It’s good to be back in the Northwest. Felt great to stretch the legs on a beautiful summer day. Thanks @steve_moe for making it happen. Mount St. Helens was even crater than expected.

Thanks for everything mom 😍 📷 @caitlynnikula

Antarctica, part 2. What do you think of when you hear Antarctica? Cold, snowy and sheets of ice? Penguins, seals and untouched terrain? All of these wouldn’t be wrong, but perhaps something less known is that whaling was a major industry in the late 1800’s into the mid 1900’s before petroleum replaced whale oil. Whalers Bay is located in the South Shetland Islands (northern peninsula of Antarctica). An eerie smog and misty cold provided a dramatic backdrop of a lost industry and era, surrounded by sinister artifacts of machinery used to harvest whale blubber. The scale of this place is hard to fathom - each tank was at least 30 ft tall and 20 ft in diameter. Whale bones were scattered throughout the island as we walked around. The island was used for scientific research into the mid 1900’s (hence the buildings) but were abandoned due to volcanic activity on the island.

Antarctica, part 1. There are so many amazing things to share about our time exploring the white continent, and to be honest it’s a bit overwhelming where to start. So, here are some chinstrap penguins to kick things off. We were lucky to observe them amongst thousands of others in their colony, many times living harmoniously with other penguins, seals, and birds. Just don’t invite a Skua bird to the party- they make dinner out of unlucky little penguins.