Days 91-93 (August 1-3): Churchill, Manitoba

Churchill is pretty neat. It was interesting to visit outside of peak tourist season, which corresponds to peak polar bear season (late August to November); I suspect that while there were a good number of us outsiders, the town was relatively more 'normal' than it will be in the coming weeks.

I took three tours:

- a tundra buggy tour, which are designed to go watch polar bears, when it is polar bear season.  We saw two bears, and a variety of other wildlife: caribou, Arctic hare, snow geese, tundra swans, sandhill cranes and various other birds.

- a whale watching boat tour in the estuary of the Churchill River, which was teeming with hundreds of beluga.

- a tour of the town and immediate area.  Of course, the mini-van broke down east of town; and of course, this being a small northern town, the next person to go by stopped and gave me a ride back to the airport so I could catch my outgoing flight.

Some photographic evidence:

That big white bump is one of the two polar bears we saw on the tundra.  We were right next to him (in the buggy of course) and he never looked up. (August 1)

Tundra swan and cygnets. (August 1)

Belugas with the Churchill port in the background. (August 2)

More belugas. (August 2)

Another beluga. (August 2)

Hudson's Bay. (August 2)

Hudson's Bay and rocky coast from Cape Merry National Historic Site. (August 3)

Rocky coast, near Cape Merry. (August 3)

Tundra, very much alive at this time of year. (August 3)

Random observations:

- Other than a ferry from Seattle to Victoria and a bus/ferry combination from Victoria to Seattle, I have been riding the rails from San Diego.  That you can get from San Diego to Churchill by train is fairly impressive.

- The wind blowing in from Hudson's Bay is something else.

- I drank with locals! On Friday, I hung out at the Legion (of course) and the local pub (the Tundra Pub, of course) with a group of locals, I think because it was Lance's birthday.  Don't know much about Lance, but he did appear to like his rye and coke... (And BTW, 'Drinking with Locals' has to become a reality travelling/drinking TV show...)