We were rightfully informed that we were only going to be passengers on this ride and that we had no driving responsibilities. The two passengers sat on the seats of this specially-made sled and the driver (musher) stood on the rear platform. The dog team consisted of five equally matched pairs of dogs and the course was 1.25 miles long, laid out as race conditions might exist.  For our ride, Norma sat in front and took pictures and Herb sat in the rear and just hung on. Norma did a wonderful job operating the camera and taking superb photos with the sled speeding along  bumpy terrain at roughly 7-8 miles per hour.

We left Tampa, FL just after noon on Monday, March 7, 2016; and after passing through Minneapolis, we arrived later that day in Winnipeg, MB, where we spent the night. Early the next morning we flew to Churchill, MB where our adventure began. We were met at the airport and taken to our hotel for the week by Belinda, the owner of the Tundra Inn. On our way to the hotel, Belinda drove us around town (didn't take too long) and showed us the restaurants (two), shops to buy souvenirs  (3), school (1), hospital (1), post office (1) and grocery store (1). Fortunately for us, the two of these that were the closest to our hotel were the grocery store and one of the restaurants. Churchill is not big enough to get lost in, and all of the streets run parallel or perpendicular to each other. At night, the streets are all well lit, not for our benefit we found out later, but to identify and dissuade curious polar bears.

On our way to the hotel we had also driven by the "beach" just north of town where there's a small park, playground and rock formations honoring the history of Churchill. Belinda told us that this was the best place in town, within walking distance of the hotel, to view the Northern Lights with minimal interference from the street lights. Below is a satellite view of Churchill with our hotel (Tundra Inn) and the route we took to the beach marked. During 3-4 summer months this beach actually provides water access to the Hudson Bay, otherwise it is frozen solid and covered with ice flows. This satellite view was obviously taken during one of the summer months since there's no snow to be seen.

The string of bad weather returned as a blizzard with heavy blowing snow arrived during the day and lingered through the night on Sunday.  While there were times when the snow let up, the winds remained stead between 25 and 30 mph, creating drifts and low visibility.  As you can see from the photos we've already displayed, there were very few people around, either residents or tourists. There were never more than 10-12 people at one time in the hotel and the most people ever gathered together in one spot was dinner time at the Seaport Restaurant or breakfast at Gypsy's.  The blizzard reduced that number even further.

By about 10:00 PM the snow had pretty much ended but the wind was still howling. We had resorted to watching movies on HBO and occasionally monitoring the live camera feed from the Northern Lights Research Center east of town.  Just before midnight there seemed to be a streak of green light crossing the camera's view. Herb dutifully donned his heavy winter gear and ventured out to the beach in search of one last glimpse  of the NL.  All he succeeded in doing was getting his face blistered and nearly ripped off by the fierce wind.  Norma had feared for his life and followed him to identify the corpse. Halfway to the beach, she was picked up by a mad man (and could be serial killer) out for a joy ride in his new pickup-go- anywhere truck. We knew him as "Fred," the part-owner of the Gypsy Cafe who had served us breakfast three times that week. He promised to return us safely (by the way, what were WE doing out on a night like this?) but first insisted on showing us that part of town we hadn't had time or the energy to walk to.  He proceeded to get stuck in a snow drift, and after calling a telephone directory full of friend's phone numbers, finally found one who didn't say "Hell no!"

After about 15 minutes, here came Hal (we don't really know his name). Hal had a 2-wheel-drive people-mover van and a long skinny rope. After breaking the rope three times, pulling the truck deeper into the snow drift while packing snow around the engine and causing it to overheat (steam and antifreeze everywhere), we abandoned the truck altogether. Hal drove us mercifully back to our hotel, and we were comfortably back in bed by 2:00 AM, no worse for wear.

