Welcome to McMurdo

I thought that since I'm going to be leaving here in a short while, it would be worth giving everyone a quick tour of my town. You will notice that there are a lot of similarities from this town to other towns but that there are also many differences. One of the most interesting differences that I have found is that main doors to the buildings open in. This may not sound odd, but next time you are out, pay attention to all the doors you go through. For fire reasons, doors in public buildings must open out however here in Antarctica they open in. Why is this? Well in a short period of time (over night) snow can easily drift in and quickly block a door creating a bigger hazard. To eliminate this risk, all doors open in. To prove this point, when I was at WAIS, a UT was sleeping in a Jamesway and couldn't get out in the morning because the door opened out. He had to wait until people noticed he was missing and go shovel him out.

I'll start with the "Chapel of the Snows." This is our chapel. Although I don't go to church every week, I do go semi regularly. This past week during mass the Palmer was coming into the turning basin and we were all watching it out the window behind the alter. This building is also used for GA morning stretching, yoga, AA, "quiet time", and bible study. It has burned down 2 times since 1956.

This is the McM coffee house. Currently it is condemned but we were told it will open again next year. This is where I did open mic night and saw many good performers. It was a fun place we could have a glass of wine, visit with friends, and play board games.

Welcome to the McMurdo General Hospital. I've only been twice, once for a flu shot and again for altitude meds.

Right next door to the Hospital is the Fire Station. Each airfield also has a fire station. The response time for in town calls is at 3min. Not bad when most towns is 10-15min. The hardest part here is not letting the water freeze.

The BFC. I've spent many days working here as a GA. They are a great crew and they have a fun job. The best comparison is that the BFC is like Eastern Mountain Sports. This is where we check out sleeping bags, tents, survival bags...

What town would be complete without a NASA Lunar Habitat? This was just set up in the MEC parking lot a couple weeks ago. I'm guessing it's a test for the moon?

Most towns have a parking lot but do they look like this? When we need a vehicle, we sign it out at the MEC. It's hard to tell, but there are power cords going down between the Pisten Bullys and Tuckers so we can plug them in.Government! Each town has a government and McM is no exception. This is the NSF Chalet. My friend Cindy works in this building. I don't know what to compare this to, but some towns do have some form of industry. In McM it's science and this is where the "beakers" (Scientists) work. Known as the Crary Lab on Beaker street, it is three levels that stretch almost to the beach. They have an aquarium, offices, labs...

The McM Gas Station. We have two choices, Mogas or Diesel. One major difference is that we don't pay at the pump. Actually, we don't pay at all. If your vehicle is less than 3/4 full you fill it up. We also use a grounding clamp when fueling Mogas to eliminate static charges.

Our Post Office. It was closed when I took the picture. We also have a mail room where we receive our mail. Each time mail comes in, a list is published on who has mail. This allows us to know when to go to the mail room.

Our flight terminal. We don't have metal detectors, drug sniffing dogs, or X-Ray machines but we do have a scale. When we go to fly somewhere, we check in the night before at "bag drag." They weigh all our checked baggage then have us get on the scale with our carry on. This lets them know how much fuel to bring. The next day they bring us from here to whichever airfield we are flying from.

The Scales are like what the DOT uses at rest stops. These trucks are finding out how much their loads (millvans) weigh so they can be loaded onto the cargo ship to be returned to the states.

The Carp Shop. Two buildings connected together full of power tools and educated craftsmen. In the distance is the flush-a-way. The carp shop doesn't have running water so they go out to the flush-a-way to "powder their noses." The carp shop has a great view of the bay and has some of the best parties in town.Trash. Since everything gets recycled, we must sort our own trash. Kim here is going through the trash can from her office and separating out all the different materials.

Every town has a bank, and this is ours. I guess there isn't anything too exciting about an ATM. At Pole they don't have an ATM so if they need cash they need to have it pulled from their pay.

The Skua shack. So the Skua is a bird but it is a bird with a great talent. This talent is scavenging for anything of use (most of the time food). We use the term in honor of the bird. This shack is like the thrift store where you can get almost anything you could dream of. This season I skua'd a tent, food, shoes, jacket, pictures, Christmas presents for my roommates... What a great culture, if you have something you don't need, give it to someone else.

Only Two weeks left!