Go Sunnyland Tours! Safe, Easy and Fun Escorted Motorcoach Tours

Polar Bear Express - Gateway to the Artic

August 1 - 10, 2010

10 Days & 13 Meals

Special Features

Visit the Bavarian Village of Frankenmuth, Michigan
Round Trip Ferry Ride to Mackinac Island, Michigan
Carriage Tour of Mackinac Island
Lunch at “Grand” Grand Hotel
Dynamic Earth Tour, Sudbury, Ontario
Travel rugged wilderness areas of Ontario,Canada
Polar Bear Conservation & Educational Habitat
All day excursion to Moosonee aboard the Polar Bear Express Train, dinner included on train.
African Lion Safari Drive Thru
Tour Henry Ford Museum
Farewell Lunch

All Aboard for a ride on the Polar Bear Express that travels 186 miles down the Arctic Watershed, through territory that still belongs in spirit to the fur traders and explorers of 300 years ago, to the community of Moosonee where the nearest road link ends 150 miles to the south.

Day 1, Sunday, August 1

Travel Day to Hammond, Indiana.
LODGING: Fairfield Inn & Suites

Day 2, Monday, August 2

We will continue to Frankenmuth, Michigan with its rich Bavarian Heritage. We will include lunch and a short guided tour of this lovely town. The rest of the day is free for you to enjoy the many interesting shops and taste some of their delicious German goodies. You may wish to visit the fabulous Bronners Christmas Wonderland this evening.
LODGING: Drury Inn & Suites
MEALS: Breakfast Lunch

Day 3, Tuesday, August 3

This morning we cross the “Mighty Mac Bridge” into St. Ignace, Michigan and take a thrilling Ferry Cruise on Lake Huron to Mackinac Island for a Horse Drawn Carriage Tour and Lunch at the totally elegant Grand Hotel. Overnight St Ignace.
LODGING: Holiday Inn Express Lakefront
MEALS: Breakfast Lunch

Day 4, Wednesday, August 4

This day takes us into Canada where we travel into Sudbury, Ontario. Our first stop is a visit to Dynamic Earth where we take an underground tour to learn the techniques and history of nickel mining in this region.
LODGING: Hampton Inn Sudbury
MEALS: Breakfast

Day 5, Thursday, August 5

Today we arrive in Cochrane, Ontario in time to tour the Polar Bear Conservation & Educational Habitat. This is the only rehabilitation centre of its kind in the world. We can watch the polar bears both above and under the water.
LODGING: Swan Castle Inn
MEALS: Breakfast

Day 6, Friday, August 6

This is the day we have been waiting for as we board the famous Polar Bear Express. Cochrane is the starting point of an exciting day trip by train that takes you through miles of Arctic Wilderness along the Abitibi River that flows through the Arctic Watershed to the Arctic tidewaters at Moosonee. It is a trip through history with views of Otter Rapids Hydro Dam and the half mile causeway and bridge spanning the Great Moose River. Upon arrival, you can check out the settlement, chat with the rugged men and women who wrest a living from the wilderness and learn something of life in the modern frontier. You may wish to take an optional boat ride across the river to the Moose Factory. It was founded as an important Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading post in 1673. Late this afternoon we re-board our train for the return trip to Cochrane. Dinner will be included on the train.
LODGING: Swan Castle Inn
MEALS: Breakfast Dinner

Day 7, Saturday, August 7

Our travel day will pass quickly as we drive through beautiful scenery and clear lakes. The route will take us through North Bay on Lake Nipissing, into the Muskoka Lakes Region, by the Tally Ho Winter Park Ski area and on the way, we cross the 45th Parallel, halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. Our destination today is Orillia, Ontario, Canada.
LODGING: Mariposa Inn
MEALS: Breakfast

Day 8, Sunday, August 8

We continue south today toward the Golden Horseshoe area of Ontario, leaving behind the granite and pine Muskoka resort region. The landscape is more gentle and the farmland rich as we enter into this, the most heavily populated area in all of Canada. This morning we are going to look a lion in the eye and feel the ground tremble as rhinos thunder by. See monkeys, cheetahs, camels, zebras, ostriches, giraffes along with buffalo, deer and elk as we ride through the 500 acres of the African Lion Safari. Our lodging will be in Windsor, Ontario.
LODGING: Hampton Inn & Suites
MEALS: Breakfast

Day 9, Monday, August 9

We pass through Customs back into the USA and visit the famous Henry Ford Museum which includes Artifacts and inventions of American History during the past 300 years. You will see trains, planes, automobiles, household inventions, home appliances, musical instruments and much, much more. After lunch we depart for our destination of Plainfield, Indiana.
LODGING: Hampton Inn
MEALS: Breakfast

Day 10, Tuesday, August 10

We must say goodbye to our lovely traveling friends but we will have many memories of our Polar Bear Express Tour. We have included a Farewell Lunch as our way of saying Thank You for traveling with Sunnyland Tours. We should arrive in Springfield approximately 4:30 PM.
MEALS: Breakfast Lunch