Arrived in Churchill!

Churchill was everything I expected. Harsh climate, cold, windy not many trees...kinda like Livingston! But it is the warmest it has been on record. Today it got up to 28 F. The sea ice is far from freezing up. There is an old ship that ran aground and has stayed in the ay for many years.

Dr. Halfpenny picked us up at the airport and we did a short tour on the way to the Churchill Research Center. Here is the first polar bear we saw, crossing a frozen pond. Dr. Halfpenny thought her to be a 3-4 yr old (young).

Before dinner we watched the sunset as a group together.

But the best part of the day was seeing the aurora borealis after dinner. It was fantastic! And dangerous. Polar bears can be anywhere laying in the bushes. They are silent on their fluffy feet and can be sneaky. Every time Jim let us out of the van, he had to patrol the area first with a riffle to make sure no bears were nearby. The borealis was so incredible we all cheered like we were watching an exciting football game. We could actually see the curtains move, like a slow-moving, waving flag, changing from lime green, yellow, into red! It came straight down from the North and spanned all the way across the sky, right over us. It was immense. The borealis is 60 miles tall and is 100 miles from us here on earth. A sight to behold.

 What a great day!

Tomorrow is the Tundra Buggy followed by more classroom time.