I spent a day in Punta Arenas, and then flew from there to Santiago, Chile. I took an overnight flight from Santiago to Dallas, Texas. After waiting several hours at the airport there, I flew to Portland, Oregon, where my husband was waiting to greet me ! Then we drove two hours to our home. All together, my trip took about 29 hours from Punta Arenas to Corvallis ! (I'm glad I can sleep on airplanes !)

It was a wonderful experience to be at Palmer Station. I hope that other teachers will consider applying for this program. Applications are available at this TEA website : ../join_tea_reply.html

It is also wonderful to be at home, though it seems a little strange. I haven't needed door keys, car keys, or money while I was at Palmer Station. I didn't have to drive a car, shop, cook, pay bills, or think about what we should have for supper! We didn't have television to watch, radio to listen to, or telephones to answer! We didn't see children, either, so it was very nice to drive by a school playground today and see the children playing.

Thanks to all the students, teachers, and other people who sent me email messages and questions while I was at Palmer Station. Special thanks go to the students and teachers at Linn-Benton Community College, Corvallis, Oregon.

My thanks to the National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs and Division of Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Education (EISE) for their support of this project and to Drs. Hugh Ducklow and Rebecca Dickhut of the VIMS POPs science group. I also thank Dr. Stephanie Shipp, Rice University, Principal Investigator of the TEA Antarctic group.

These journals were only possible because many people shared their stories with me. I thank the scientists who work on bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton (especially krill), seabirds, and the chemistry of plants and starfish. Finally, I thank especially the entire Palmer Station Raytheon Polar Services staff for sharing their time and talents with me. They explained their work, gave me content for math problems, and allowed themselves to be photographed for this TEA website. Many staff members also answered specific email questions from students, and others contributed digital images.