No Trombone

I was so excited for this post. I planned to share all the pictures of all the people I met while in Antarctica. I spent a lot of time getting glory shots of everyone. Unfortunately I have lost my memory stick with all my pictures somewhere between Antarctica and Australia. I had been backing everything up but got lazy toward the end. Oops, I should have remembered to finish strong! I'm hoping it will turn up but I've torn apart my bags several times and unless I stitched it inside a pant leg without any recollection of doing that well...



So I will just describe the people I met on the Ice. Wow, I met so many like-minded people. There were people from the US, Canada and New Zealand who made up my closest friends. But through the research groups I became friends with folks from all over Europe and Scandanavia. There were those who were always willing to get up early to go hiking (on our only day off each week), those who were always up for a glass of wine or DVD and those who allowed me to listen in on their jam sessions even though I didn't have any musical talent to bring to the table. If we wanted to make the first ever Antarctic ska band I could have played my trumpet but what's a ska band without a trombone? -- and there was no trombone. The basketball guys who nicknamed me "Deadeye", the indoor ultimate frisbee folks and, of course, most importantly, all those who emailed me from home (which always made my day).



We all left on separate planes so it was a sudden goodbye after 5 months of isolation together. My favorite picture I was going to post here was of the plane coming from New Zeland to pick us up. We were all staring in the direction of NZ for 30 minutes. Then all of the sudden the plane appeared from the clouds and a huge sense of relief overcame us -- when we didn't even realize we were anxious. Finally time to return to our families and loved ones and re-enter the real world. The world where you have to look before crossing the street, pay for meals and show ID.



I want to post one more entry when I get back to Seattle and come full circle. Thank you to you all for joining me in my journey. I'm excited for the next adventures of scuba diving in Australia, going to Vancouver for the last week of the Winter Olympics and, of course, catching up with all those faces I've been missing.


From the first day I got to Antarctica to the day I left I was continually asked if I was related to the long line of Majerus' that have worked on the Ice. Hello to Nick Majerus and the Minnesota Majerus'. I'm a Montana Majerus but I've gotten to know Nick through email and he and his family paved the way for me. There is a Mt. Majerus in his honor. I didn't get to see it but when they name a mountain after me I guess they will have to come up with something else. I also found out there is a Mt. Gudmundson named after a distant cousin on my mother's side (Icelandic -- names end with -son or -dottir). So I guess I was just meant to be down there. I am so happy that everything fell into place to allow me to have this experience at this time in my life. Again, thank you to all of you for your support along the way!