Polar Bear Trip
1 week until we leave on our 2013 Adventure. First we head to the UP of Michigan to visit a few friends in Michigamme. Then we head through Wisconsin and Minnesota to International Falls and up to Sio...
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Day 19
We spent the day getting our rigs and pets ready for us to leave them. Needless to say, we were all eager to board the train for the overnight trip to Churchill. Colleen, the campground owner, will take care of the dogs while we are away. She obviously likes dogs and we feel comfortable leaving them with her.
Previously, in The Pas, we were required to draw a slip of paper to see if we had a double or single berth on the train. This did not go over well. Obviously, the brochure failed to mention this. We had drawn a double berth. There was not a lot of room in there, but we were only going to spend 16 hours on the train. Dinner was better than expected. I think that they had a chef onboard. After dinner, we sat and played cards in the dining car. Later, I climbed into the top bunk to attempt to sleep.
Day 20
Was that a bunk or a washing machine that I slept in? The top bunk kept moving around on me. I had no motion sickness but the irregular movement prevented me from sleeping more than a couple of hours. Mark that one off my Bucket List! Good Riddance!
We arrived in Churchill at 9:30 and were ushered onto an old school bus that was painted green to hide the fact. Paul, our tour guide for the day, drove us around Churchill for a while on a "City Tour". Obviously the hotel was not ready for us yet. We drove past the Polar Bear Jail, a crashed airplane, and various other "wonders". What a waste of precious time. We finally arrived at The Tundra Inn. After lunch, we took a walking Tour of Churchill. We went to the Eskimo museum which had some interesting artifacts. We had the Post Office stamp our passports with their Polar Bear Stamp. Back to the hotel for dinner and sleep before our Tundra Buggy Ride.
Day 21
Oh, did they mention that this is just before the actual polar bear season begins? Not Really! I guess that you can see where this is headed.
We boarded the Green schoolbus early in the morning and rode to the nature area. We boarded the Tundra Buggy and were introduced to Kevin, our tour guide and driver. Kevin was very knowledgeable and a great tour guide. As we lumbered around in the TundraBuggy, Kevin explained a lot of facts about the flora and fauna of the Churchill area. It is a good thing that he was entertaining because we spent the entire day craning our necks to see a polar bear. As we headed back to the "station", Kevin stopped the Buggy, got out his binoculars and pointed out a polar bear at 1800 meters away. Our first sighting....how dramatic! Since we were on our way back, we did not have the time to go for a close up today.
Day 22
We boarded the Tundra Buggy this morning with our lesser expectations this morning. Kevin explained that we were going to the area that we saw the bear yesterday. We lumbered off. These Tundra Buggies go very slowly. We were all anticipating a close encounter. The bear from yesterday was located about a hundred meters away from the road. Since we had to stay on the paths, we watched as he picked up his head in curiosity. He was not curious enough to approach us. We lumbered on to seek another. Another Tundra Buggy had spotted a bear that was close to the road. We parked near to the other buggy and watched the bear. Kevin decided to have soup and sandwiches at this point. Those aromas enticed the bear to come up to the buggy. Our Close Encounter was great. It was a young male bear and he came right up to the buggy for quite a while. Plenty of photo opportunities. This was what we had all been waiting for. It's a good thing that this bear had responded. This was the last bear that we saw during the trip.
We went back to the hotel to collect our crayon luggage for the plane flight to Thompson. After a short flight, we were back in Thompson. We were transported back to our motorhomes by local taxis. It was great to see the puppies again.
Day 23
We had the day off to explore Thompson and settle back into our coaches. Did I mention that there is not much to see in Thompson? The only museum was closed since it was Sunday. We had dinner at a local eatery/bar. We should have eaten in the coach. 3 hours to eat cold food that was not very tasty(I'm being kind here).
Day 24
Thompson to Grand Rapids
We left this morning after an hour in line to dump and fill. We were dry camping in a gas station parking lot tonight so we need water and empty tanks. The roads were smooth. We stopped at the Pisew Falls turnout and ate lunch.
We all parked at the back of the truck stop and had a potluck dinner. I guess this was the equivalent of circling the wagons. MaryAnne and I said our goodbyes since tomorrow we would be leaving the caravan. I had jury duty the following week and we had already spent too much time in Winnipeg.
Day 25, 26, 27, 28
Grand Rapids, MB to Grand Rapids, MI
Well, that's the end. Would I take this trip knowing what I know now? No. A lot of money and time to see a few bears. I would plan it out to fly there and be at the height of the season. I'm sure that I would see more bears. I would also have time to take that optional dogsled ride that I thought would be offered in addition to our tundra buggy rides. We could have taken one instead of a day on the tundra buggy. This was not an option in my opinion.
