This building in Steinbach, Manitoba always catches my eye when I drive by it, and a few nights ago, I finally stopped to get a shot of it. I don’t know much about this business, other than what the sign tells me….the business was established in 1892….I wonder if the building was built that year too?
“There’s never one sunrise the same or one sunset the same.”
– Carlos Santana
“So lovely was the loneliness
Of a wild lake, with black rock bound,
And the tall pines that towered around”
Excerpt from The Lake
– Edgar Allan Poe
Spring has been slow to come to Manitoba this year! We set out on our first Spring hike, and it snowed on us…in May!! Despite the snow, the temperature was not too cold, so it was a nice walk. Still snowy in spots along the trail, and very wet – but so wonderful to finally be out walking in the woods again!
Last year, I went along with my kids on a school trip to Churchill, Manitoba. I’ve heard many people say that going to Churchill is on their “Bucket List”, and I understand why! It truly was the trip of a lifetime!
For those of you who don’t know, Churchill is home to many of the world’s polar bears. We went in October – the season when the bears are waiting for the ice to form so that they can hunt for seals. We took a trek out on a Tundra Buggy for a day, and were lucky enough to see a polar bear up close. Some people make the trip, and never actually get to spot one.
Of course, the photos really do no justice to this magnificent creature. This is an animal that’s amazing to see in person – then you truly realize their massive size and beauty.
The “Polar Bear Jail”. This is the facility where Conservation officers hold any captured bears that have been a nuisance in the community, before releasing them back into the wild. On the day we visited, they were holding a bear that had smashed through someone’s living room window and climbed right through! He was a young male, and although we weren’t allowed to go inside, we could hear him loudly smashing on the bars of his cage.
We were lucky to stay at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, which is where researchers, scientists, and zoologists from all over the globe come to learn about polar bears. The director there gave the kids a wonderful and interesting presentation about the bears. Here I am holding a casting of a polar bear’s paw print, which helps to give a good idea of their massive size!
Here, my daughter demonstrates how huge their jaws are!
At first glance, this just looks like a bunch of rocks, but….
…..there’s a polar bear!! Less than 100 feet from us. Amazing!!
Honestly, it almost seemed like this bear was posing! Polar bears are not afraid of humans at all, and so we were able to spend about an hour watching, and taking photos and videos from the safety of the Tundra Buggy.
One of the Tundra Buggies.
Another awesome part of this trip is that we had the opportunity to go dog-sledding. Despite what the rest of the world believes, this is not a common mode of transportation in Canada! The dogs were so beautiful and well trained. You could also tell how much they love what they do! They just want to run! It was so much fun, and I definitely recommend trying it if you ever go to Churchill.
Thanking one of the dogs for a great ride! The owners here were amazing – friendly and welcoming, and you can really see how much they love their dogs, and that treat them very well.
Some beautiful Inuit carvings we saw in the museum.
If you’re interested in learning more about Churchill, or are thinking of traveling there, I looked up a few links.
The Churchill Northern Studies Centre is where we stayed, and it is a new, modern facility. They host “learning vacations” that sound very interesting, if that’s your kind of thing.
Churchill Northern Studies Centre
Blue Sky Expeditions is who we went dog sledding with – they were awesome!
“Go to the winter woods:
listen there, look, watch,
and the “dead months” will give you a subtler secret than any you have yet found in the forest.”
– Fiona Macleod
in Where the Forest Murmurs
“When the bold branches
Bid farewell to rainbow leaves –
Welcome wool sweaters.”
– B. Cybrill
I had almost forgotten all about this photo I took this summer….
“A flash of harmless lightning,
A mist of rainbow dyes,
The burnished sunbeams brightening,
From flower to flower he flies.”
– John Banister Tabb
Many summer mornings, while sitting on our lakeside deck, sipping my coffee and enjoying the quiet solitude, I could hear more often than actually see this little hummingbird. This day, I was lucky to react quickly enough to capture its silhouette against the morning sky.
This fall in Manitoba, we’ve had snow, then rain, and more snow. We had quite a mixed downpour last night, so that our windows were iced over this morning. I liked how I could just see the early glow peeking out behind the shadows of the trees.
“A large drop of sun lingered on the horizon and then dripped over and was gone, and the sky was brilliant over the spot where it had gone….And dusk crept over the sky from the eastern horizon…” – John Steinbeck
I took these two photos from the same spot on the road. One facing Northwest, towards the magnificent sunset. The other, facing Southeast, the glow of the sunset fading into dusk. What a beautiful autumn evening!
atomiesinfinity 