What a difference a day makes...

Today was an amazing day. It was our first and only day off so we tried to fit in as much as possible. We went exploring and finally got to see more of the local wild life. We found 2 polar bears, an arctic hare, 2 arctic foxes, Snow geese, Canadian geese, 3 Tundra swans and some huskies. We had to stay pretty far away from the polar bears (for obvious reasons). The first polar bear was huge (about 1,000 lbs) and was very intimidating. The second polar bear was also pretty big but he was busy feeding so we were able to get a little bit closer. I will be adding the animal pictures along with some other good ones to my picasa web album. I'll use the album to share all of the pictures that I am not able to add to my blog.

After climbing around polar bear alley we decided to go to the beach on the Hudson
Bay. The Hudson is all frozen over in the winter so It was cool to be able to see it before it freezes. The beach was beautiful and it actually started to snow! I have been going to the beach for as long as I can remember but I have never once seen snow at the beach. The ocean has always been really important to me and it makes me so proud to know that my students will be doing a beach clean up on Monday. They really are an amazing group of kids and it was really great to talk to them yesterday.

After we left the coast we went into town to eat lunch and go the Eskimo Museum. I was able to see some very interesting art and learned a lot about the Inuit people. Tomorrow we are going back into the field but we are going to a forest that is further away and more dense than the one we have been working in. Apparently this forest is a little more dangerous because we have to take an extra bear guard with us. We are hoping for good weather.