Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Lake Hoare, Taylor Valley, Antarctica!

Before we left F6 to come to Lake Hoare, Santa and his elves came to visit us by helicopter. They brought us a giant box of "freshies": fresh vegetables, fruit, and homemade cookies and bread! We aren't normally able to get a lot of freshies down here, especially in the field, so it was a very wonderful treat!
We arrived at Lake Hoare and were set to work decorating. We decorated Christmas cookies, put up the Christmas tree, and made a gingerbread house.
Then, we had a big family dinner! There are scientists from many different projects gathered here, so there were 15 people for dinner. After dinner, we played the "gift game" by the Christmas tree. I got a cool, new water bottle! Now, in Antarctica, it is the day after Christmas, and it is time to get back to work! We'll be hiking over the glacier to Lake Fryxell camp to sample mosses along some of the streams.