One of the mountains I've looked forward to visiting for most of my life now is Mt Vinson Massif located far off the coast of Chile in the peaceful and cold land we call Antarctica. I felt I was close from the tip of Chile looking off into the ocean and seeing huge icebergs in the distance. it reminded me of when I went a few thousand meters above Everest base camp and seemed to be in the middle of a basin and around me were six peaks of the Himalayan chain.

The sounds were the same. Big chunks of ice cracking, then falling into the Southern Ocean. It was like listening to a Tucson monsoon when we have loud claps of thunder. What was missing was long, spikes of lightning. Instead of lightning, at night the colors bouncing off the ice cliffs made a picture show from the aurora australis - the southern lights.

By Christian Stangl, CC BY-SA 2.0

From: Wikipedia

Vinson Massif is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is 21 km (13 mi) long and 13 km (8 mi) wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located about 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) from the South Pole. Vinson Massif was discovered in January 1958 by U.S. Navy aircraft. In 1961, the Vinson Massif was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN), after Carl G. Vinson, United States congressman from the state of Georgia, for his support for Antarctic exploration. On November 1, 2006, US-ACAN declared Mount Vinson and Vinson Massif to be separate entities. Vinson Massif lies within the Chilean claim under the Antarctic Treaty System.

Mount Vinson is the highest peak in Antarctica, at 4,892 metres (16,050 ft). It lies in the north part of Vinson Massif's summit plateau in the south portion of the main ridge of the Sentinel Range about 2 kilometres (1+1⁄4 mi) north of Hollister Peak. It was first climbed in 1966 by an American team led by Nicholas Clinch. An expedition in 2001 was the first to climb via the Eastern route, and also took GPS measurements of the height of the peak. As of February 2010, 1,400 climbers have attempted to reach the top of Mount Vinson.

On Tuesday of this last week we had a Wellness Field Day at the Reid Park Zoo. I was asked to represent the wellness section and to include stretching, dance, and meditation exercises for zoo employees, docents, and friends. Well as a way to answer this request, I called up my favorite standout Eller School of Music dancer, Diego Gonzales. I quickly said to Diego, have you got a friend or friends who dance like you? He quickly said yes. I said is that the other stand out dancer I noticed a few months ago at an Eller performance? He said yes, and brought along the multi-talented singer, dancer, and musician Tyson from New Orleans. The boys also brought a third friend, a home-grown dancer from here in Tucson, Destin.

We were going to talk about moths this week, but the trip to the Reid Park Zoo got me distracted and thinking about animals, we'll catch up with the moths next week. I'm about to head off to NYC where I'll visit one of my favorites, the Central Park Zoo which is a satellite of the Bronx Zoo. Each time I head to NY I grab my friend Kathy and I say let's go visit the snow leopards. Central Park Zoo's greatest claim to fame is that it boasts the first two births of snow leopards in captivity. I saw them the first day when the public was invited to see the new cubs.

Look at this indie band. I didn't realize that indie bands were independent bands not a major label, nor did I realize that one of my friends, Tony from Australia had a son who was topping the charts in Australia, his band was opening for headliners, and they are now moving on to headlining themselves.

Nana Klumpp, four Port Mac / Newcastle locals have been playing together for 4 years incorporating various influences anywhere from bands like Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy to Aussie acts like Ocean Alley and the Delta Riggs + more. The boys have been fortunate enough to open for acts such as Lime Cordiale, Ruby Fields, The Vanns, Peach Fur and others. Also playing stages like Festival of the Sun, Rolling Sets and Spaced Out Festival. Fresh off the tail end of their support tour with Lazy Ghost, the NK Boys are raring to keep the live shows coming with new music on the way!

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