Now you must think the worst is over, they're leaving tomorrow. But wait, there's more to the story.  The next day the weather has cleared, the wind is blowing the snow off of the runway, and it looks like we're getting out of Dodge just in time. We've already decided to pack up our checked luggage and mail it home so we don't have to check it or carry it through customs. Mailing it would cost about the same as checking it on Delta, but not having to deal with it in customs weighed heavily on our minds. We would keep our carry-on bags with a change of underwear and toiletries and wear our light winter clothes home. We weren't stupid! We waited until early afternoon when we got the word from the airline that they were indeed sending an airplane from Winnipeg to pick us up. THEN we mailed our luggage, just about 2 hours before we got word that the airplane they sent couldn't land on an ice-covered runway. It seems that ice doesn't melt and salt doesn't work at temperatures of -10 to -15 deg. F. Who knew?

The good news was that no one else could arrive to take our rooms, so we had a place to stay. Did we forget to say that the wind had blown the train off of the tracks, so people weren't arriving or departing by rail either? The airline assured us that they would be sending a different airplane (one that could land on ice in an emergency) on Tuesday to pick us up, and we were the first with confirmed seats.

Other good news was that the skies had cleared and the wind was gradually subsiding. Herb kept a vigilant eye on the sky and continued to monitor the camera feed from the Research Center. Just before midnight, the Northern Lights came out in all their splendid glory and produced the most spectacular display we had seen since our first night in Churchill. We had put on every piece of clothing we had left and hurried to the beach for one last look.  By now we were hardened veterans and braved the cold until the last flicker. It was our final farewell and "Happy Travels."

Our ride lasted about 10 minutes, but with the wind chill hovering around -25 deg. F it seemed like we had gone ten miles instead of just one. We all gratefully accepted congratulations and certificates for having completed what the trainers had lovingly named the course the Ididamile (say it like I-did-a-mile). You can watch a portion of our ride (the couple just after us) by pressing the "Ididamile" button on the right. Press the "Dave Daley" button to meet the musher Dave Daley and some of his dogs.

Upon arrival at the fort we were given the history of the fort and a safety briefing about polar bears from the resident historian. We then disembarked and entered the fort. From the outside, the dining "tent" did not appear sound, but once inside we were more assured with heavy support beams being readily visible. The structure was well heated with a large fuel oil burner outside, so it was very comfortable inside.  Occasional glimpses of the moon from the east reassured us that if the Northern Lights were out we would see them through the clear plastic ceiling.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit in September, 2015 to Fairbanks, Alaska to see the Northern Lights. Getting only one opportunity to see the lights, while exciting, was also somewhat disappointing. We had chosen Fairbanks in September for several reasons: farther north (closer to the North Pole), warmer (usually in the 50s that time of year), more and better accommodations, more reliable transportation options, and did we mention warmer? Further research after we returned indicated that a better opportunity to see the Norther Lights in North America is available in Churchill, MB in March. We have always wanted to go to Churchill in October to see the polar bears (future trip) but discovered that seeing both the polar bears and the Northern Lights in a single trip was highly unlikely.

The reason Churchill is so popular in March is Churchill is at a latitude where the nearly circular band of radiation/solar  interaction (Northern Lights) is most active.  March is historically the best time of year for providing clear cool skies with little or no cloud cover, low humidity, light winds and minimal precipitation.  Usually March is warmer than January or February, snow is beginning to melt and spring vegetation is beginning to sprout. Of course no one told them the Laws were coming! While we were there, Churchill had one of its coldest months on record with the most snowfall in history; did we mention 40 mph winds? Fortunately we did get to see the Northern Lights four of the seven nights we were there. The first and last nights were the best (4 to 5 on a scale of 1 being low and 5 being high on activity) with numerous adventures in between.

While we were in Winnipeg on our way to Churchill, we had dinner at a restaurant in the airport (very good, by the way), and we had an interesting conversation with our waitress. She asked us where we were headed, and when we told her Churchill, she asked if we were going to Raw: Churchill. We had no idea what that was so she explained that it was a culinary experience that had originated in Winnipeg that was planned for Churchill while we were there. While we were in route from the airport to the hotel, Belinda had also asked us if we were attending the event. Since she had been working with the organizers and was hosting some of the workers for the event, she thought she could get two remaining tickets if they were still available.

