kevin_standlee | Entries tagged with churchill

If you'd like to know a bit more about the trip from Winnipeg to Churchill that Lisa and I and four others with whom we traveled was like, YouTuber Kuga's Travel made the same trip (albeit only one way, Winnipeg-Churchill) as we did. In fact, based on the date he traveled, he rode the same train north as we did south, as we arrived the evening before his departure. His northbound departure was one week after ours.

Lisa and I had a two-person sleeper, which is much roomier than the single-person compartments. The train still hadn't gotten its sleeper, but the derailment that closed the Thompson branch to us both directions had been cleared. Also, he only spent a few hours actually in Churchill, as he flew back to Winnipeg the same day he arrived in Churchill. Without a local vehicle (like we had) or booking into one of the many tours, you'll miss the things there are to see and do in the area.

For all that we spent more time traveling to and front Churchill than we got to spend in the town (this is a function of the train running only twice a week; you can stay two nights or five, but nothing in-between, if you're taking the train both ways), I'm glad we did it the way that we did.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

I have a lot of pictures from the Churchill-to-Winnipeg return train trip, but I haven't had time to caption them, which means they're useless. If you follow me on Mastodon, you will have seen some of them when I had a little bit of bandwidth on the train trip.

We had a lot of people on board from Churchill to Waboden, which is where the people who had come to Thompson to board the train and were stymied by the derailment got stuck. They were airlifted to Churchill, but were returning by train, including a charter bus to take them from Waboden back to Thompson. After they left the train, things got much quieter.

The crew of our train took a liking to our group of six SF/train fans, and near the end of the trip, our sleeping car attendant gave Lisa a big hug. I think they're looking forward to seeing our future episodes of Railway Legends, Myths, and Stories about this trip. We certainly shot a huge pile of material.

Because of the Thompson derailment, we spent more than eight hours standing at The Pas waiting for our schedule to catch up to us. Nevertheless, we lost some time toward Winnipeg. However, as we neared the end of our journey, it looked like it might be just barely possible to get over to the auto shop. I called the mechanic, told him we were nearly in Winnipeg and I would come directly to his shop as fast as I could. He said that he would wait for me, which was a huge relief.

We arrived in Winnipeg at about 5:30 PM, and Lisa and I had gotten our luggage stages so that we were off the train pretty quickly. We got everything to the station rotunda. I left it all with Lisa and ran outside. No taxis waiting, but while I was fumbling with my phone trying to call a taxi company, an available taxi pulled up. I hopped in and we got to TS Auto Service at 5:55. I paid for the repairs and made for Union Station.

I had unwanted excitement pulling out of the shop, as he'd not properly closed the sliding door, and it slid open as I turned onto to the street. Fortunately, it is a relatively quiet street and I could immediately pull over, hop out, and close the door. I then followed the Google Maps directions back to the train station; unfortunately, that ended up leading me around to the back of the station and into parking lots, and it took me a few minutes to get untangled.

Lisa had managed to secure a luggage cart and had made her way out to the curb just a couple of minutes before I got to the loading area in front of the station. She loaded the minivan while I ran inside to use the restroom. The van was ready when I came back out, and I was working out our next stop while she went inside to use the restroom herself. While I was fiddling with my phone, a Via Rail employee came out and retrieved the cart, saving us having to take it back.

We had managed to get so far ahead that Lisa suggested that we go get the stored bags and boxes immediately. She drove and I navigated down to our friend's house. When we got there, I cleared her kitchen and living room of the stuff we'd stored in her house, Lisa repacked the van, and we thanked her for her generosity.

From there, it was off to the downtown Winnipeg Holiday Inn & Suites. They were very nice to us. In lieu of a room upgrade, they gave us free parking and a free breakfast, which I think is a fine trade. They were out of luggage carts, though (customers inconsiderately not returning them), so Lisa and I took only a few things up to the room; it would be at least enough to repack some of the things we'd need for our return road trip.

We made a short walk to the nearest grocery store we could find, where we bought a whole lot of cold beverages. Even if I end up leaving behind half of the 4 litre container of milk I bought, it will be worth it. I was really thirsty!

While Lisa took a bath (something you can't do on the train), I ordered pizza, which arrived as scheduled. Unlike the Delta, which required us to come to the lobby to collect our food, the Holiday Inn allowed the delivery person to bring it to our room. I felt a bit better after eating the pizza and drinking my fill.

I'd love to add photos, but sleep is more important. Originally I was going to work a half-day tomorrow morning, but instead I'm going to get extra sleep before we hit the road to head west across Canada. Maybe I'll someday get those photos arranged and can write about the "missing" days from my timeline.

The Churchill trip was great, and I could even see doing it again, but I'm glad to be back in a large hotel room instead of a small compartment, especially a room that we can cool to suit ourselves. I have an extended checkout on Tuesday morning. Sleep awaits.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba

We are perhaps an hour or so from being able to move out of the Beluga Beach House to allow the owner to clean the place and turn it for the party arriving this morning. As I said yesterday, we hang around Churchill much of today and head out tonight on the train coming it. I wish there was a way to more easily catalog the photos I took on the trip north, because uncaptioned photos might as well not be taken.

Once again, don't expect to be able to contact me for a couple of days. For all that I embrace technology, it frustrates me that so many people expect to be connected 24/7 and go into withdrawal symptoms when they are in places with no connections.

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: Churchill, Manitoba

Today, I ended up driving most of the total distance that the rental van can travel, as it's restricted to only certain roads. That's because I drove out the one highway out of town twice.

( Trip 1 )

The road between Churchill and the Rocket Range is gravel, but is excellent quality, and I could drive at up to 80 km/h, so the trip back to town was much faster than the drive out. Lisa and I then went off on our own own.

