Hello, and happy birthday Pete!

My mom just left after coming up for a week-long visit. It was so fun to explore Exit Glacier and the Alaskan coastline with her, even though it was far too brief of a visit. I think that I talked more with her in her first 48 hours than I've ever talked in my life. I feel like I got a great snapshot of everyone back at home in Maine and what they've been up to.
Right now I'm too tired to think, but just wanted to post and say a little hello since it's been a while. I'm thinking ahead to the trip home that'll be in mid-September... hopefully I'll road-trip back with my friend Krista from Illinois. She really wants to see Eugene, OR along the way, so a visit to Willamette might be in store. I'm really hoping to convince my brother Peter to join me for part of the trip at least. I miss him a lot and I'm hoping that we'll end up having at least one adventure together for our year off. He mentioned that he'll maybe go to Hawaii for a bit to work for some family friends, and I'm incredibly tempted to look for a job down there too. A lot of my current co-workers will be down there as well this winter, and it would be easy for me to get a job there with connections through boat people here, so it looks like I have a fun back-up plan if Antarctica doesn't work out. I do have a lot of paperwork and physical/dental requirements to complete before my trip down to the Ice is totally sealed in stone, so I'll keep you all posted. Hope all's going well with my family and friends across the country!

Happy Fourth of July!

OK, I know I'm a little late but regular life gets put on hold for the 4th of July here in Seward. I left work on the evening of the 3rd to find that I was host not just to a couple of friends but a whole ski team! A tent village was promptly erected in the backyard of the fourplex and Kendra's sister and company cooked dinner in my apartment while I was at a barbecue, to the surprise of my housemates. The "spectacular" fireworks in the foggy, dusky Seward sky were made into much more of an event by the rather tipsy and boisterous impromptu choir that formed at our street corner while we watched them.
Upon returning home, I met up with Kendra and Nick and Joel and Nicole, who stayed over and hung out with me for the 4th of July and the Mount Marathon race. The race was amazing! It started when two hardy Alaskans made a bet that the other couldn't summit this 3000-footer and return to town within an hour. The challenge was on, and has continued annually for the last 80 years or so. We only got there in time for the mens' part, but I enjoyed watching it. It was a real Alaskan race- anything goes, as long as you check in at the top and then again at the bottom. People were plotting ridiculous routes up the mountain to shave off a few seconds or avoid the crowd, and fans lined the streets or paths in the woods. Many a ragged, injured hiker was offered a beer on his way down... just a little different than other 4th of July races I've witnessed. I got to meet Joel's whole family, finally- we actually went hiking yesterday with my roommate Andrea.
Hope you all enjoyed your Independence Days, too! My mom's coming out here next weekend, as I just discovered, so that's what I'm looking forward to that very much at the moment. I'm about to get kicked out of the library, so farewell for now!

Guess what?

I'm going to the Ice!

Yesterday I was awoken by a job offer over the phone for a position as a dining attendant in Antarctica! Not just as an alternate in case someone drops out, like I had been told was all that was left this late into the hiring- a primary position, where I will definitely be going! I'll be at McMurdo Station from the beginning of October through the middle-end of February, and then hopefully I'll be bumming around New Zealand for a bit after that.

Sorry, mom- I guess I can get a little farther from home.