McMurdo

Most travelers to the South Pole stop at McMurdo station on the way. It's the largest US base in Antarctica, with somewhere between 1000 and 1200 residents for the austral summer. I spent two days in McMurdo on my way to the pole. We flew there from Christchurch on a giant military jet. Everyone is required to bundle up in their cold weather gear, in case of an emergency landing, but the plane was actually quite warm. It's very different from a commercial flight - they outfitted the plane with passenger seats (and a lot of legroom!), but we were in the same compartment as all the cargo, and even with earplugs in it was pretty loud. I slept most of the way, but woke up to go up above to where the pilots were to look at the ice (see pictures).
My time in McMurdo was kind of a whirlwind of getting adjusted, meeting a lot of new people, worrying a little about the trip to pole, and trying to get out and see as much of the area as I could. I took the walking tour of town, visited the coffeehouse and greenhouse, and went hiking and skiing. There are well-maintained trails to several points near town. My new friend Lauren and I hiked Observation Hill, and went for a short ski on the trail to Castle rock.
I also attended the Sunday night science lecture, which is a weekly event. This one was on the Weddell seal population in McMurdo Sound, and featured many cute pictures of seal pups. The science talks at pole will all be about astronomy, ice, seismology, and other branches of science that don't involve cute animals.