Warm welcomes in Winnipeg and Churchill, Manitoba

As seen from our elevator ride to the top of Prairie 360

Warm welcome at the Winnipeg Airport

This year our journey to Churchill has been shared with our good friends Chris and Dick Haller from Holland, MA. We arrived in Winnipeg on February 11th, even though this post says February 20th. We spent several days in Winnipeg at The Hotel Fort Garry, our favorite spot for both its old world elegance and its close location to the train station. Actually it was one of the grand old railroad hotels. Hotel Fort Garry is also located very close to The Forks, a national historic site where the Assiniboine River and the Red River converge. It has been a meeting place throughout history. I found this lovely poem on a bench outside The Forks Marketplace.

   I am always impressed by how much Canadians embrace winter sports. There are long stretches of the river for skating and hockey, and this year a new entertainment called Crokicurl made its debut. I believe it originated from a board game. I know that must sound crazy, so I hope it's right. Below you see a photo of the Crokicurl court and you can also see Chris and Dick skating along the river. Those trees along the river are recycled Christmas trees (pretty sure).

Brian is playing with some folks he met at The Forks

We also took in a play called The Flats, which is set in Churchill in the area of town along the river called The Flats. It was sort of a murder mystery, and quite entertaining. Brian's favorite quote was, "Either you were born here, or you have a reason." That made us chuckle, but in all seriousness we love the people in the community of Churchill. I do enjoy hearing the personal stories of resident Churchillians. Not sure that is a correct term.

We ate a lot of food in Winnipeg, with one location being Prairie 360. This is a revolving restaurant, and one of the views is of the train station and the Human Rights Museum.

Dinner with friends at Prairie 360

Finally, the day came to board the train to Churchill. We discovered that this year there was going to be a dome/lounge car. We were very excited. Also, there was real food this year, so the ride was much easier. Here is the train in Thompson, Manitoba. I believe there are almost 300 miles to go. We are almost there!

Last car on the train- Dome and lounge! Yey!

After our 44 hour trip, we arrived at 8:30am in Churchill on February 16th. We were greeted by so many friends during our arrival at CNSC. Here is a photo of the Churchill Northern Studies Centre taken last year. I call this the "landscaped view". Not sure what magical location Brian found for this photo, as the front view is very open. On the front of the building is its mission, "To Understand and Sustain the North". That is exactly what happens here: education and research which lead to understanding, knowledge, and the ability to better sustain the north.

Churchill Northern Studies Centre- note the dome and the bear-proof side deck

Can't resist adding my favorite view. This year, I have the pleasure of seeing this when I look out our window.

Aurora Arrives! Welcome Back Dancing Lights!

Last night we were treated to a sky filled with swirling colorful lights. The evening started off with the aurora peeking out from a slightly cloudy sky in the northeast. It made for some dramatic photos- perhaps more dramatic than it looked in reality. A short while later, the sky had cleared and the lights were dancing around the sky in every direction.

The lights were welcomed with shouts of joy! We have had a cloud cover here since we arrived on Thursday, and this was particularly frustrating because we knew a bright aurora was hidden behind those clouds. We could see a green glow on the webcam at explore.org/live-cams/player/northern-lights-cam. The camera is right outside on the roof of the old building.

Roger Starman Woloshyn, our fearless leader/astronomer, had us primed with lectures on both the aurora and the stars. Turned out to be a perfect night to find all those constellations shining in the winter sky. Below is a photo of the southern sky where you can see Orion just below a band of aurora. I just noticed that part of Taurus the Bull is in the upper right corner. Look for a "V".  It wouldn't be long before the aurora would fill the southern landscape.

Think about that for a minute- the fact that the aurora is filling the SOUTHERN sky. Here in Churchill we stand right below the auroral oval, so when there is a strong aurora and the oval bulges, the aurora will actually be south of us rather than north.
Right now there is an unusually wide hole that has opened in the sun's atmosphere, and it is stretching across the sun's southern hemisphere. Check out spaceweather.com to see a photo of this dramatic opening. This opening is a coronal hole which allows solar wind to escape, and this stream of solar wind collides with Earth's magnetic field. We wait expectantly for Aurora to present herself to us later this week.

Later that evening there were some gentle bands of aurora behind the spruce trees right out in back of the center. This is pretty much the view from our bedroom window on this visit, the same view I always love to photograph during daylight hours. Of course, I was outside for these shots.

Mother Nature cooperated with very little wind and a "mild" temperature of 15-20 degrees F. Snowstorms are coming, but we'll be checking the skies tonight for another visit of the aurora borealis.

The Lure of the North- We're on our way very soon!

Photo from 2016-

I've been pouring over photos from our travels to Churchill during February/March of 2016. Once again, we are returning to the great north, and here are a few photos that make me very excited to be heading back! We'll be in Churchill, Manitoba for the second two weeks of February, and this year we will be joined by our friends the Hallers from Holland, MA. Although we are going for a shorter time, this year we are actually taking the Arctic Skies program. That means no chores to interfere with our aurora activities.

For anyone new to the blog, I've kept this photo journal of our time as volunteers at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre. Churchill sits on the western shore of Hudson Bay at about 58 degrees N. This will be the 4th year keeping the Dancing Lights blog, so please do take a look at some of the best auroras from our time up here. Some of my other favorite photographic moments have been dogsledding, a visit to Hudson Bay, time in the boreal forest, and some beautiful tundra landscapes.

View from the deck at CNSC

Aurora from March 2016- Photo by Brian

May there be many wonderful opportunities for aurora posts this year!

