5 March 2012 Farewell Palmer Station

The LMG is underway. Saying goodbye to Palmer Station and to the wonderful people there was sad, but I feel incredibly lucky. I have never met a more gracious, thoughtful, hardworking group of people and am proud and honored to have had the chance to experience life at Palmer. There is something magical about that place.

Yesterday someone at the station wrote an article about me that is a spoof. I am still trying to figure out who did it- the writer is very clever. Each day at breakfast there are copies of the New York Times Digest on the tables in the galley. Whoever put together the article used a heading, font and column width to make it look like a real newspaper article. Here’s an excerpt: “Early in February 2012, a spy infiltrated the PolarTREC program to gain access to the remote base. “Science teacher” Nell Herrmann’s initial focus was the marine biology group studying ocean acidification and its effects on several species of marine organisms. Herrmann reported that diving activities such as collecting small seashells and algae were all underwater subterfuge. The real mission of the divers was the search for the alien spacecraft that crash landed somewhere in the vicinity of Palmer Station as first reported last year by an operative.” The article ends by saying “Station personnel were shocked and saddened when Nell Herrmann was exposed, but all prefer to remember her alter-ego: a gentle woman from Pennsylvania exemplifying the Antarctic can-do/will-do philosophy.“ I don’t think I’ve ever received a higher compliment.