Helo ride boondoggle

 My first time in a helicopter!

 I loved it! Better than a roller coaster ride! Super cool way to see Antarctica.

 Heading out from McMurdo

 Erebus volcano dominates the view for most of the ride

 I helped Dartmouth scientists take down 2 weather and snow collecting stations. They were testing for bromide in the snow in an effort to understand global warming.

 I smiled the whole time (3 take offs and landings, 2 hours total in the helo)

 It feels like we are only about 30 feet above the ice when actually we were cruising at 1600 ft. in the Bell 210.

 Tipping iceberg. Imagine seeing one of these enormous bergs tip over!

 Looks like frozen fields.

 We landed next to this iceberg and ate our lunch after taking down the weather station.

 But first we circled it. Imagine the 90 percent of the berg below the surface!

 We were able to take a little walk.

 Turns out that Ross, one of the scientists, is best friends with someone I used to babysit when I was in high school in Vermont. Those kind of connections happen all the time down here. Mom, if you read this, the connection is that he is super close to Claire and Harry Morrison, and their daughter, Jill (neighbors from Tute Hill!).

 We want to try to find Claire's email and send this to her. I remember 30 years ago, Claire and Harry told me about biking across the US and they were instrumental in my desire to travel and adventure.

Open water not far from McMurdo! Crazy to think I drive super heavy machine over ice not far from here, but these scientists told me that ice is a lot stronger than people think.  We are having a great season, just busier than ever before...