Ice Caves Field Trip!

OK, you are all probably getting tired of seeing snow and ice, but hey, that's pretty much all there is down here :-) Actually, on a jog today, I was paying attention to all the ugly and weird man-made objects around the station, so I think I'll do a blog entry on just that stuff soon so you all don't get snow blindness (or more likely, snow boredom).

This first blue picture I took without a flash in the snow caves. The cold and quiet are weighty down in there, plus you can feel the tension of the miles of glacier piled up behind the caves.
I can't easily rearrange pics once they are uploaded - this one is not in the cave sequence. I've started my 6:30 am -6:30 pm shift and I get to stop when I want out on the ice if I don't have passengers. Here the snow was blowing across the ice at about 30mph, and I was awed at how determined the snow seemed to be to get somewhere. Wonder where it all ends up? That is actually a mountain in the background, not a little hill.
This is the very edge of the tongue of the huge glacier coming off of Erebus, where caves have formed. It is an hour drive out on the ice, along the coast. Shuttles took a little morale trip for our department and Scott was able to come along too. All of the following pictures were taken by Scott.

Pressure ridges piling up at the edge of the ice. Click any of the pictures to enlarge.
Hiking.
Snow desert!
Looking up at the crystal formations in the ice cave.
Not a stalagmite or stalactite but they have the same feel.
You actually have to slide down into the cave through a tiny hole. I had a moment of extreme claustrophobia, especially knowing that glaciers are always moving and the cave could collapse. Zoiks!
Outside the cave.
I wasn't trying to look coy here. My nose was freezing. Also, whenever I hike or jog, I am always freezing my brow! It goes numb immediately every time and it makes me irritable.

Well, it seems like 99 percent of folks down here were for Obama, so everyone was cheerful at breakfast. Elizabeth was over the moon, and even managed to get Ben and his best friend registered and voting yesterday. Scott was also super excited. (We were able to vote by absentee ballot.)

Everything is going well, and I love being on regular shifts, with varying jobs throughout the day (dispatch, driving Ivan to the ice runway, town taxi, Willy Field Shuttle, checking and moving vehicles, courier service, paperwork, etc.) Still, as with any situation, there are some minor annoyances.