Thanks for reading this log! Message me if you have a question.
We spent the day getting our rigs and pets ready for us to leave them. Needless to say, we were all eager to board the train for the overnight trip to Churchill. Colleen, the campground owner, will take care of the dogs while we are away. She obviously likes dogs and we feel comfortable leaving them with her.
Previously, in The Pas, we were required to draw a slip of paper to see if we had a double or single berth on the train. This did not go over well. Obviously, the brochure failed to mention this. We had drawn a double berth. There was not a lot of room in there, but we were only going to spend 16 hours on the train. Dinner was better than expected. I think that they had a chef onboard. After dinner, we sat and played cards in the dining car. Later, I climbed into the top bunk to attempt to sleep.
Day 20
Was that a bunk or a washing machine that I slept in? The top bunk kept moving around on me. I had no motion sickness but the irregular movement prevented me from sleeping more than a couple of hours. Mark that one off my Bucket List! Good Riddance!
We arrived in Churchill at 9:30 and were ushered onto an old school bus that was painted green to hide the fact. Paul, our tour guide for the day, drove us around Churchill for a while on a "City Tour". Obviously the hotel was not ready for us yet. We drove past the Polar Bear Jail, a crashed airplane, and various other "wonders". What a waste of precious time. We finally arrived at The Tundra Inn. After lunch, we took a walking Tour of Churchill. We went to the Eskimo museum which had some interesting artifacts. We had the Post Office stamp our passports with their Polar Bear Stamp. Back to the hotel for dinner and sleep before our Tundra Buggy Ride.
Day 21
Oh, did they mention that this is just before the actual polar bear season begins? Not Really! I guess that you can see where this is headed.
We boarded the Green schoolbus early in the morning and rode to the nature area. We boarded the Tundra Buggy and were introduced to Kevin, our tour guide and driver. Kevin was very knowledgeable and a great tour guide. As we lumbered around in the TundraBuggy, Kevin explained a lot of facts about the flora and fauna of the Churchill area. It is a good thing that he was entertaining because we spent the entire day craning our necks to see a polar bear. As we headed back to the "station", Kevin stopped the Buggy, got out his binoculars and pointed out a polar bear at 1800 meters away. Our first sighting....how dramatic! Since we were on our way back, we did not have the time to go for a close up today.
Day 22
We boarded the Tundra Buggy this morning with our lesser expectations this morning. Kevin explained that we were going to the area that we saw the bear yesterday. We lumbered off. These Tundra Buggies go very slowly. We were all anticipating a close encounter. The bear from yesterday was located about a hundred meters away from the road. Since we had to stay on the paths, we watched as he picked up his head in curiosity. He was not curious enough to approach us. We lumbered on to seek another. Another Tundra Buggy had spotted a bear that was close to the road. We parked near to the other buggy and watched the bear. Kevin decided to have soup and sandwiches at this point. Those aromas enticed the bear to come up to the buggy. Our Close Encounter was great. It was a young male bear and he came right up to the buggy for quite a while. Plenty of photo opportunities. This was what we had all been waiting for. It's a good thing that this bear had responded. This was the last bear that we saw during the trip.
We went back to the hotel to collect our crayon luggage for the plane flight to Thompson. After a short flight, we were back in Thompson. We were transported back to our motorhomes by local taxis. It was great to see the puppies again.
Day 23
We had the day off to explore Thompson and settle back into our coaches. Did I mention that there is not much to see in Thompson? The only museum was closed since it was Sunday. We had dinner at a local eatery/bar. We should have eaten in the coach. 3 hours to eat cold food that was not very tasty(I'm being kind here).
Day 24
Thompson to Grand Rapids
We left this morning after an hour in line to dump and fill. We were dry camping in a gas station parking lot tonight so we need water and empty tanks. The roads were smooth. We stopped at the Pisew Falls turnout and ate lunch.
We all parked at the back of the truck stop and had a potluck dinner. I guess this was the equivalent of circling the wagons. MaryAnne and I said our goodbyes since tomorrow we would be leaving the caravan. I had jury duty the following week and we had already spent too much time in Winnipeg.
Day 25, 26, 27, 28
Grand Rapids, MB to Grand Rapids, MI
Well, that's the end. Would I take this trip knowing what I know now? No. A lot of money and time to see a few bears. I would plan it out to fly there and be at the height of the season. I'm sure that I would see more bears. I would also have time to take that optional dogsled ride that I thought would be offered in addition to our tundra buggy rides. We could have taken one instead of a day on the tundra buggy. This was not an option in my opinion.
Thanks for reading this log! Message me if you have a question.
