Thursday, February 10, 2011

Antarctica (Sorry, there was no cool name I could think of so this title is BORING!!)

This is my hot chocolate Logan, I told the guy to make it "picture perfect so that it would look cooler than yours!







This is a map of Antarctica, if you didn't guess that already. See the Ronne ice shelf (hint it is in the upper left area) Ellie and I are staying right on the edge of that, and let me tell you, it is really cool! It is the second largest shelf and if it didn't have Berkner island, it would be the biggest, however, the island is there, which means that Ross is the biggest ice shelf.




























Here are some Adelie penguins we saw, they look really cute, but they are EXTREMELY loud, and you can hear them from a mile away. I couldn't hear a word Ellie said, I think it was something about a sale at a bakery in Idaho, but I have my doubts now, I wonder what she did say. . . anyway, the one to the left decided that he wanted to take a kayak ride with us, and jumped on my kayak shortly after I took this picture. He then made an ever so grand departure by jumping off, and nearly tipping the kayak over. The one below is doing some sort of weird dance, not quite sure why, but hey, whatever floats your boat. The average height of an adelie is 27.5 inches, and little over three feet (why are penguins so big if people are always referring to them as "cute, little, fluffy penguins"?). They weigh about 11 lbs, you can see why that one almost tipped me over! There are an estimated 5,000,000 of them, so I doubt they will go extinct any time soon!
Wow, that picture turned out kinda, uh, big, for the small size, oh well. If you haven't guessed, this is where I am right now, the Ronne ice shelf. I have had a really exiting week, filled with kayaking, ice climbing, and sitting by a fire so my fingers don't fall off (that is another reason I didn't post, my hands were too cold to type)!

I think my hot chocolate was cooler than Logan's how about you?

Niki Mouse :)

3 comments:

  1. Nikki, thank you for spending time showing us the geography of the Antarctica. I love seeing the Ronne shelf, so much so that I needed to look it up myself. Check this out: in October 1998, the iceberg A-38 broke off the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf. It was 150km by 50 km and was larger than Delaware. I'm sure Doug will talk about the breaking and calving and shrinking and sometimes GROWING of the ice sheets. This topic is critical to life for humans on earth. I know the sheet isn't quite as adorable as the penguins (who I assume from your writing speak with a British accent!), but they are powerfully interesting! I like the map and the explanation. Carolyn

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  2. Well... yeah, just thought about it and it is a tie. Both looked sooooooooo yummy. I would have refills until was is gone!! See you soon!! LZ

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  3. Your hot cocoa may have looked cooler but MINE tasted better!!! Mine also was a bigger cup. When everybody gets back to the states we are going to have a hot cocoa off, so you better get that recipe.
    Logybear

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