16 December 2009 It's Over...

I happened to look at the date yesterday and realized that we are half way through December and on the cusp of a new year. And, we are officially done here. I was able to snag a hike up Observation Hill and then a tour of Discovery Hut Sunday afternoon.

"To strive, to seek, so find and not to yield." These are the words etched upon this cross. Whose words are they, and why do you think these words were chosen?

Discovery Hut was built from pre-fabricated material in 1902 during Scott's Discovery Expedition of 1901-1904. While it was intended to be living quarters, the men soon discovered that the hut was very cold and decided to use it as a storage facility while they continued to sleep on the ship.

We then headed up to Vince's Cross which sits just above Discovery Hut. This particular cross was constructed as a memorial to George Vince who slipped off of the cliff during a blizzard in 1902 and became the first person to die in McMurdo Sound.

The last of our packing and cleaning of the lab was finished by 11:00 am yesterday morning (Tuesday) and then it was off to finish up final packing and preparations for mandatory room inspection....which I passed, by the way! And, while I feel that I can breathe a bit, I'm feeling pretty melancholy about the whole idea of leaving this magnificent "other" world, and when I said that I was going to chain myself to something so I didn't have to leave, well.....let the pictures speak for themselves.