Meanwhile, we researched the event and discovered that it was to be held outdoors within the walls of the Prince of Wales Fort just west of town. A structure had been built and covered with clear plastic to protect 20 dining patrons at one long table from the snow, wind and cold (click here for more details). The clear plastic would allow the Northern Lights to be visible within, if they were out. There were to be two seatings of 20 persons each on two nights, Thursday and Friday; we got the last two seats at the first seating on Friday.

Just before dark on Friday, we boarded a tundra buggy that would take us to the fort. We left Churchill heading west, crossed the frozen Churchill River and then turned north toward the tip of the peninsula where the fort was located. The route was very rough, and the buggy was only able to move at 3-5 mph to navigate the snow drifts and ice mounds. It took almost an hour to travel the 5 miles to the fort, and it was nearly dark by the time we arrived.

We didn't get much sleep that first night in Churchill since we had to get up early to get ready for our dog sled adventure.  We boarded a van with 4 other couples and drove about 5 miles outside of town to a dog sled training facility. The "facility" consisted of a dog pond with approximately 30 dogs and one main building for the trainers to eat, sleep and relax between training sessions. Each dog had its separate dog "house," and all of the dogs seemed to be healthy, friendly, well-fed and anxious to get some exercise. We were quite impressed with the love and affection the trainers and dogs had for each other. It was obvious that the trainers understood the importance of proper care and respect for their dogs and went to great lengths to insure their long and happy sledding careers. We were ushered into the main building, which was kept comfortably warm with a pellet-burning stove. There were two rooms, the front room for entertaining and the back room for sleeping. It was not clear if this was the primary residence of the "big dog" trainer, but it may have been (no one asked). After a lengthy and interesting lecture about local history and dog sled training in general, we went back outside for our introduction to the sleds and dogs.

What appears in the photo to be a red glow near the horizon or red rocks is actually a reflection of the sodium street lights from town. The red color is magnified by the long shutter speed that was required to capture the stars and Northern Lights. We used a tripod to steady the camera since holding the camera steady by hand for 10 seconds was nearly impossible. We used an ultra-wide-angle lens (18 mm equivalent compared to normal human eye coverage of 50mm) to capture these photos, but even then, we were only able to capture roughly 10% of the sky in one view. You'll have to close your eyes and try to imagine what it must have been like to have this spectacular display covering the whole sky at once.  Our necks and backs were sore from scanning the sky way before our bodies began to suffer from the cold temperature (we're guessing it was between -20 and -25 deg. F).  We finally packed it in and returned to the hotel a little after 2:00 AM on Wednesday morning. As far as we can tell from the people we talked to later in Churchill and from what we've observed on the internet, we may have been the only humans to have witnessed and recorded that truly spectacular event.

We had been scheduled to take two excursions; one to see the Northern Lights on Tuesday or Wednesday nights and the other to go dog sledding on Wednesday. Belinda made the decision based on the highly accurate (NOT!) weather forecast of clouds and snow to postpone the Northern Lights excursion until Wednesday night when the visibility might be better and the temperature warmer. The forecast for Tuesday night called for a low temperature of -26 deg. F or -31 deg. C and low winds. Wednesday night's forecast was for a low of only -15 deg. F or -26 deg. C.

After lunch at the Seaport Restaurant and Hotel, we made ourselves comfortable in our hotel room and took a long nap in preparation for what we hoped would be a long night (and also to stay warm). The hotel had hot water heat (I'm not sure what the energy source was) which kept our room at a comfortable 70 deg. F. There were only about 10 other people in the hotel with us, and we all stayed up until midnight hoping for the best. It remained cloudy, however, with light snow, and everyone decided to call it a night. Herb continued to be vigilant and got dressed about every 30 minutes to go outside and check the sky for a glimmer of lights. Sure enough, about 1:00 AM (now Wednesday morning), he saw a trace of green cross the sky overhead and the abundance of brightly lit stars.

