Settling in

Hoping you forgive me for the ramble in the previous post, I'll try to keep things a little more concise and up to date going forward.

Arriving Tuesday about 1000 we were met by an ear-freezing windchill in the -40F range. Luckily, Heidi put my ear flaps down just before they fell off - my ears, that is. A quick stop at the Northern, the grocery store in town, for necessities: potato chips, diet Coke, and candy bars. Then over to Heidi's to drop off the three large containers of cat food we brought up on the train for her which meant she couldn't say no to our request to stop at the liquor store: $171 Canadian but only $159 US which made Linda feel ever so slightly better; Heidi, of course, was quite happy as we use her air miles card to get her points - I think we got her a trip to Florida last year. Seriously. Then off to our adopted winter home! Just some awesome views of the frozen bay and stark rock-filled landscapes. Makes you really respect the folks who can live up here.

Ramble alert: Oh, btw, we road up in the train with Gerald from Blue Sky Dogsledding. He trains and runs his dogs and takes groups out for runs which we will be doing tomorrow (Friday). He was just getting back from a Canadian Rangers military exercise which involved lots of snowmobiling, sleeping in tents, and all this during some extremely cold weather. He seemed to love it. More later.

Now, on the way up we got friendly with three Mennonite couples who were going to Churchill to sign at the hospital. They were quite interested in the Centre so I invited them out if they could find transportation. They called Wednesday and asked if they could come to dinner as well as visit as they had heard that the Centre would often feed people. I ran it by Heidi and our cook who both agreed especially since we had no other guests yet. Lots of credit to Laura who only had a few hours notice but put together a great pork chop dinner with roasted veggies, potatoes, salads, corn bread a la Laura, cranberry sauce supreme, and butter tarts. Alan the astronomer and Sarah the intern also joined us. Had a great time eating and talking, giving them a tour (they loved the viewing dome), and they put on a little a cappella concert for us. They all had some interesting stories and it was quite an evening.

This Thursday about 1000 the first group arrived. Excited as usual. But Linda and I and Laura were pretty straight out getting lunch ready as well as supper and washing dishes and it was a pretty exhausting day. But an exhilarating moment when Linda spied an arctic fox - our first in three years - out the window next to the building. Out came our cameras and out the door we went in our short sleeves. Then we got a few more pics once back inside. Wish I had had my 50x Canon at the ready but only had my 10x compact. Tiny black tip on the tail which you can't see in this pic. And, yes, he does have four legs - the tracks and his gait indicated he had a limp so he might have been injured.

Tonight we had a lecture - welcoming introduction by Mike the Director and then Alan Dyer gave an intro to northern lights. Quite good, very professional. I hope he'll give us a copy of his presentation.

But, alas, it is cloudy again. Oh, well, a full night's sleep for us but a worrisome sleep for the group who is hoping to see the lights soon. Tomorrow it all starts over again like Groundhogs Day the movie LOL.

Brian vs The TSA, Elk Steak, Slow Train to Churchill and other stories (sorry for the long ramble to follow)

Prairie 360 restaurant

Friday- Monday, January 24-27, 2014 -

The trip got off to a great start after arriving via Curtis Shuttle Service (highly recommended) at Hartford airport. Incredibly, we got TSA Prechk which meant a special line where you did not have to take off your shoes, belt, open your computer, or swear allegiance to anything. All went quickly and well. Well, until they found two knives in my carry-on. Off came the shoes. Then the frisk, nothing too personal, however. But that probably was going to happen anyways because of my bionic knee. Surprisingly, no one panicked, airport wasn’t shut down, and the knives I lost were cheap. But I doubt they’ll put me in that line again! Linda filed that one away, for sure!

Rest of the flights were uneventful and we landed in Winnipeg at noon CST where the temperature was a balmy +28F - we were overdressed! Starman (aka Roger who does the aurora courses at CNSC) kindly picked us up and took us to the Fort Garry. Then he turned around, drove back an hour to pick up his wife, and brought her in to have dinner with us at the revolving restaurant Prairie 360.

Elk steak

Had a great dinner with them, very leisurely (2 ½ hours) with beef carpaccio, elk steak, venison scallopini, walleye, and pork Wellington. Too full for dessert so missed their Fried Bannock Napolean. Great views of Winnipeg, we went around at least three times.

