Nova Inn Inuvik

... of the day was the gathering at the park in the middle of town. They had several entertainment items scheduled, including a blanket toss, a modern cookout of hamburgers and hotdogs, a cookout of aboriginal foods, various musical groups from around town, and a feast in the evening. We sat around for a couple hours whiling away the hours until we could hopefully take a flight up to Tuk on the Arctic Ocean.

At 4:30 we headed over to a tour agent and took a van ride over to the ...

... McPherson. After the second ferry, the road becomes entirely flat with long straight stretches. Still no services. There are a lot of ravens in the Yukon and NWT. Those are the huge black birds you see in at least one picture below.

We finally rolled into Inuvik in the late afternoon. You'll notice in some of the pictures that there are above ground ducts that run to all the houses. All of the utilities that we ...

... spot is if you mistakenly touch the screw on a lightswitch plate. Yummy. And then there is crossing from the carpeted living room to the kitchen and touching water in the sink. Oh joy! I have my exercise bike in the living room and it is next to the chair I use to watch TV. Clever me touches the bike AS I get up from the chair and ...

Yesterday I learned a new word: "frostnip". CBC Radio out of Yellowknife did a piece on the difference between frostbite and frostnip. I think it is like people saying they have the flu - when all they really have is a cold. They feel unwell. When you say you have "flu" you get the furrowed eyebrows and head ...

... sailing for me for a full week!. Kind of like a holiday in the middle of January. Party time for us on the 23rd. It's the first day of exams AND my birthday! Mike has already lined up the sorts of drinks he will be making for me. Oh yeah, and a bunch of us are going to dinner. Shouldn't let the drinking games overshadow the meal.

... donuts were fresh from this morning. That's as good as you can get up here! There were about 12 of us ooohing and aahhhing and eating donuts. There is a bonfire the size of a school bus down at a park and I was dreading freezing my thighs off to watch the fireworks tomorrow night. I am so glad I got the date wrong! We were nice and warm, and like Christmas, it was more fun sharing it with kids.

... thought it was a dog, but the huge bushy tail changed my mind. It also moved in the most unusual pattern; it zigzagged but with a sideways twist. It made me think of a sidewinder (snake). I froze to the spot, terrified it might turn around and come back. How long was I going to stand there? I made a beeline for my place, just walking a little faster than before.

... is like spun sugar. One day I stepped out onto new snow and noticed that it was glistening in the sunlight. Okay, it wasn't really "sunlight" - more like light from the sun below the horizon refracted off clouds. Ask a Science teacher if you need more details. Point is, the snow was so light and fluffy that it resembled cotton candy. Mmmmm, the smell of jet fuel in ...

... town and the kids were the most attentive I have ever seen. Mind you, they also love listening to stories and Sigmund read from his new book -- new as in in the middle of being written. Even better - it is set in Inuvik and he uses the name of our high school. The kids are hooked. As we left the gym we all got copies of his latest book, Oil Kings Glory.

... Circle to the Arctic Ocean. One in Alaska and the other in Canada's Yukon Territory. In Europe there is a road from Sweden into Lapland. After 3 attempts to drive across the Arctic Circle I finally made it. The first attempt was foiled when I was deported from Denmark to Poland while attempting to extend my passport stamp in 2003. The second time was last year in 2004 when I drove all the way north past Fairbanks, Alaska to Livengood and the beginning of the Haul Road to the ...