( Cape Merry and Return to the Rockets )

From one end to the other, we then returned to Churchill, then out past the airport and to the SpacePort again.

( One More Time )

No more pictures because they would just repeat what I'd done earlier in the day. We returned to the Beluga Beach House. The van cost $600 (plus fuel) to rent, but I guess we've gotten our money's worth. Instead of joining package tours, we went to many of the places that we might have visited on those tours, but on our schedule. Also, as the rental is for three days, we can put our luggage in it to store tomorrow. There's another group coming in tomorrow on the train at 9 AM, and while our check out time is 11 AM, the owner would really like it if we could move out sooner so they can "turn" the house for the next occupants. The rental company will come retrieve the van from the train station after we leave at 7:30 PM for the 45-hour trip back to Winnipeg. The other members of our group are going to take a Beluga-watching trip, while Lisa and I go see some of the things they did on the first day while we were riding helicopters and such.

Our whole group ate at the Tundra Inn and Pub this evening. I ordered the elk meatloaf while Lisa ordered wild boar bangers & mash. When they arrived, we ended up splitting our mains and having both, and they were both excellent.

We have most of one full day left here tomorrow, but because of the early check out, I don't expect to be back online much, nor do I expect to post another journal entry, until late Monday at the least. However, at the risk of burying the lede, I have what appears to be good news about the Astro. I called the shop in Winnipeg this afternoon and the mechanic says that the minivan air conditioning is fixed and we can collect it when we get back. If we get back on time, we'll take a taxi to the shop and get the van right away; otherwise, I will get it on Tuesday morning.

Current Mood: relieved
Current Location: Churchill, Manitoba

Here is the posting that I would have made had Flickr not gone down earlier.

( Welcome to Churchill )

Theoretically, each of the four rooms in the Beluga Beach House can be rented individually. We had only six people, but we went ahead and rented the entire house, which saved a lot of bother since we all know each other. It still was less expensive than hotel rooms. With the self-catering facilities, we all went to the grocery store and got various food to suit ourselves. Groceries are expensive here, and due to that derailment, the stores were under-stocked. (This would be corrected by flying in some things.)

( Back to the Station )

While walking between the station and the Beach House, we walked past Hudson Bay Helicopters, which does helicopter tours. I'd tried to contact them without success before our trip, but apparently they hadn't been able to hear my telephone number. We inquired about availability and costs. A 30 minute tour for two people would cost CA$880. That's a lot, but not impossibly expensive. We made a reservation for 5 PM.

That price included the cash discount and would be more expensive by credit card. Putting our heads (and bank accounts) together, we determined that we could get enough cash to pay for it by taking close to our maximum daily limits from both accounts. We walked to the RBC banking center and pulled enough cash to pay for the trip.

We arrived early in order to watch the safety briefing and then it was time to go.

( Lisa's Bucket List Item )

Lisa was absolutely delighted to get this trip. She did take fixed-wing pilot training when she was younger, but had never been in a helicopter and has always wanted to ride in one.

Click through the various photos to see the others, including one that includes the cost of the rides for various group sizes and ride durations.

Later, we did a little train chasing.

( Via Rail Leaving Town )

Returning to the Beach House, we made dinner from some of the material we bought earlier today and turned in to sleep in our (regrettably stuffy) room.

Thursday was a banner day and Lisa was very happy to have achieved a major bucket list item. The rest of the weekend is expected to be very busy as we try to squeeze a lot of activity into very little time. This house is nice enough, and to some extent I wish we could stay a week instead of only two nights; it would make the stay a little bit pressured.

Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Location: Churchill, Manitoba

We arrived in Churchill, Manitoba this morning at 8 AM, an hour early, in part due to the fact that due to a derailment on the branch to Thompson, Manitoba, we did not go to Thompson at all. Indeed, because the back-and-forth on the Thompson Subdivision, we actually stopped for around eight hours at The Pas, not because of any blockage on the line, but because in general, trains are not allowed to run ahead of schedule, and we consequently had to let enough time pass that when we left Gillam, farther up the line, we were not running "hot."

I would love to show photos from today, and as I write this I just spent more than an hour trying to caption and catalog just the photos I took today in Flickr, but then Flickr went down. I hope it will come back later and that it did not lose my captions.

Today was a big day for Lisa. She achieved a lifetime bucket-list item. Those of you who follow me on Mastodon know what it was. I'll write more about it when I have access to my photos again. In the meantime, I'm going to try and get some sleep in the four-bedroom/two-bath, fully-equipped house that Lisa, I, and four others have rented for our three-day/two night stay in Churchill. My early impression of the Beluga Beach House is that I wish we could stay here for a week instead of only two nights. More later, with pictures.

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: Churchill, Manitoba

As I write this, we're packing up our hotel room in the Delta and fretting over (1) Leaving behind things we probably should have kept and (2) Finding enough space for everything we have kept with us. I'm sure we will manage somehow.

After we finish packing, we'll take a taxi to the station. Even if we felt up to walking with the luggage we still have, it's threatening rain here.

Leaving the hotel means going offline until (at best) we get to Churchill. There's no internet on the train, I do not have data roaming on my phone, and even if I did, much of the trip is going to be through areas that have no connectivity at all. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. We can probably relax in a way we often do not get a chance to do.

Meanwhile, our advance research on what the train is like means that Lisa and I will almost certainly be recording material for at least one episode of Railway Legends, Myths, and Stories, because just about everything we've seen has led us to say, "We can do better than that."

Our lodging in Churchill says that it has internet. If it does, we'll check in again from there.

Current Mood: optimistic
Current Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba