just plain misery, I was expecting much worse.  The coldest temps I've witnessed is still in Barrow.  Often good old VT suffers temperatures colder than the average day I experienced here.
- Antarctic is a harsh continent.  Conditions can change in a blink of an eye.  Before you know it, visibility can drop to nothing.  Someday I hope to be back for winter to experience the real extreme weather.
- 24 hours of daylight is a strange phenomenon. I had forgotten to mention that we crossed that threshold at the end of October.  The weather report here always lists time of sunset.  Next one here is Feb 23.

Can we join your penguin line?

- The crew down here is incredible.  I don't think I will ever experience a place where there are 900 people supporting 140 scientists.  In only a few weeks, I made some really great friends with whom I will hopefully reconnect on another campaign in the near future.
- It is possible to run out of positive adjectives/descriptors.
- Land is for sissies. - Rachel
- Commuting by helicopter to work is not too shabby... provided the weather cooperates.
- I need to find a way to come back here.
 
Finally, thank you all for following this blog.  I never thought I would be able to pull this together nor have over 2,000 hits.  Although I have completely fallen behind on photos, it has been a good way to keep up and reflect.  There are many more tales that I didn't have the time to get online, so please come visit me in VT for the full stories. 

Until my next polar adventure....