This photo was taken sometime after 2:00am, which is when we set our alarm on Friday morning. Our check-in time at the Antarctic terminal was 3:30. This is a pretty harsh check-in time, even by U.S. Antarctic Program standards.



Bleary-eyed and yawning, we took a 30-minute shuttle in the dark to the Antarctic Center, then changed into our ECW clothing (Extreme Cold Weather for those of you not familiar with this acronym). Then we dragged all of our baggage to the terminal to be weighed and tagged for the flight. In this photo I am standing on a scale, although the bystander that took the photo didn't quite get it in the shot.



At just after 4:00am, we were shown a video on what to expect in Antarctica. Since we have seen this video many times in our ten years of going to the Ice, we spent most of the time during the video meditating our eyelids.

Soon after we were called to go through one final security check, then we were given a boxed lunch and crammed on a tiny bus to be taken to the plane.

The massive C-17 loomed in silhouette against the pre-dawn sky. Here Anthony is boarding...



The center of the plane was packed with pallets of cargo and equipment bound for Antarctica. We sat in rows along the outside edges.



Not the most comfortable arrangement, but most people managed to capture a bit of sleep, including us.



During the 5-hour flight, we were invited up into the cockpit. The view below was mostly of clouds, but I did see a few white peaks poking up through.



Antz took the opportunity to shoot a few photos.



...and the C-17 crew found a few z's wherever they could...



Soon the engines changed pitch and we descended down to McMurdo Sound. The C-17 landed on a runway made of solid, frozen sea ice.

We walked off the plane to blinding whiteness; back to  McMurdo Station, our home base for  the next 5 weeks.