We gratefully returned to Churchill for lunch, rest and the chance to warm up in our comfortable hotel room before venturing out for the evening's entertainment.  Well after the sun had set, we were taken to the edge of town where we boarded a "tundra buggy" about the size of four large school buses fastened together and about six feet off the ground (you'll see photos of the buggy below). Having spent over an hour the preceding night photographing the Northern Lights, we decided that tonight we'd just enjoy them sans camera. The buggy was driven northwest outside of town a few miles onto the tundra, well away from the glare of the Churchill street lights. We spent about three hours out on the tundra, observing the Northern Lights for a little over one hour. The show was nice and made everyone else squeal with delight, but we silently appreciated that we had seen a much brighter and dazzling display the night before, that no one else saw!  Another group on the east side of Churchill at the Northern Lights Research center simultaneously saw and recorded this night's display and uploaded it to You Tube a few days later. You can view a timelapse video of roughly 10 minutes of this display by pressing this button.

It seems that both Thursday and Friday nights were too cloudy to see the Northern Lights. It was disappointing for the organizers that their plan of dining under the Northern Lights didn't materialize. They were not dissuaded, however, since most years the Northern Lights are visible 25 nights every March, and are currently making plans and taking reservations for 2017. We will not be there.

Saturday turned out to be the warmest, most pleasant day of our visit to Churchill. Residents were thrilled that the temperature had risen to near 0 deg. F, and we took the opportunity to walk to the train station. On the way we passed the "Community Garden" where the town had arranged old tundra buggy tires as raised garden plots for the residents. We imagined that the growing season is rather short here. We also stopped at a cafe with outdoor seating, but the service was lousy so we left. By the way, the train station was closed and no one seemed to know why. They sort of do that here - open when it suits them.

We spent most of the next two days trying to keep warm, doing laundry, and only venturing out to eat and do some sightseeing and very little souvenir shopping.  Although there were only two restaurants open this time of year, we found the food to be excellent in quality and choice and reasonably priced. The Seaport Restaurant was the closest and open all day, every day. It was our choice when it was windy; the wind always seemed to be in our faces no matter what direction we were headed.  The Gypsy Cafe was open for breakfast and lunch and was worth the walk for fresh donuts in the morning, even though our hotel offered a free continental breakfast.  There was one souvenir shop near the hotel where we did our only shopping, and the grocery store was also close and stocked with verything we would ever need, including a large selection of fresh fruits and vegetables.  We saw very few locals while we were out, but those we saw were friendly and always offered a cheerful "Are you still here?" greeting.

We were seated at a single long table constructed from laminated 2x4's with ten seats on each side, also constructed from laminated 2x4's and covered with fur (real, but of unknown variety). We were served with a sumptuous seven course meal (some we tried, some we didn't) of foods that were available and prepared as they may have been in the early days of Churchill (founded in 1717), but in a gourmet style (that's short for small pieces of un-identifiable food). Our impression was that the food was under-cooked and mostly unpleasant. They deserve, however, a hearty A+ for atmosphere (and beginning the meal with Jagermeister liqueur and ending it with Glenfiddich scotch).  We think the old timers were better drinkers than they were food connoisseurs.  Unfortunately we had to leave before the Northern Lights came out and before the second seating arrived.

Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - March 2016

One of the features you'll see in all of our photos of Churchill is the abundance of snow. From the beginning of early November to the end late May, everything is covered in snow; and to get around, the streets and some driveways have been cleared to a slick layer of ice. For the most part, the snow is hauled to the beach (above, left) or out of town onto frozen tundra. Surprisingly there were a significant number of late model vehicles (automobiles, vans, people movers and trucks) in town for the locals to get around and to provide transportation to visitors like us.  Those that lived outside of town and needed to use uncleared roads and paths relied primarily on snowmobiles. Rental cars were available, but they were very expensive ($120 per day plus gas) and since there wasn't any place to drive to, their only function was to keep you warm at night if you're out sky-gazing. Taxis were available but also expensive and unreliable.

Following the yellow route highlighted in the map above, we made our way as quickly as we could on the icy streets to the beach. Much to our surprise we had the beach to ourselves; everyone else must have been sound asleep.  For over an hour the Northern Lights danced wildly across the sky from horizon to horizon in all directions. While we did take dozens of photos, it was difficult to decide which views were the best. We finally decided on the random approach and just let Nature do her thing.