KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND– (By Lisa Strong-Aufhauser) At 5 a.m., jammed in a taxi with 7 bags, we arrived at the Stratton Air National Guard base in Scotia, New York.

Arriving with gear.

We dropped our bags to be loaded onto a pallet in the warm, humid predawn. Then we waited in a lunch room along with about 20 scientists until 8 a.m. Finally, we boarded the Hercules LC-130 en route to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. A rumor circulated that we would stop in Canada for gas, and that the station gave ice cream to big purchasers – ice cream for all of us! And a stretch break for the 5 to 6 hour flight north.

The windows in the cargo/passenger hold on our transport were mostly lacking. We sat in sling-chair seats, packed tightly together, dozing and reading. It was also so loud onboard that everyone was given a set of earplugs to protect their hearing. So there wasn’t much talking. When Mary got a brilliant idea, she wrote me a note. “You might ask the payload master whether you can film in the cockpit when we get in sight of Greenland.” It was a fabulous suggestion. I got to shoot from the cockpit almost until we landed.

Turns out, we didn’t stop for ice cream, but the view from the front knocked me out!