Daniela, Erin, Minako, and Jon paw with our dry food boxes as we dropped them off in the cargo building. Each box weighs about 100 lbs when it’s full of food, and each tent group has several boxes. We will be eating very well in the field!

It’s Saturday at McMurdo and our team is feeling like we’re mostly done with the training and preparation for the field. Our main task today was getting our dry food and frozen food processed through the cargo system. Each box was weighed, measured, and labeled – and our friends at the cargo building will make sure they get on the path to our field site.

Jim participating in a zoom outreach event on Thursday Dec 14 with Boys and Girls Clubs.

In addition to the prep work happening here at McMurdo, we’re also finding time to connect with friends and family at home, and share our journey with some very enthusiastic students! A few days ago Jim, Minako and I participated in an outreach event with Boys and Girls Clubs across the US. The event was coordinated by the Lunar and Planetary Institute, as part of an effort to provide virtual trips to extreme environments. We had about 10 classrooms full of middle school students participating. Jim gave an overview presentation about ANSMET and we used a webcam to show them some of the views from McMurdo. Then we had quite a long Q&A session and the students asked some fantastic questions!

Armitage Loop hike – Erin, Lauren, Robert, and Daniela.

As for the rest of our Saturday in McMurdo, things are starting to slow down a bit. In the afternoon a few of us stopped by the recreation office to sign up for the Scott’s Hut 10K Run tomorrow. While signing up for the race we heard about a great hike on the Cape Armitage Loop, which is mostly over the sea ice. The trail probably won’t be open much longer as we get further into the summer season, so we decided to do it today! Erin, Daniela, Robert and I ventured out on the trail, and it provided some great perspectives looking back at McMurdo, Observation Hill, Hut Point, and the distant peaks of Mt Discovery and Mt Erebus.

Daniela with a cookie ice cream sandwich. This is the second picture we have of Daniela SOOO happy with food. ANSMET leadership motivational tools engaged…….

On a final note, Mr. Frosty the frozen yogurt machine is finally working again! It has been broken since we got here, so everyone was very excited to finish the day with ice cream and cookies (peanut butter is the favorite cookie flavor among this team).

-From Lauren,  in McMurdo