The weather goes from lovely early fall to winter really quickly here in the north!
The wind was blowing strongly from the north, bringing some snow and ice pellets to our last stroll around the lodge.
But our pilot did an impressive job landing with the cross winds, and we waved good bye to our wonderful hosts and guides.
Before we left, the manager helped Joe and I celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary with small gifts from the lodge: A lovely picture, a northern cook book and a large jar of their special spice blend. I was touched.
I was good though and we landed safely in Churchill, just in time for lunch. (We had a very decent buffalo burger at one of the restaurants in town. )
Churchill is very small and VERY isolated. Year long population is about 600, it has one road that goes 24 miles out of town. And then stops. You can get there by train or plane from Winnipeg. It takes about 2 days by train, and about 2 hours by plane. Plus, a couple of years ago, a storm washed out a big section of the tracks, so the only option for 18 months was by plane - which, BTW, also means that everything has to be brought in by plane.
The train closure had a very negative impact on the town economy, which used to rely heavily on its shipping port: Grain would be loaded there for export to Europe. Without the train, that stopped and the port is now in some disrepair although shipping is starting again. Tourism- specifically polar bear tourism- is now the main economic source of the town.
A couple of years ago, the town sponsored a «Sea Walls » project, inviting mural artist to come and paint 24 large murals around town. These are indeed interesting and some are very good. This one is my favorite because of the artist took advantage of the corner of the building to give a 3D effect.
I also like the one at the « polar bear prison » a lot!
Speaking of the polar bear prison: It’s an old army hangar where they hold troublesome polar bears for a month before taking them 100 to 150 miles away. 
Here is the bear trap they use. It is much nicer that the snares they used to use, or to just shooting them, which they use to do until 1969. BTW: A troublesome polar bear is one that wanders into town and then starts getting aggressive trying to get food. They only give them water in « prison » because this is a time of the year when they would not be eating in the wild anyway. When the prison is full, they transport them by helicopter: tranquilize them and put them in a net which is then lifted up by the helicopter. It must be quite a sight!
Here is the bear trap they use. It is much nicer that the snares they used to use, or to just shooting them, which they use to do until 1969. BTW: A troublesome polar bear is one that wanders into town and then starts getting aggressive trying to get food. They only give them water in « prison » because this is a time of the year when they would not be eating in the wild anyway. When the prison is full, they transport them by helicopter: tranquilize them and put them in a net which is then lifted up by the helicopter. It must be quite a sight!
There are many other interesting murals (pictures of all of them at end of blog), but the town still looks really drab….. Here is Main Street, looking one way, and then the other.
However, it has the reputation of being a great place to live and raise a family because it is such a strong community, there is no crime, and life is just slower. Also, the rugged coast is very beautiful, particularly with the fall colors against the grey rocks.
And we saw cute arctic hares amongst the rocks: they were really easy to spot, so bright white against the grey rock and the fall colors…. Seems it’d be wiser to wait a bit longer before putting on winter colors…. But what do I know…. (The picture is blurry because taken with my phone - just wanted to show how white they are!). But there are signs everywhere telling you not to walk on any trails because of the bears. So you cannot go on long walks on these beautiful rocky beaches. That would be a deal breaker for me. But I do love learning about these far away places, and how people live so differently there!
Only a couple of buildings are worth taking pictures of. Most are made of corrugated metal or concrete.
But there are some interesting, cool or just weird historical sights: The fist Fort established in 1678, at the interestction of the Churchhill river and Hudson Bay. It was really cold there!!! Can you tell??
The first Anglican Church, with it’s beautiful stained glass window donated by the widow of an explorer who died at sea in 1847.
The remnants of a couple of ships that just got stuck.
And what’s left of an airplane that crashed on the rocks, but so neatly that the 3 people on board (it was a cargo plane) just walked off. It too served as a canvas for a mural.
There is also an old rocket testing site- where the US army and NASA launched over 3000 rockets. But that site has not moved to Sweden. Part of the site is now used for research (northern light, climate change, ecology, that type of stuff).
There is a museum, but from what I gather, it closes randomly, and no one knows when it is open. Today it was not….. It seems quite small but is supposed to have a really nice collection of Inuit art.
But across the street is the post office, where they will stamp your passport with a polar bear. That made me happy, even though the nice lady at the post office did say: « I have to warn you that this is not an official stamp ».
Flying to Winnipeg this evening, spending a short night there (another 4am wake up…..) and then home tomorrow. There is just No security at the Churchill airport: They check your name on the list, and off you go - no metal detector, no search, nothing..... Also, once everyone was on board (about 12 people), we just left, about 20 minutes ahead of schedule - that was nice.
Back to civilization tomorrow, so here is one last picture of our group standing by the "rhino".
And here are a few more pictures of the murals
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