Let’s me fill you in on my last two days in the Arctic Circle. Wednesday morning, we participated in a video conference with my home school district, Rush-Henrietta. We spoke with Miss House’s seventh-grade science class at Roth Middle School. The students had great questions and seemed to enjoy what we had to say. Personally I think this was our best video conference thus far; we were relaxed and answered every question that came our way. I really hope we inspired the students make a difference. After the video conference we began our preparations to leave the buggy; we went into cleaning mode! We took our job assignments and set off at whirlwind pace. After the buggy was spotless, we set off for the town of Churchill. The buggy ride into town was unique. The reason being… we got to drive!! We all took turns driving the buggy for a few meters. That may not sound like a lot, but the buggy only travels at four miles per hour. May I say, it’s nothing like driving a car. The steering wheel is huge – not at all like my little Subaru back in Rochester. Upon arriving in town, we had our final meal at Gypsy’s, and yet again, the food was fantastic. It was a great send off from the town of Churchill. We then departed on our Calm Air flight into Winnipeg. This morning, I said my final good-bye’s to all the wonderful people I had met. I can’t believe my arctic adventure went by as quickly as it did. This has been one of the best experiences of my life and I am very grateful to Polar Bears International, The Seneca Park Zoo and Xceed Financial Credit Union for providing me with such an opportunity. What an amazing adventure!!! I’ll miss all the people (and bears) I spent the last week with - at least until we meet again.

- Rachel

Today I had of the coolest experiences of my life. I went on a helicopter ride across the tundra. We went to breakfast at 7:30 in preparation for our excursion. Breakfast was pretty much silent as we sat and ate. When we were done inhaling our food we ran and got our jacket, gloves, hat, and most importantly our cameras! We bordered the buggy as soon as our supplies were in tote. As we talked after boarding the buggy ,we soon heard a noise. The choppers were upon us!! As they called out the boarding arrangements, we went ( as fast as we could mind you) out the door. What I saw shocked me, there were six helicopters sitting out on the tundra waiting for us. After our pilot made sure we were situated we were off! The view from the helicopter was astonishing. The ground below us was flying by at an incredible rate. Everything looked like it was meant for a doll house. The trees looked like matchsticks. Being up in the air didn’t take away from the vastness of the bay. After being up in the air for about 30 minutes, we landed in the boreal forest. We went out to go and visit a maternal den that had been used in the past years. It was really cool because we got to see how polar bears live as far as homes go. Usually only conservation officers get to see these dens and I feel very lucky to have seen it. It’s clear tonight so maybe we’ll get lucky and see the lights again tonight. What a way to end our last night on the buggy!

Last night was amazing!!! We finally saw the northern lights!! They came out at around 7:30 and we stayed out until 10:30 watching them. At first they were faint but as the night progressed the colors became more vivid. We stared to see green, red, violets, and white-ish colors. It was by far one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in my life. The colors formed a curtain across, and were rippling across the sky. Then it would fade away for a moment, and new streak would soon form. Even when I went to bed I could see them from my window and I watched them still. Needless to say it was extremely difficult to wake up this morning, but that’s ok Robert’s wonderful singing woke us up in no time. We were going to go out on the tundra this morning but the buggy wouldn’t start, instead we stayed back and prepped for our video conference. We talked with a school from Pittsburgh. They presented us with some very insightful questions. We were a little nervous at first but then we warmed up to it and had a lot of fun. It was good practice for my public speaking when I get back to Rochester. We then had lunch with some fur trappers. Now it may seem weird that someone who is adamant about conservation may have a fur trapper as a guest speaker. But it was really quite insightful. These people are really in-tune with nature. They understand the working of an ecosystem just as well if not better than any scientist that I’ve come across so far. It gave me a new side to the story one that I previously had never considered. Now that I’ve heard them speak my views have changed and forever thankful.
~Rachel

The picture below is a picture of the Northen Lights I saw last night.

What a day!! Imagine starting your day to the “whimsical” voice of Robert Buchanan, “Oh what a wonderful morning…” Now that’s an alarm clock. In the afternoon we set out on an excursion into the tundra. After driving around for like an hour we finally saw another bear. In fact it was the same mother and cubs we saw yesterday. When we drove up to them they were all taking a nap. After a little while they got up. One of the cubs sat up and had his paws up in the air. He looked like he was about to sit at a table for supper. That was astounding. On a more dismal note, one of the cubs we saw today was walking around with some trash in his mouth. While this may not seem like a big deal, it really is. Here we are out on the tundra and the animals can still find the remnants of human activities. It just goes to show that we have more of an impact that we realize. We live in a society that is disposable. We buy something, throw it away, and forget about it. What happens to what we throw out? Well often it ends up in a landfill, where it can seep into the soil; other animals many find it eat it and die from a variety of causes. We need to realize that when we throw things out it doesn’t just disappear. It merely just disappears form our sight. Now that’s something to think about.
~Rachel Zoyhofski

So we’re finally here…Churchill Manitoba!! Our flight left at 6:30 this morning. Watching the sunrise while flying was absolutely amazing! We were sandwiched between two clouds, so all the light was reflecting against the clouds creating an effect that was like a mirror. Plus the view was completely unobstructed because of our location (between two clouds). We landed in Churchill at about 9:00; this first thing I noticed was how cold it was. At the airport it was +2 C with 60 km and hour gusts!! There was a slight temperature shock. Rochester’s cold but not like this! I think the cold acted as a wake-up call. On the plane I just kept thinking “Is this real” ”Can this really be happening”. Then I got off the plane into the frigid weather, and I was like”yup I’m really here!” One of the big reasons I came here was to see a polar bear. And that’s just what we did. In the afternoon we saw our first polar bear of the day. There were two large males one was sleeping and the other was just sniffing around. Later on in the day when we were driving to the lodge we saw a mother and her two cubs. The one cub was so inquisitive; he or she was sticking its head into whatever it could find. At one point it found a shrub and was playing with it. It’s was biting the branches and swatting them with his paw. I couldn’t believe our luck; it was so incredible to see a polar bear in the wild. It’s one thing to see them in a zoo. But to see them out in their natural habitat is a whole different experience. Those weren’t the only animals we saw on our first expedition. We also saw a ptarmigans (a type of bird that looks little bit a chicken), an arctic hare, and a snowy owl. The other thing that really struck me when we came here was the vastness of the tundra. It’s so flat it seems to go on-and-on forever. In fact one to quote Robert (one of our leaders) “it’s so flat you could see your dog run for three days!” While it may sound barren and desolate, it’s in fact quite the opposite. There’s rocks here dropped by glaciers hundreds of year ago. The rocks, water, and different variety of flora all combine to create a one of a kind landscape. The trees here are really unique; the prevailing winds prevent branches from growing on one specific side of the tree. So one side is bare and the other side is littered with branches. It’s really an interesting sight. The night is drawing to a close so I must get ready for tomorrow. Until my next installment,
~Rachel Zoyhofski

** I’d like to give a special thank you to Canada Goose for the wonderful parka’s (which never leaves my back!), Calm Air (For taking us up to Churchill we would not be here without you, literately), The Tundra Buggy Company( For supplying us with the buggies),and the Four Points by Sheraton (for the wonderful meals and hotel rooms.). THANK YOU ALL!!!