It was your basic outdoor concert with crafts for sale. Some custom made t-shirts and hats that were shipped in and a lot of locally assembled jewelery. The food, chili and brats, were free, but there were tip jars for the cooks. As you can see, the weather cooperated with warm, 30-something temperatures, calm winds and clear skies.
There are medical clinics set up at a lot of festivals but how many ever offer free H1N1 vaccinations?
There was dancing in the streets and hula hoopsters. Apparently some folk had deprived childhoods and never learned how. But then, what do you expect from a beaker? (Science folk, to any that didn't know that already.)
I could hear most of the bands and musicians from my room. As I said, it was warm enough to have the window open. This is the view from the end of the hall. Practically front row seating.
Since then, a lot of people have been coming through town. Most are heading back from field camps where they were doing research. It's been getting warmer - sometimes - and the sea ice is beginning to melt. The penguins and seals are showing up quite a bit. The seals aren't much fun. As I mentioned before, they are known as sea slugs around these parts. The little adelie penguins are another story. There are dozens around, although not usually right in town. They can be seen pretty regularly around the holes off of Hut Point. 
One day on our way home from work we spotted a few down by the pump house on the edge of town. Photo op. About six of us had our photos taken like this. You'd have thought we'd never seen penguins before. The adelies were a lot closer than this when we first got there, but they took off toward Hut Point. Ye Olde Swimming Hole ? I've been told there are four emperor penguins about 10 miles out on the road to the airfield.
About the same time the adelies and other critters showed up, we saw the Swedish icebreaker, the Oden, breaking a channel in to McTown. It's been here busting out a large turning basin just off shore and clearing a path to the ice pier. Our 'pier' is a large chunk of ice that is tied to the shore and connected by a removable bridge.
Anyway, the Oden will be around for a while. It continues to break up the ice, which is allowing it to melt and clear out quicker. It will also escort the ships in to the pier. First the fuel tanker will come in and offload something like 6,000,000 gallons or more of fuel. That's for McTown and the South Pole and all the field camps. The schedule is for the tanker to leave Feb. 1 and the Arctic Tern, the container supply ship, to dock the following day. For 10 to 14 days, operations will run 24 hours a day. Supplies will be unloaded and then an awful lot of trash and any material being returned will be loaded. It goes back to California and Washington. I don't know why Washington. Maybe some trash can't be dropped off in California. People are already beginning to leave and many, many more will be going out after the ships leave. With few exceptions, everyone but the winter over crew will be gone by Feb. 20. I'll try to remember to write before then.
And thanks to all of you that understood the problem with receiving large emails down here. . . gets very frustrating trying to get email downloaded when the pipe is plugged.
