November 3, 2022 - Churchill, Canada - Tundra Rover

*** DISCLAIMER: We are not able to upload any of the video we took because the internet is SO SLOW! When we get back to Winnipeg I will post a polar wrap up and put in video from our time in Churchill.


We were up and ready, breakfast finished and on the bus to the Tundra Rover Launch site by 7:30 this morning. It was still completely dark! We had a light snow overnight and it continued off and on all day in varying degrees of intensity. Once onboard, our driver, Robert, headed out to the tundra. Almost immediately we were rewarded with our first bear sighting! The bear stopped at the rover in front of us and looked in the window, then ambled past and stopped at the rover behind us before heading back out across the tundra!
Ater watching him we moved along and soon spotted several ptarmagin near the willows.
Moving along we spotted bear number two, resting tucked in some willows.
We watched him for a while while we enjoyed hot chocolate, hot tea and cookies! Miranda and Krista gave us lots of information about bears, their habitat, and habits. There were a couple other tundra rovers parked a little further on and we had seen a couple bears headed toward them but then lost sight of the bears. When they pulled out, Robert manuevered our rover near where they had been parked and backed up near the edge of the tundra so our rear deck was facing the bears. We VERY quietly went out and they soon were curious and up to check us out.


They wandered up and walked under our back deck sniffing at our boots!





These two guys were so fun to watch - rolling in the snow, posturing, fighting, then ambling off together!

Moving on we went past several plovers and more ptarmagin before coming to our fifth bear of the day. This one was snoozing and only looked up once or twice! We stayed here and watched him while we had our lunch on the rover. What a feast! Hot soup, salad, sandwiches and brownies! We certainly are not going hungry on this trip!
After lunch we headed out looking for more bears. We didn't see any more but a few people spotted an arctic fox - Tobey was one of them! I could never find it in the binoculars, but several other saw it.

Our rover driver let us have a try at driving. On the section we got to drive it didn't seem that hard. Of course, none of us had to negotiate hills, water, or ice!

Tobey wanted to know which way we were supposed to go!

It was kind of like driving the RV - only much higher up!

Yes, we are having fun! It was cold, but not terrible. The worst part was when we were on the back deck shooting pictures of the bears. The wind was blowing and without gloves our hands quickly got numb! Thank goodness we had handwarmers to put in our gloves when we came back inside. Tomorrow we will activate them BEFORE we go outside!

Back at the launch site, we backed into our parking spot, offloaded off the back deck and into our van for transport back to town. Dinner was at the Dancing Bear Restaurant - part of our hotel. It was good, but again, too much food! Tomorrow morning breakfast is at 6:15, so another early morning before we head back out to the tundra. Sleep well, friends!

November 2, 2022 - Winnipeg to Churchill, Canada

We were awake and bags out before 6:45 this morning - no one was going to be waiting for us to be ready! We were to meet in the hotel lobby and be ready to go by 8:15. That's when we started the "hurry up and wait" game. Typical of tours, not everyone shows up on time but we relaxed and visited with some of the others in our tour group. Then there was a problem with our bus which was taking us to the airport and they had to make sure it was safe to go. They couldn't figure out what was wrong, but it smelled much like rotten eggs! We were given N-95 masks which helped and fortunately, the ride was only about 20 minutes!

We boarded our CalmAir charter flight and were under way by about 10 am. They served yummy cookies (from Costco!), snacks, soft drinks or hot drinks. We didn't notice that Tobey sat down in a seat with a "DO NOT SIT HERE" sign in it until we were well underway. He mentioned it to the flight attendant and she moved him to a new seat. Apparently it didn't recline, so they didn't want it used in case there was something else wrong with it.
Leaving Winnipeg we could see the river winding its way through the countryside. It was interesting to find out that the Red River which goes through Winnipeg actually flows north through southern Manitoba into Lake Winnipeg!

For most of the flight we were above clouds, so there wasn't much to see! As we approached Churchill, we were able to see snow and tundra. It was so desolate!


After arriving we waited for everyone before boarding our bus.There were two groups on our plane - 16 each with two guides each.

Miranda, our guide, told us to be on the lookout as we made our 20 minute ride from the airport to town. We were so lucky! We saw five red fox as we made our way into town! We stopped and watched as they were hunting and moving around the area.