Fort Garry from above at Prairie 360

A good night’s sleep at the Fort Garry and awoke to temps below 0 - now that was more like it. Have to get acclimated for Churchill. But no wind so after a very nice breakfast with Laura, the cook at CNSC who would be traveling up on the train with us, we went over to The Forks which is Winnipeg’s version of Nathaniel Hall. People were skating up and down the frozen Red and Assiniboine rivers,

warming hut of pool noodles

Hot chocolate at restaurant on ice

building warming huts of very diverse designs, and having lunch in a temporary restaurant built on the ice. We stopped in to have hot chocolate and take a few pics. At night the restaurant - Raw Almond - is all lit up, faux polar bear skins set on stumps for seats,  everyone still in their coats, communal seating, funky music and waiters, and $100/person. Hot chocolate was only $2. This was the second year the restaurant did this, it goes on for about three weeks, is sold out, and features very interesting dishes created by chefs from around the city. Did I say it cost $100/person?

Started talking to a sales girl inside one of The Fork’s businesses and, lo and behold, we both knew the same person from Churchill, Jessica, who had been one of The Girls With Guns during our polar bear trip. Small world. Linda went back the hotel shortly after that and I went and had all my hair cut off at Urbanitehair.

That night (Saturday) went out to our favorite Thai restaurant, Thadia’s on Donald Street - the one you can walk to from the Garry without freezing - and had a great ginger stir-fry and stuffed chicken wings. They did not skimp on the ginger! It was so good we got a takeout order which, as I write this, the train staff is warming up for us in the microwave for Sunday night’s dinner.

Sunday breakfast at the Fort Garry was wonderful again - waffles, eggs Benedict, fresh fruits, pastries, peameal bacon, the list goes on. And our great server made us up a bag of snacks for the train. And the Garry's lounge/dining room is quite spectacular, too.

Now the sad tale of the train. What with the cold setting back in on Sunday and blowing snow causing near whiteout conditions we were delayed 4 hours. Then came the frozen switches and snow drifts on the tracks. Consequently all our well laid plans of stopping in Thompson to do some last minute shopping and get some food have disappeared like a ptarmigan into a snowbank. Sunday night was no problem as we had the ginger stir-fry but after that all I could think about was food, food, food. It’s not like we are starving as we have a box of Ritz, fruit, some nuts and more, and the train does serve microwave meals of a sort but I had my stomach set on that deli in Thompson. Everything else is going well, though. Linda and I have the sleeper area and bathrooms/shower all to ourselves so we left our two beds down during the day for napping and still had two comfortable seats. But I’m still thinking about that A&W drive-in back in The Pas which is open 24 hours but was too far away in the purported -40F for the time we stopped there. Food, wonderful food….May I have some more, Sir?

Looking out the train window Saturday we saw a traffic jam on Canadian Rt 1, the main highway running across Canada, and heard that it was shut down due to the blowing snow. Even our train had to contend with it has it plowed it’s way with noticeable oomph's through snowbanks on the tracks. Made us feel a little better that we weren't driving.

The cribbage gods were not kind to me as I lost three games to Laura the Cook by a total of about 12 points after she had me explain the rules to her again. Was I snookered? Can’t wait to start playing with Roger again and get back on the winning track. Or Hughie.

The weather cleared during the night and the stars were out as we lurched along. It was a long dawn before we actually saw the sun sometime before 0900.

Ok, I have to wrap this ramble up and get on to our stay and adventures in Churchill. But first a little foreshadowing: Mennonites that we met on the train, waking to a tundra-like environment Tuesday morning on the train which meant we were getting close to Churchill... no mas!

Once more up to the icy lights

Insanity is said to be repeating the same action over and over again...and expecting a different result. Well, I don't expect it to be any warmer in Churchill in 2014 than it was in 2013. So, as Sheldon says, "I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested." But you might have a different opinion to which you are entitled.

I do know there will be six more weeks of beautiful nighttime auroras, interesting new people to meet and friends to meet anew, tons of dishes to wash, two long train rides of 43 hours each, fun times in Winnipeg staying at the Fort Garry, lots of butter tarts to eat, an 8mm fisheye lens to figure out, cribbage games to be lost but mostly won (thanks, Roger!), and who knows what else. But we will miss Lesya and Andrew as they frolic in sunny New Zealand.