Homeward Bound

It was time to head home. The aurora season's learning vacations had ended, and it was time to say goodbye as we prepared to board the train. I have to include just two final photos from Churchill. The Aurora Festival was just beginning in town, and there is always an impressive snow sculpture. This year, it was a fox with ptarmigan. The other photo below is of a scene that always makes me chuckle. This is the local grocery store in the cereal aisle, where you can also pick up your new snowmobile and a Canada Goose jacket for top notch warmth.

We left Churchill, Manitoba and headed south to Winnipeg on the train. Once again, we camped out at the Hotel Fort Garry, one of our favorite haunts.

The structure on the right is the Human Rights Museum which we visited last year. On the left is a foot bridge across the Red River over to the section of Winnipeg known as Saint Boniface.

This year we rented a car as well, so we were able to get around the city a bit more easily. One afternoon, we did a short walking excursion to a subsection of Winnipeg called St. Boniface which is on the other side of road if you are facing the scene above.. Saint Boniface is the French section of the city with lots of history attached to it. This area has retained a lot of old world charm, and feels like a comfortable place to call your home. As you cross the Red River, the first thing you see is the facade of St Boniface cathedral which was built in 1906 but destroyed by fire in 1968. Within the shell of the old cathedral, there is now a smaller, more intimate church with some very lovely modern stained glass. I just watched a Youtube video which was very interesting. If you would like to know more about this historic church, try out this link. St Boniface Basilica, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Facade of the 1908 cathedral which was all that remained after the fire in 1968.

This model shows the original cathedral

On our walk through Saint Boniface, we found a sculpture garden beside the town hall. The wolf begged us to pay attention. Below are some words written by the sculptor.

Our big outing this year was to the Assiniboine Zoo in Winnipeg. Much to our surprise, we found ourselves back in Churchill- at the zoo's exhibit! There was a fantastic display about life in Churchill including its land, culture, and wildlife.

Of course a big part of this was the polar bear display. Just as you can walk through a shark tunnel at Sea World, here you could walk through a tunnel/cave of polar bears swimming all around you. I was mesmerized. The bears have mostly come from Churchill- bears needing a new home and a second chance. Also in the same area, there was a tank with seals. The polar bears and the seals were quite interested in each other, or at least the bears were interested in the seals. The seals were all rescue animals who also were in need of a special home.

We went into an information room on polar bears, and who did we find but our friend Dr. Nick Lunn! We were so excited to see Nick in Churchill at CNSC to continue is field work  in studying the Western Hudson Bay polar bear population. We were even more surprised to find him in Winnipeg at the zoo! Well, sort of.

With our rental car, we traveled out to Ste Rita to visit our friends Roger and Dawn. We met Roger in 2013 when we first came up for the aurora season. Roger (Starman) Woloshyn was leading the groups and troops that year. On the first day I met Roger, I told him about how surprisingly drawn I had felt to the northern landscape. Roger told me this is the "Lure of the North". He has been so right on that! Once we found Ste Rita, which did not seem to exist on our rented Garmin, we were treated to a feast of home made ribs, coleslaw, and two types of pierogis.

Looking for beauty in the delay

More packing and we were off to the Winnipeg airport very early on Thrsday morning. Due to an unexpected ice storm in Toronto, we ended up extending our journey for two unplanned days. Many of our friends gave us wonderful ideas for our day exploring Toronto. We made a valiant attempt to reach the CN tower and almost got there. I have to say that Toronto seemed a very beautiful city with lots of glass towers around every corner. How do they keep them all looking so clean? Unfortunately, we were underdressed for our city excursion. We underestimated the cold and wind, and so we headed back to our hotel. Evidently we learned nothing about dressing appropriately from our time up north.

Our first glimpse of the CN Tower

Once again, we are left with the gift of so many special memories- auroras, Hudson Bay, dogsledding, boreal forest excursions, and so much more. The landscape and the auroras may have lured us back to the north, but it is the people we've met that keep us coming. We'll be back, one way or another.

Just thought it was fitting to end with a favorite aurora scene- 2016! CNSC back yard (northerly view)

More Memories (and photos) of Northern Lights

Thanks to digital photography and wonderful cameras, we are able to come home with some incredible photographic memories. I’ve shared some in earlier blog posts, but I’ve found so many more that are worthy of sharing. Some of these are mine and some are Brian's.

First, I should say that on nights when the aurora is less active, I am a much more successful photographer. When it suddenly becomes very bright or starts to move very fast, I can never get the camera settings changed quickly enough! So there is a trade-off. The camera allows me to capture the color and movement of the lights when they are building up to something special. Without the camera, I would not be able to see the layers of light in the ribbons, and the billowing waves of energy in the tall curtains. 

At times there are faint auroras. These might be as the lights begin or calm down at the end of the show. Sometimes there is a hint of aurora, but then it dissipates. With the camera's eye, I can glimpse the structure and color of the aurora just as a microscope opens up a world we cannot see.

This was on a night of full moon, wispy clouds and a slight aurora- still beautiful!

When the light show really starts, I tend to put down the camera and just enjoy the moment, for the experience of standing outside under the aurora to see the silent beauty of the moving lights is awesome in the true sense of the word. I hope you will all get to stand under the aurora to see the dancing northern lights.

This view of the aurora is to the southeast. In Churchill where we are located right under the auroral oval, you might see the aurora in any direction! Throughout the night it usually changes.

Although this radio tower is seldom the focus of my photos, on this night the aurora literally seemed to be swirling about it, even more so to my own eyes.