The last one way up on a hill, sleeping when Krista, our assistant tour guide spotted it. We watched for quite a while and it got up and stretched before settling back down.


We went by lots of empty spaces!

In town, we stopped for our lunch at the Seaport Hotel before heading to the Itsanitaq Museum. It isn't large, but there are nice displays of local art as well as artifacts and taxidermy animals.

We didn't know that narwhal actually existed, but they have a skull and tusks on display (standing up against the post in the picture below). The narwhal tusk which is most commonly found on males, is actually an enlarged tooth with sensory capability. It has up to 10 million nerve endings inside! Some have up to two tusks while others have none. The spiraled tusk can grow as long as 10 feet.


This display were actual polar bears - the first little one at 15 days old. The sign said it was a poor job of taxidermy, but they wanted to include it so you could see the size!
We had about an hour there then we went to our hotel, The Churchill Hotel. We had a couple hours before our evening program and dinner so Tobey and I walked over and went through the grocery store and one of the gift shops. It is SO expensive here because everything has to be brought in by the train or air. There are no roads to Churchill. A 2-litre bottle of Coke was $6.99 Canadian or $5.10 USD!

Our evening program was at the local train station. Eric from the Canada Parks system gave us an interesting 45 minute talk about Churchill, Wapusk National Park, the wildlife, and conservation and education research in the area. It was really interesting. We had a little time to look at the displays before heading back to the Seaport Hotel for dinner.

Tomorrow morning we depart the hotel at 7:25 to head off to our tundra buggy hoping to see polar bears so goodnight and sleep well!

November 1, 2022 - Winnipeg, Canada

Our alarm went off at 7:30 this morning and the sun was JUST starting to come up!From our window we can see the Via Rail Station in the picture below with the arched entrance. The red in the background is the Esplanade Riel, the pedestrian bridge that runs next to the Provencher Bridge.
After breakfast we took a self-guided walking tour around the area. We passed through the rail station and came out near the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. There are lots of informational signs all along the walkway with the history of the area.

Across the walkway is a large park and stage area and the Winnipeg sign. They also had a huge skate park - although it was a bit chilly for skaters today.

Just past the museum we crossed the Red River on the pedestrian Esplanade Riel and arrived in the Old St. Boniface area of Winnipeg, also know as Winnipeg's French Quarter.

The tall spire on the walkway signifies a place of meeting in the middle of the Red River.


We walked by the Cathedral de Saint Boniface. The walls you see were originally from 1905-08, but a fire in 1968 destroyed much of the building. They built a very modern looking chapel behind the walls. The architect who designed the new chapel said "We're not trying to reconstruct the old church. We have these ruins, the burning is part of the church's history and from these a new cathedral arises."  It was interesting to read about all of the nuns who were instrumental in taking care of the people in the area as early as the 1700s. Saint Boinface Hospital is Manitoba's second largest hospital was founded by the Sisters of Charity of Montreal in 1871! It was the first hospital in Western Canada. 

We continued along the trail and back across the river to the Forks area of Winnipeg. There are lots of shops and restaurants in the area. You can see our hotel with the green roof in the distance.

We circled back by the hotel to take our COVID tests required by the tour company. We then headed toward the Exchange District and Theatre District.

We didn't stop here, but I think they know how to have fun in Winnipeg!

We found a busy little restaurant in the Theatre District for lunch. We SPLIT a Reuben sandwich and tomato/bacon soup for lunch. Tobey has HALF! We were both stuffed and couldn't imagine eating a whole thing.

With tired feet, we made our way back to the hotel to pick up our boots and heavy coats for the trip up to Churchill tomorrow. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and catching up on emails since we won't have much internet (slow) when we get to Churchill.

Tonight the bridge is blue!

Our group of 16 folks met for dinner at 7 this evening. Our expedition leader, Miranda, and Christa, her assistant, gave a program during dinner going over what we can expect over the next few days. Like on a cruise ship, our bags need to be outside the room by 6:45 am before we head off for breakfast. We are supposed to depart the hotel for our charter flight at 8:15. Needless to say, I am really excited! So for tonight, goodnight!