"Aaahhh" (this is one of the NatHab operations guys)...it was full sunshine and just a few degrees below zero as we boarded our private charter plane in Winnipeg for our 3-hour flight north to our destination:  Churchill, Manitoba.

Who in their right minds (okay...that part is questionable...???) would do a winter getaway in northern Canada?

Earlier this month, I spent a few days in Florida with my two precious sisters.

Our last day in Alaska's Katmai National Park began in the fog.

After a couple of days exploring Kukak Bay, Captain John navigated the Ursus to the larger, less protected Hallo Bay on the edge of Katmai National Park.

Nothing really prepared us for the heart-stopping thrill of seeing our first grizzlies in Katmai.

After our day in Kodiak, we took a float plane across Kodiak Island and the Shelikof Strait to the pure Alaska wilderness that is Katmai National Park, on the north-eastern coast of the Alaska peninsula.

Shawn is the reason we went to Alaska to play with the grizzly bears.

One definition of caper:  an act of frivolous, playful behavior

I'm not much for roughing it, but an opportunity to camp in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana was irresistable. Even to me.