Mission Accomplished!  I have seen a Polar Bear.  Ever since my early days at the Buffalo  Zoo I have LOVED  Polar Bears!  And then there was the infamous Gund stuffed Polar Bear – when my apartment was on fire, when Toni was grabbing our most valued possessions, she grabbed my polar bear!

So coming to the Arctic to find see them in the flesh was somewhat of a lifelong journey for me.  To actually get this close, was amazing (no worries, I was using a zoom lens, I wasn’t exactly this close).  But they are amazing creatures.  And no matter what potsmoker says, they are finding it harder and harder to find food.  So next time you get in your car (or cab), or leave a light on when you leave a room or skip the recycling, think of Fluffy, and think twice.

By the way, Fluffy was the name coined by the Expedition Leader of our boat, I just thought it was funny!

I have TONS more pics, and when I get home they will all be available in my album section – not to toot my horn, but they’re pretty cool 🙂

Well, looks like he was here.  But no more.

We find ourselves living in a consumer world.  Not that we don’t all work hard and have a desire to do good, be contributing members of society and leave the world a better place (well, at least everyone I know personally).  But no matter how open-minded, caring and compassionate we all are, we all have to come to a point where we know what we want and we think we know how to get it – for the most part, we do and we can.

For that very reason, I do not find much enjoyment in vacationing in places such as Disneyland, which only feed these misconceptions.  Spend a day (or perhaps a week, it remains to be seen) in nature, looking for real wildlife and you will find yourself completely lacking control.  Only such a situation could leave almost one hundred generally educated, successful people standing out in the freezing cold staring at a blank, white landscape hoping to catch a glimpse of a polar bear.

While I find all the global warming naysayers woefully out of touch (I mean really, even if today’s lifestyle’s are not leading to catastrophe, what is the harm in turning out the lights and driving less?) i have not yet found evidence here that the polar bears are desperately seeking nourishment.  If they were, I assure you, we all would have been more than happy to throw them some food from the ship (or perhaps even a few annoying passengers!).

And while there is a part of me that is rooting for the polar bear not catering to our every consumer driven whim, I do hope to have a polar bear pic to share before the week is over!

All of you who know me (which, unfortunately is probably anyone reading this) I’m sure you assume I’m talking about the kind of bar that you belly up to.  Well, I sort of am, hence the picture of the nicely appointed bar aboard the Antarctic Dream.  Although, being here without my beloved husband, I will probably not spend as much time there as you all would expect.  However, I am also referring to my amazement that I actually do still have mobile service at 78 degrees N (ie. about as close to the North Pole as one can get).  And no, this is not a shameless plug for AT&T (Lisa & Renee, nudge, nudge) but yet another example of, as I always say, it IS a great time to be alive.

Now I know there are many of you who think that it actually signals the end of the world as we know it.  The fact that there appears to be nowhere in the world anymore that one can truly “unplug” and get away from it all.  But having the benefit of having been essentially unplugged for the past six months, I have learned that escaping from the stresses of the world, of work or even family is not necessarily about removing oneself from the situation.  It is actually about allowing yourself to be truly in the situation, focussing on it and only it, dealing with it as it occurs and then moving on.  The reason stress is so hard to relieve is that we allow it to linger rather than accepting whatever is occurring now that is causing our stress, determining the course of action to deal with it, and then accepting the outcome, whatever that may be.

I am about as remote as you can get in this world, and even moreso as the entire ship (save the crew) has left to go explore the amazing scenery surrounding us.  And yes, I can pick up my mobile phone and call anyone in the world right now, I think that’s great – but I will not, I will enjoy the peace and serenity that I can only experience right now and know that that is the choice I have the luxury to make.

Two little boys enjoying their first ice cream of the summer – even if summer means 8 degrees (Celsius) vs. 20 below.  What a great lesson in enjoying life for what it has to offer.  The Arctic Circle proves to be one of the unique places on earth.  The fact that over 2000 people have chosen to call this home is fascinating.  They choose to endure months of darkness, even the 3 or 4 hours a day of “daylight” can be greeted with heavy clouds and darkness.  For surviving all of that, you are rewarded with non-stop brightness for 3 or 4 months.  It conjures up images of people staying awake for days on end just to soak up the light (and Vitamin D).

But it can all be seen in the faces of these little boys, who attack their ice cream cones with same reverence and joy as we did as kids – even bundled up in their winter coats and hats.  I will think of these kids next time I complain about the pool being less than 80 degress (Fahrenheit) or my coffee going cold.