How I got here

June 20,2010
Not a typical Father's day...I left Rockford on the 6:00 bus to O'Hare airport in Chicago and took the 9:40 flight to Winnipeg. I met two fellow Earthwatchers, Julie and Cathy, while retrieving my luggage in Winnipeg. We them met 8 other Earthwatchers while waiting for the 14:30 flight to Churchill. That plane sat 24 people and took about three hours. I think we flew over a total of one road and 300,00 small bodies of water. The landscape was flat with no signs of humans except for the occasional glimpse of the railroad track. There are no roads to Churchill, the only options for travelling there are train, plane, or boat.
The Northern Studies Research Center (NSRC) is about 18 Km from the airport--not hard to find-- just follow the road to the end. The building has bear bars on all windows and no one is to venture outside alone. Five of us, Cathy, Julie, James, Lisa, and myself walked around the perimeter of the building. We did not see any signs of bear but did see an Arctic Hare about the size of a small dog. The bugs chased us back inside.
Tonight is the shortest night of the year so I expect about 23.5 hours of daylight. Peter Kershaw will provide an introduction to our expedition and tomorrow we will be out in the field.