The Museum and Frame Lake

Legislature Iglu

Here be the legislature of the NWT - not a bad location :D

Preparing for landing

The sun was in the process of setting as we reached Yellowknife allowing me to see things from a birds-eye view.

They have trees here!!!

Its been a long time since I've spent fall somewhere with trees.

Yellowknife at night

Sunset over Back Bay

I think this is the view my Grandparents sort have would have had back in the day :D

Yellowknife Airport

Arrival in Yellowknife

After dreaming of visiting Yellowknife since I was a child, I'm finally here and probably at the nicest time of year. You might all be wondering why on earth is isolated capital city of the Northwest Territories even on my must see travel list - actually if you knew me you'd probably not be all that surprised... I like small towns and remote locations (I do live in a smaller, even more remote and isolated hamlet on the shores of Baker Lake), but in this case it has to do the the stories of the best story tellers that I know: My Gramma and Grandpa.

From my earliest childhood days, Yellowknife was synonomous with the north, adventure, the barrens and the final frontier. My grandpa told us stories of his travels on the land with a canoe and a friend and some very bad cooking. I still remember him vividly telling me about waking up with his sleeping bag covered in snow. My grandma tells stories of the people of Yellowknife - how an old miner taught her how to cook her first turkey for my Granpa after they were married.

Arriving here, I was caught doing something as lame as photographing the polar bear diorama in the airport. I had to laugh at myself as we were driving into town from the airport that I was getting that culture shock thing that goes with cars, roads and trees and large buildings because my typical viewscape is red clay/gravel roads, trucks, hondas and machines (skidoos), and the largest building in town is the high school. The view from my room is amazing - I can see the territorial legislature and Frame Lake.

I'd better throw out a few picture and then go take a bunch more for you all. I know a remarkable number of displaced Yellowknifers for someone who has never been here before.

And the Siksik works on putting on his fall 15 lb

We participated in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup yesterday - many of us picking up litter on 2 beaches, others (namely the siksik pictured) is cleaning some food particles he's dug out of the sand. The weather clouded over, but it was beautiful in the morning when I wasn't taking pictures, and interesting colours and light in the cloudy afternoon.

Winter is coming though even to the vegetation nearest to the temperature modifying lake... twice we've seen ice on the puddles and I've heard rumours of snow, although I've yet to see it.... The barges are still coming and going, but in a few weeks, ice will start to form on the lake.

I'm headed for the Schools on Board program in just a few days, and I'm terribly excited, and a little nervous. There will definitely be about a 2-3 or maybe 4 week gap in my blog, but hopefully, lots of cool stuff once I ramp back up to speed in late October.

And then the tundra starts to turn

Its been a busy, but postive fall - already the colours of the land have shifted from green to yellows and oranges as the weather has started to brush the subzero range. As usual, September is a rainy month, so we were thrilled when a pretty consistantly grey sky opened up to broad swaths of blue and pleasant temperatures on Wednesday for the Terry Fox run. I think we are back to grey skies again. I know I should still get out and walk with the nice weather rapidly fading. Maybe tonight.... looks like there could be more northern lights late this evening, should the sky actually clear up so we could see them here.... here's hoping.

Dinosaurs Ate My Couch

A random purchase from the clearance department has brightened my living room decor considerably. I went to put it away for having company over, and then immediately relized the positive impact it had on my living room. It kinda goes with the dorm-room feel and ikea beddesk frame and moderately chewed on furniture (just for the record, I do not have any pets).

It was a nice weekend with a quiet get together with some friends followed by two days of blissful anti-socialness spent with some fictional dysfunctional teens in Manhatten and sometimes Brooklyn and some very non-fiction science textbooks.

We made stew tonight - so lots of healthy vegetables, YUM!

And now that I've done one more bit of procrastination, I should get back to subnivian ecology for a few more minutes before tackling Tides.

Fireweed Fields

A moment of sunshine on a persistantly cloudy weekend brought out the glowing purples of fireweed and the yellowing tones of the the tundra grasses as summer turns to fall.

All Graduated

A quick good luck in all their future endevours to all 12 of our amazing graduates this year!!!! It may be the sunset of highschool, but tomorrow is a sunrise on new and exciting adventures.

I'm back in Baker Lake and glad to be here, although I've actually gotten to the point where most of the time I'm clued out to the fact I'm living in such an isolated place. Once and a while, I look up and it occurs to me that if I walk 1 km past the edge of town, there really isn't anything out there built by humnas within 275 km (and a good deal in most directions - 275 km is the distance to Rankin) except Meadowbank Mine.

I learned a new card game last night and enjoyed several rounds of euchere although I was a bit tired, and generally playing poorly (sorry partner), but still having fun. In other excitement, I bought a dinosaur themed quilt on clearance at Sears which has brightened my living room decor, even if it has failed to enhance the grace and elegance of my decor, it is cheerier than navy and buff semi abstract floral camo. Besides, the Ikea bedframe and mix of posters and technically flawed original watercolours (mine - so I can cut them up if I want - 1 is good, and two are decent and the others are okay enough to have on the wall as long as no one looks too closely) make it impossible to create an adult space.... so... yeah for dinosaurs :D