August 16th-Beluga Whales
Starting strong for today, we woke up around 5 am, some later than others, to go paddleboarding! We had breakfast sandwiches (thanks to Jill!) on the drive to the Churchill rRiverHudson Bay. There, a paddleboarding instructor walked us through the experience we were about to have. We got a full 2 hours on the water and sighted not one or two, but more beluga whales than we could count!! While paddling, most of us decided to jump into the water with the whales and got decently close. We even got a little boat ride when the wind started to get stronger. Unfortunately, amid the fun we were having, Zaina lost her glasses in the river. Anyways, we all had a great time and can now say we went paddling in Canada with belugas!
It was just noon when we got ready to go to another Canadian ranger’s house, Rose, to enjoy lunch all together. Thank yo,u Rose! Post-lunch, we drove to the complex to go to the pool, then do some shopping around town. We all got a good swim in before we walked around and did some total gift shop hopping. On the way, we stopped by the Lazy Bear Cafe for some amazing overpriced milkshakes. Folded for the tourist trap. We also got to meet with Emily and update her on everything since the last time we’d seen her, which was before we had even met the rest of the JCRs.
Driving back to camp, we were all cleaned up and packed for the 3-day travel back to Baltimore, plus Clementine, who we’re getting a little more time with than the rest of the JCRs since she’s on the train too! Our final goodbye to Nanuq was a nice bonfire with a dinner of hot dogs, then roasted marshmallows. It was then that we were told that, rather than going from Winnipeg to Toronto, then finally to Baltimore, our flights after the train ride were all cancelled by the airline in question. Our plan is now to stop at Devil’s Lake in North Dakota and Denver, Colorado. Lucky us. More trip time, though, with us now getting back one day later than scheduled.
Props to Julie for getting us those flights despite everything!! We were now on our way to the train station with the JCRs and saying our goodbyes. Very bittersweet, especially realizing how close we had gotten over the past 12 days we spent all together through Churchill and Wapusk. Most of us had passed out by the time we had settled in on the train. By the time I woke up, looking out the window, you would see the spruce trees getting taller and taller as we got further away from the tundra. Back to Baltimore we go.-
Sarah