Final Posting

My arctic polar bear vacation ends today as I return home to Milwaukee this afternoon. The biggest adventure yesterday was making it from town to the airport as the snow had not let up and the roads on the way out of town had become a sheet of ice. Our guide Steve did an admirable job driving the school bus and getting us safely from the motel to Gypsy's and out to the airport.

When we arrived, the Churchill Airport was relatively peaceful and quiet. We were able to take care of our check-in requirements, walk around and look at the old historical photos of Ft. Churchill and perhaps even take in some last minute jewelry shopping inside the "terminal".

The peaceful atmosphere of the airport soon turned into pandemonium . . . no wait wrong bear! Wouldn't that be polarmonium?? HA - sorry just my warped sense of humor coming out! Clearly Wednesdays are a busy transition day with the new influx of tourists coming to experience Churchill, her hospitality and bears.

With our good-byes to our new friend Steve, it was time to head south to Winnipeg.

Last night we had our farewell finale dinner at the Winnipeg Hilton. What a difference a few days makes. Our group of families, friends and individual travelers had bonded and become come together through a shared experience of a lifetime. Perhaps friendships were established that will continue to grow from our time spent together in Churchill. For me, it started months before leaving Milwaukee as I began my research and planning at the beginning of 2008.

To Cindy, Celeste and Susan thank you for welcoming me into your travel circle. I hope that we are able to do it again some day!
P.S. I will be writing a more detailed travel journal that will include reviews of all of the sights, activities and experiences from this trip on www.igougo.com. You may want to bookmark my "guide" page there and look for more writings and photos later this month: http://www.igougo.com/profile/profile.aspx?MemberID=347099 . My pen name there is MilwVon.