"The Journey of The Lippards" TLippard's Profile

The Beginning (or Present Day)

Hi All. If you have somehow managed to stumble your way to my little Webpage/Blog/Journal/etc., I'm sorry. Hitting your back button will correct that error. LOL.

What? You mean't to click here? Ok. I guess I should do my best to entertain you since you're here. I've been a member of Virtual Tourist for a couple of years, but not been very active. I'm looking to change that.

In the coming days, weeks, months, I will attempt to load some photos of our journeys, offer a brief or two on our experiences, and happily answer any questions you might have that I feel qualified to answer.

Saying that, I'll stop this first entry. Maybe I'll post some photos later.

Thanks for looking.

Tim Lippard

Upcoming Trips:
Philadelphia, PA
Beijing, China (Panda Bears)
Alaska, US (Brown Bears)

Recently Completed Trips:
Churchill, Manitoba, Canada (Polar Bears)
Pac Northwest (Portland US, Seattle US, Vancouver BC CA)
Baltimore, MD

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Stepping backwards (Churchill, CA for Polar Bears)

Early November marked our most outstanding trip ever. It has been a dream for some time to go look at the polar bears in Churchill. Those darn Travel Channel and Discovery Channel shows are to blame.

We booked our tour with Frontiers North and decided to spend the extra money to stay at the Tundra Buggy Lodge. BEST DECISION EVER!!! We saw more each morning before 9am than we did the rest of the day.

Why is that important you ask? Because if you stay at the lodge in Churchill town, it will be 9:00-9:30am'ish before you make it to the tundra where all the action is. It was not unusual for us on our trip to have an encounter before we could even get breakfast finished.

So, on to the trip. We booked the Enthusiast package which gave us an extra day I think. There were 17 of us in our group; 7 couples, 3 singles. Day 1 in Churchill, we got a Dog Sledding adventure, a brief tour of Churchill, and on the the Tundra Buggy Lodge.

Our dog sledding adventure was awesome. Dave Daley is the owner of Wapusk Adventures, a family owned and operated dog-sledding business. Each of us got a lap around the "Ididamile" track with the dogs, had a great, informative conversation with Dave, and the opportunity to play with and interact with the dogs and some new puppies that were a recent addition.

Later, we had lunch in Churchill, got a brief tour of the town and a little time for shopping because we ran long at the dog sledding, and then we were on to the tundra.

We had 17 on our buggy, plus our driver, Brian and our guide, Chris. I cannot say enough about these two guys and how they completely elevated our trip. They were beyond accommodating, always seemed to position the buggy in the best possible spot, and always ready to answer questions or explain things we were seeing without having to be prompted.

Words simply cannot explain the experience and sadly neither can photos. I'll post them when I have some ready, but let's just say that being within feet of such beautiful, yet dangerous animals is out of this world. You're just close enough that you could reach out and touch one, but smart enough to keep your hands out of reach. They really can get that close.

It's a wonderful experience, the extreme temperatures weren't that extreme for us, and the buggy is heated so you won't freeze. I'll be happy to answer any and all questions I can if you want more information.

This is our only trip to Churchill, yet I feel confident that I can recommend Frontiers North with 100% confidence. No, they didn't pay me to say it. I say it because the experience was beyond all expectations.

*Note to VT Staff: If any of this post is considered advertising, please accept my apologies and I will edit. This is nothing more than what I would recommend in the Tips sections of the site and it's based purely on my experience.

Intro Updated Dec 12, 2010
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Comments (8)

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lmkluque Sep 1, 2012 at 8:18 AM

Hi Tim, Hope you are enjoying the Festival of Sail this weekend in San Diego. I got on the Pilot boat that was part of the Parade of Sail this year and it was a great experience! Hope you remember your sunscreen as the sun is storng these days!
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RickinDutch May 16, 2012 at 9:31 AM

So what did you end up doing during your 10 hours in Anchorage?
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DaHongHua Feb 14, 2012 at 7:09 AM

Just to send a greeting from Malaysia to Texas.
Hello and Happy Birthday.
I learn from your Tip of the day. TQ.
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goodfish Nov 18, 2011 at 3:15 AM

Hey!! Congrats, Tip-of-the-Day Tim! Good advice on the camera question in the Mexico forum too.
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VT_Tipoftheday Nov 17, 2011 at 2:41 PM

Hey Tim!

Just wanted to let you know that your tip and photos about Alcatraz at Night have been selected for Tip of the Day! The photos were really amazing, but I also really liked that you gave specific directions for how to get there at the perfect time and optimize the photo opportunities. I know you've been away from VT for awhile, but it's evident you have a real knack for tips, so keep it up!

In addition to featuring your photo and tip on our VT_TipoftheDay profile page, we'll also post your photo and a link to your tip on our Virtual Tourist Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/VirtualTourist) and our VT Twitter (twitter.com/#!/VirtualTouris...), so feel free to link to them or retweet!

Congrats and I look forward to reading more of your tips!
Blake
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BillNJ Dec 7, 2010 at 4:08 AM

Nice homepage, Tim. Looks like you are a big fan of bears. Looks like you'll see a bunch in your upcoming travels (but probably not in Philadelphia unless the Eagles are playing the Bears when you visit). Cheers, Bill
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nicolaitan Dec 6, 2010 at 6:08 PM

well, then, welcome aboard. we spent a few months in san antonio in 1970, loved it, would enjoy reading about all the changes since then. n.
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jumpingnorman Dec 4, 2010 at 5:04 AM

Enjoy building your pages - would love to see pics of Alaska :) Cheers, Norman