2016: The Year in Review

My year of adventure was just that - being challenged at work and finding out I can do more than I thought I could, not one but two moves within the city including a house- and cat-sitting stint that all showed I could take more than I thought I could, and a whole lot of ground covered all over western Canada with my friend Melinda to celebrate her 40th birthday! Whew!

I wasn't able to get the sleep I needed with a new and demanding job due to noisy neighbours living below me, so I moved out of my apartment at the end of January. I moved into the basement of a house with a quiet family of four above me on the main floor. We operated on much the same schedule and got along well.

Around the three-month mark of working at the Court of Appeal, things started to click. My learning curve was steep, but I did well and was offered an extension because a second maternity leave was upcoming.

In the summer, I enjoyed living just half a block from the bike path. I walked and rode my bike quite a bit, mostly in preparation for… Melinda’s 40th Birthday Canadian Adventure Trip! I kept up to my active friend pretty well, and we both enjoyed the entire trip very much!

But I arrived home to an empty house! My quiet neighbours had left suddenly and I learned a family of six (yes, six!) was soon moving in.

On the November long weekend, Melinda and I joined approximately 100 others on a one-day charter flight to Churchill, MB to see the polar bears! This was Part 2 of her 40th Birthday Canadian Adventure Trip, and it has been a much-talked-about trip ever since. It was a pricey adventure but definitely an experience we will never forget!

My new neighbours forced a second move of the year, which was my return to downtown Regina. Economically, this was quite a beneficial move as I only had to walk two blocks to work.

It was quite a year! Adventure sounds fun, but it's exhausting. Can I take a break please?

#56 - See the polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba!

Done! Cross that one of the list!

On the November long weekend, my good friend Melinda and I went to Churchill, Manitoba, on a charter flight with about 120 other explorers of all ages. It was Part 2 of Melinda's 40th Birthday Canadian Adventure Trip!

We had looked (and looked!) for a reasonable way to get to Churchill, Manitoba to see the polar bears, but it's just not that easy a place to get to! First, there are no roads to Churchill. You either have to take a slow train or an expensive flight. Second, it's a small place and there aren't very many lodging options. Third, because it's hard to get to, there isn't a lot of information available for this unique destination.

One evening while doing more research, I came across this article - the most useful and condensed information I found: http://www.travel4wildlife.com/how-to-get-to-churchill-cheap-fast/

We had pretty much given up on our plans for this cap to Melinda's 40th birthday year, but then out of nowhere came surprise information - from my dad of all people! The phone call went something like this:

Dad: Are you still looking for a way to get to Churchill to see the polar bears?
Me: Yes (hesitantly).
Dad: Well, there's an ad in the paper (Saskatoon StarPhoenix) this week.
Me: Really???
Dad: There's a charter flight from Saskatoon on the November long weekend.
Me: Really???
Dad: It's expensive!
Me: I'm sure! How much?
Dad: $2,000!
Me: Ouch! For how long?
Dad: One day.
Me: One day???
Dad: It's a special one-day charter flight. Everything's included - the flights, three hot meals, approximately six hours of polar bear viewing...
Me: Wow!

And so began our journey. The company that operates the charter flights is Classic Canadian Tours, which is based out of Calgary, Alberta. Once on the ground and out to the tundra in Churchill, we were well looked after by Frontiers North Adventures - the company that does the polar bear safaris via tundra buggies.

Our one-day charter flight to Churchill was the stuff dreams are made of! There were no bright or shining lights, no movie stars, no glitz, no glam. What there was though can be summed up as an amazing opportunity that many do not get or take. You knew you were a part of a once-in-a-lifetime adventure!

To read the full description of our special day, check out my guest post for Jenn Smith Nelson's Travel & Happiness blog: https://travelandhappiness.com/guest-post-polar-bear-safari/

Our low point of the day was when our tunda buggy's drive shaft pulled apart when we tried to navigate a giant pothole (or slush pond, however you look at it) a little differently than the other tundra buggies had. Oops... We were down/stranded for about 1.5 hours.

Our high points definitely outweighed our low point though. We saw 18 polar bears in total including a mama and her cub. And, because we lost time with out breakdown, we got to stay out on the tundra longer than the other groups had and watch the sun set and moon rise over Hudson Bay. Now that was a wow!

Do you see all three polar bears in this photo?

 

All in all, it was an awesome experience! We made Part 2 of Melinda's 40th Birthday Canadian Adventure Trip happen and saw all of western Canada along the way this year! Of course, we're both eager to return... The hard part is deciding between the winter tour we did or a summer tour that involves beluga whales!

After all is said and done though, the easiest, cheapest and warmest way to see polar bears is simply by viewing this live polar bear cam. Enjoy!

Melinda's 40th Birthday Canadian Adventure Trip!

When I was planning my Dream 40th Birthday Trip and asked my friend Melinda to join me, I agreed to do the same for her 40th birthday a couple of years later.

Where to go proved to be the hardest part of the planning. For quite a while, South Africa was the destination of choice. I had a really hard time getting into that, but at one point in the planning process we attended a information session put on by a Canadian-based company that does a lot of travel in Africa. That did it... We were pumped! We made a list of everything (yes, everything!) we wanted to see and do on our trip. And then the quote came in... We were looking at $10,000 each! Unwilling to compromise on our "everything" list, we decided to shelf Africa for the time being.

But then what? Where do we go from here? We started thinking back to my 40th birthday trip and how Europe was a dream trip for me. We both still want to return and see the places we weren't able to get to, but Europe in general wasn't a number one location for Melinda. I remember several conversations that began like, "What would make the trip you?" "What do you want to do?" "What's important to you?" "What would be fun for you?" And that's how we came up with Melinda's 40th Birthday Canadian Adventure Trip!

Our itinerary was: Yellowknife, NWT; Whitehorse, Yukon; Tofino, BC; Victoria, BC; and Vancouver, BC! With a flight north via Edmonton, AB, we were basically covering most of western Canada in one trip!

We had a fabulous time visiting a lot of new places, seeing some amazing sights, and crossing a few places off our must-see lists! Here are some of our many highlights...

View from Pilot's Monument in Yellowknife, NWT

Carcross Desert - Yukon

Biking on the beaches near Tofino when the tide was out - way cool!

Enjoying tea at Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC

The last night of our trip! (Downtown Vancouver in the background.)

Melinda is far more adventurous, athletic and outdoorsy than I am, but what a privilege it was to be a part of her celebrating. I saw and did things I never would have done had we not gone on this adventurous trip together. When I think of all the territory we covered and new things we tried, I am amazed!

Happy birthday, dear friend! I had a blast celebrating with you!

2016: The Year of Adventure!

Ooh... I am looking forward to this! A year of ADVENTURE - what a great theme word for my year!

Melinda's 40th birthday trip coming up (stayed tuned for more on that!), but I wonder what else will be an adventure this year? The traveler in me is hoping for trips near and far, but adventure encompasses SO much more than travel. Let's see what happens in 2016!