October 14, 2018 - Churchill Canada and Northern Lights

Today we flew to Churchill on a chartered flight.  The only other way to get to Churchill used to be by train but a while back the rail lines washed out.  Now the citizens of Churchill get all of their supplies by either plane or, during the summer, by boat and barge.

We were picked up in a small bus and the first part of the tour was a drive along the Hudson Bay coastline...

 where we saw a very large Inukshuk.

From there we drove out to Prince of Wales Fort (no longer in use).  

While we walked along the walks we had a guard following us, with a rifle, keeping an eye out for polar bears.  They take the bears very seriously.  While they bring in lots of tourists they are also quite dangerous.

Then it was off to the tundra where we transferred to a Tundra Rover.  

We had a great meal while on the tundra.  

We saw polar bears, but only as white dots in the distance.

But we did get to see a snowshoe hare that hung out right beside the rover.  We were all excited.

We had a great sunset.

But the greatest treat of the day was when we were back on the bus headed for Churchill.  We had Northern Lights.  They were truly awesome.  They drove us back to the Inukshuk, which was away from the bulk of the towns lights, so that we could have really good views.  It was probably the biggest highlight of the trip.

We were all ready for bed when we got to the hotel.  It was simple but comfortable.