That was really well written. Out of all those lines, the following really captured my imagination:

It's early June, and back home in Idaho the garden foams with flowers. Here in the High Arctic, I have to search for ten minutes before I find some lichen.

and

When I left my wife planting lemon verbena in the gentle Idaho sunshine, I thought that I was leaving spring behind with her. But spring exists above the Arctic Circle too, once you learn to see it. Tiny willows creep across the ground of Bylot Island, wearing the fuzz of coming blooms. Some of them, an inch tall and no thicker than a pencil, are more than a century old.

I love the idea of something foaming with flowers.

As much as I absolutely loathe being cold, I would love to take at least one trip to the Arctic as well as the Antarctic. Not too long ago, a family friend and I were talking about traveling by train. I believe I've mentioned my interest and intention of someday going the full length of the Trans Siberian Railway, beginning in Japan and ending in London, but on hearing of my interest in rail travel, my friend asked if I'd ever be interested in taking the train up to Churchill, Manitoba, which he informs me, is also the polar bear capital of the world. Hopefully it wasn't just idle chat, as I'd be really into that in spite of the cold.

It's such an alien and ancient environment and I can only imagine (further stoked by this piece) what the rest of the world looks like from such a vantage point.