2011 CHURCHILL OR BUST DAY 11 BACK ON THE TRAIN!!

What can I say it was just like the train to Churchill except in reverse. So check out the earlier post for train details. The only thing that should be noted is that this is truely the slowest train ride in the world. I noticed a couple of times we were passes by rather large mosquitoes (the size of bees), they looked into the window as they passed us and gave us that "bring it one, ya wanna race look. We arrived in The Pas only one hour late checked into the Wescana Motel (described earlier) and crashed for what was left of the night, dreaming of sugar plumb fairies and things that go scratch in the night.

2011 CHURCHILL OR BUST DAY 10 CHURCHILL HISTORY & AREA

This evening at 7:30 PM we will be back on the train to The Pas. This gives us essentially a whole day to check out Churchill, which is what we did. The area has a lot of history going back 400 years to Dutch explorers looking for the Northwest Passage. Today Churchill has three primary industries: tourism as you would guess is one of them, but it is limited to July through November; then there is the hospital which is quite large at about 35 rooms for a small community of about 900 people because its serves the whole population to the north in the arctic which numbers about 30,000 people; finally there is the grain elevator which servesa aboput 25 to 30 ships per year.

MISS PIGGY AS IT IS CALLED, RESULTED FROM A ABORTED TAKEOFF

THAT NEVER GOT CLEANED UP

CHECK OUT THE POLAR BEAR JAIL




BETH IN AN OLD FASHIONED SNARE TRAP
CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW UNHAPPY THIS BEAR WOULD BE!

I'VE NEVER SEEN SO MANY BEAR TRAPS AT ONCE

THEY HAVE A SUB DIVISION (OF SORTS)

POINT MARY ON THE WEST SIDE

THE FORT IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CHURCHILL RIVER

BETH THINKING ABOUT GETTING ON THE TRAIN

WE HAD TO LEAVE JUST AS CHURCHILL DAYS STARTED

JUST PULL UP YOUR 4 WHEELER

2011 CHURCHILL OR BUST DAY 9 POLAR BEARS???

It looks like it isn't "Bust" after all we did make it to Churchill, so now for the bonus....POLAR BEARS!! The high season for Bears at Churchill is last two weeks of October and the first two weeks of November. Basicly the Bears are getting ravenously hungry by that time and are just passing on the shore line waiting for the water to ice over so they can get down to business and go get some seals. So here we are in the third week in July, not ideal but we are the eternal optimists.

OK SO WE SAW PTARMIGAN



AND THEN WE SAW POLAR BEAR.....LOTS OF THEM






SWANS ? YES

BETH IS THINKING OIL CHANGE

I'M THINKING BEAR (BEER) EH!

THANK YOU HUDSON'S BAY, CHURCHILL AND THE POLAR BEARS

2011 CHURCHILL OR BUST DAY 8 OFF THE TRAIN AT CHURCHILL

Yey believe it or not soon we will be at Churchill, here is the sunrise from the train the morning of our arrival on the world's slowest, and latest train.

The Last Place on Earth I'd Expect to Find a Beer From A Brewery About Ten Kilimeters From Where I Grew Up.

Beth And Rudy At Hudson's Bay

2011 CHURCHILL OR BUST DAY 7 ON THE TRAIN!

When we got to The Pas we found Bev at G & L Self Storage and dropped off our motorcycle where it would be safe until our return. We checked in the Wancanda Motel (don't ask) and to got a few hours shut eye the then headed for the train station at 2:30 in the morning. Hot, muggy, and buggy is all I can say. We were the only ones to get on the train which was coming from Winnepeg. The train had cooling so life was good even though we did not depart until 3:30 which was an hour late. Never could figure out why, I guess they wanted to make sure that the train that arrived 15 minutes early would depart an hour late....they were successful. Over the whole trip the train averaged 12.9 MPH, I'm not kidding. This was definetly the slowest train I've ever been on. Oh well we're on vacation, good times!

SUNRISE FROM THE TRAIN APPROCHING THOMPSON




Breakfast In the Dining Car - Good Meal, Good Value

Enjoying the 3 hour layover at Thompson to Make the Train Even Later

Beth Helping People Board The Train

Into Darkness and the Second Night on the Train

2011 CHURCHILL OR BUST DAY 6 ARRIVE THE PAS, MANITOBA

The country side today started to look a lot like the Yukon or Southeast Alaska, lots of bogs and brush with dead trees sticking out above. If we saw ten cars on the highway it was a lot. Once we got to The Pas the place was quite busy. We heard that they just had a weekend of Indigeonus People this past weekend, which filled up the already sparse hotels. We had to wait until late afternoon to choineck into our hotel the "Wescana Inn" trust me it's not a destination resort but it's ok for overnight.

We left the bike with Bev at G&L storage where it will be in good hands while were are gone on the train adventure to see the balugas and the polar bears.

Check out the picture of the rail station below, that is where we are going at 1:30 AM to get on the train to Churchill.

A HERON NEST

OK SO IT'S NOT THE GARD DE L'EST BUT WE HOPE IT WILL GET US THERE

2011 CHURCHILL OR BUST DAY 5 SWAN RIVER

After a fairly short 200 mile or so ride we ended up at Swan River. We had a great dinner at a place called "Y-Not". It was time to do the laundry, luckily the motel had a laundry, and even more lucky for me Beth did the laundry. Tomorrow we go to "The Pas". At The Pas we'll store the bike at a U-Haul storage place with lady name Val. Then we'll get on a train to Churchill at 2:30 in the morning. The train ride takes 1.5 days but hey there will be sleep involved. More on that when we get there. BTW they really big Polar Bear season is October and Novemeber so we'll have hunt them down on the Tundra while they are hunting seals. Got my bear spray!.....funny.

INTERSTING BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE


SILOS GALORE





MORE CHURCHES

YOUR BASIC MANITOBA TOWN

LOTS OF SWAMPS AND BEAVER PONDS

BEAUTIFUL COLORS

HAY ROLLS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE