What a gorgeous weekend it was here! I think that it will end up being the nicest of the summer. It must have topped twenty degrees on Saturday. I got up early on Saturday and did some yard sale shopping in the morning with a friend. There are tons of yards sales here in the summer, with people always coming and going from Iqaluit, though I didn’t really buy anything. Then I went for a loooong hike in the afternoon along the coast. It was nice because it wasn’t buggy, and I am coming to learn that big conditions out on the tundra determines much of what goes on around here. A touch of wind or a cold snap is essential to avoiding mosquito mayhem.

In the evening we headed out the Road to Nowhere, which is a misconception because it is actually takes you to some of the most beautiful places around town, and camped along a river. The river is wide and slow and meanders through a valley... it is a very tranquil setting. There were about a dozen of us and we had a camp fire and tons of yummy food. It was a really nice evening except for (dun, dun, dunnnnn) the mosquitoes! Holy moly, I have never seen anything like it. There was a collective high pitched hum in the air that set me on edge. Thousands! And they got worse as the sun went down. Then, quite suddenly, the wind picked up and they virtually disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The sunset was stunning, followed by an equally awe-inspiring moon rise on the opposite horizon. I don’t think I could ever tire of marvelling at the setting sun. Both the sun and the moon kind of hug the horizon as they arc across the sky, so sunsets can go on for hours. It is lovely. I wish I had a camera that could capture scenes as I see them more accurately, but my little snap and shoot just doesn`t quite cut it. Here are some of my better shots.

Everybody look at the moon...

And this was the scene that I woke up to in the morning. So tranquil... until you stepped out of your tent into the swarm of insects. They were even worse in the morning! The poor dogs were rolling around in the grass trying to rub them off, and the poor people were cursing and swearing. We finally had to abandon plans to make breakfast at the campsite, and head home instead.

The following night the sunset and moon rise were equally as stunning! That is the scene from my bedroom window.

Hi folks! Beautiful day here in Iqaluit, much appreciated after almost a week of dismal, cold and wet weather. The sun is shining! I can’t wait to get my work day over and done with so I can go for a good long hike. I now have a favourite route along the coast between Iqaluit and Apex, which I thought I would tell you a little more about!

Iqaluit means "place of many fish" in Inuktitut. It’s located near the mouth of the Sylvia Grinnell River that empties into Frobisher Bay named after Martin Frobisher, an Englishman that was in search of the Northwest Passage, but discovered Frobisher Bay instead. He originally thought it was the route to China! Besides thinking he had discovered the Passage, Frobisher also believed that he had discovered gold on one of the islands in the bay, and he took tons of it home to England, only to find out it was fool's gold. Now there’s a fool! Between 1955 and 1987 the settlement of Iqaluit was known as Frobisher Bay.

Frobisher Bay was a small community until the U.S. Air Force selected the Inlet as the site of a major airbase in 1942. When the American Airstrip became operational in 1943 the Hudson's Bay Company moved its trading post to Apex. Apex is part of the community of Iqaluit, separate by a big-ass hill. In 1963 the American Air Force left Frobisher Bay. Then in 1987 the community of Frobisher Bay officially became Iqaluit, reverting to its original Inuktitut name.

The Inuit are a nomadic people and like most of the communities in Nunavut, Iqaluit was a forced settlement. I work with a woman who is in her seventies who can remember living off the land with her family. They travelled by dog sled and when she was seven she remembers comnig into Iqaluit with her father and their dog team to get supplies, and when they went to leave the RCMP shot all of their dogs so that they couldn't. No wonder the Inuit are so skeptical of the federal government!

At one time, Apex was the site of the local hospital so nurses, doctors and the sick had to travel by foot between the two communities along the coast where I have been hiking. Today there is a road between the two, although word has it that it is frequently closed in the dead of winter.

There are funny little round houses found in town. Because the town is so small, it is very ecclectic with every style from the past 50 years mashed together in neighborhoods.

They actually have seadoo races and competitions in this little pond in the middle of town!

Here is the view looking back into Iqaluit from the trail to Apex.

The original Hudson's Bay company buildings in Apex.

Low tide on the bay. There is no real port facilities, so when the ships come in to drop off supplies they come in at high tide and when the tide drops they rest on the seafloor and truck drive out to unload supplies. It is not the best system!

A pretty stream through town at sunset.

That's all for now! Over and out from Iqaluit.

Oh, my dear fans, how I have neglected you! I’m sorry, my internet connection over the past week has been troublesome and I have been busy moving into my new place :) and flying around Baffin Island!

Today is a gorgeous day! The sun is shining and the bay was like glass this morning, which isn’t common. This is a relief after a week or so of overcast skies and rain. It really cooled down as well, enough so that some days I still got a chill with a hooded sweatshirt on in the middle of the day. One person even suggested that summer night be over – egad! (a little flashback to the days of Archie comics for you). I'm really enjoying my new place, which I moved into on Monday. I am sleeping much better at my new place; that hotel room was god-awfully hot every hour of the day! And I have two balck feline companions, in addition to Eva, my roommate. I'll send you some pictures at a later date.

I have so much to tell you about! Monday evening was very busy… all of my boxes arrived at my new place and I had to get them out of the way as I was meant to be away Tuesday to Wednesday and I didn’t want Eva (my new roommate) to be tripping over them. Tuesday morning I had to be up at 5:00 am, but thankfully the sun was shining brightly! That is one of the perks of a 24 sun, it makes getting up at a god awful hour much easier.

So, I walked down to the airport and after a wait boarded a small prop plane with maybe 20 seats. I quickly came to learn that flying in the North requires patience – cancellations are common – and a strong stomach –turbulence is even more common! It is not difficult to pick out the fresh blood from the seasoned veterans. I ended up sitting next to a man on the way to the same meeting as me, and he was cool as a cucumber. The Inuit, on the other hand, are screamers! They scream and yell at the first hint of turbulence. It actually helped to break the ice with the guy sitting next to me, as we both chuckled at them together.

The turbulence didn’t keep me from enjoying the fantastic scenery though. Oh my god, it was beautiful! It is much more mountainous in that region (also on Baffin Island, not too far at all). It reminded me of flying over the Rockies, but with bays and fiords, not to mention the ice caps and glaciers. Pictures out of a plane window don’t quite do it justice, but nonetheless, here are some of my favourites.

As we approached Pangnirtung however, the clouds and fog closed in. I was feeling a little nervous as the landing gear came down and we descended, mostly because I couldn’t see a thing and I had no idea how far away the ground was. The plane began shaking, and the Inuit began screaming… then the engines shifted gear suddenly and started to surge and my stomach jumped up into my throat as I anxiously anticipated a rough touchdown. I’m not going to lie, it was a frightening experience, but the next thing I knew we were going back up! The pilot aborted the landing.

We carried on to Qikiqtarjuaq northeast of Pang, enjoying more fantastic scenery along the way. As we were preparing to land the flight attendant explained that we would be there for about an hour and to please not go into town, just “stroll around the airport”. For a brief moment I had flashes of strolling around, shopping duty-free in brightly lit spaces, a vision that was swiftly shattered as we touched down on a dirt runway and I caught sight of the smallest airport I have ever seen. The ground crew looked like high school kids dressed in jeans and t-shirts and the “Welcome to Qikiqtarjuaq” sign was drawn with markers on bristle board… ahhh, the north!

Qiki, as they call it, was really beautiful. The water was really calm and reflected the mountains across the bay with beautiful clarity. In the north however, calm comes hand-in-hand with something that very much keeps me from feeling calm... mosquitoes! There were so many mosquitoes that I even managed to get a picture of one! See below...

On the way back to Iqaluit the pilot attempted another, possibly more terrifying yet equally unsuccessful attempt at landing in Pang, and after five hours we landed back in Iqaluit... amid more screams followed promptly by nervous laughter. Over the course of the morning I did manage to develop a good working relationship with my seat mate though, who is also working with fisheries in Nunavut. And here’s the best part… we did the whole thing again the morning! After more than ten hours trying to get to Pang, which is actually only an hour away, I never did make it! And that, apparently, is travelling in the North!

I have so much more to go on about, but I will save it for another day. Have a good weekend!

Happy Nunavut Day!

Nunavut Day commemorates the passing of two Nunavut Acts, though Nunavut officially became a Canadian Territory on April 1, 1999.

We started off the day with a trip up the hill to Eva's house (my soon to be residence) for breakfast, delicious pancakes and bacon with maple syrup, yum! Then Becky and I went for a hike around town. When I was here in May for my interview I could see snow fences surrounding the town in some places. There was still a few feet of snow at the time, but they didn't look that big. Well, we got a closer look today and this is how you build a snow fence in Iqaluit...

They're huge!

Then we went down to the Legistlature Building to part-take in the Nunavut Day festivities. The celebration started with a bunch of speeches... kind of boring, but followed up with a free muskox burger! It was delicious.

Then... and this is not for the faint of heart... there was a country feast. Now what is a country feast, you ask? Well, I didn't know either until they brought out a selection of frshly killed seals and eider ducks. There was a skinning competition and the following pictures chronicle the event, so please don't scroll down if you don't think you want to see pictures of this facinating, cultural event.

The contestants for the seal skinning...

These were skilled hunters and skinners, and it was fast!

There was a real friendly competitive edge amongst the contestants and the crowd watching enthusiastic.

I love this pictures of the little guy eating his muskox burger right in front of one of the seals.

Then the women came out and skinned the ducks. As much as it was a fun competition, there was also an aire of seriousness about the whole event.

And they were really fast!

Now here's the part I wasn't expecting... Once the competition was finished, the crowd moved in to cut up and distribute the meat, but in the process everyone started to eat the raw meat. That's how they eat it when it's fresh. People were coming up and asking for a piece, and someone would cut off a rib for them and they would wander off with their uncooked rib meat. Others would take a big piece of meat, put it in their mouth and take their knife and cut a piece off. The only part I struggled with was watching people cut open and eat the eyes. Apparently the eyes are a delicacy.

It was a really. facinating cultural experience. I felt so inspired that I decided to be a part of it. Check it out!

I'm going to be honest with you, I didn't enjoy it very much. Seal is very fishy, especially raw, but I was proud of myself for taking part!

Following the "Country Feast" there were games and other events, and now I am back in my room taking it easy. I'm tired! This weekend I will be busy moving all of my boxes to my new place, and then next week I get to do some travelling, so it should be a busy week!

Too much TLC!

So, I spend a lot of time in my hotel room, despite being out on the tundra for hours out of everyday. And I invariably end up spending a lot of time with the TV on. I've mentioned movies I've watched, but what i've also been watching an aweful lot of TLC. I even got sucked into a marathon of episodes of "Cake Boss". Who would have known that "Cake Boss" could be so entertaining! That guy can turn anything into a cake!

But... my real reason for bringing up TLC is the latest from Huggies. Have you guys seen the commercial for their new line of Fashionista baby diapers? What is the world coming to?? "My diaper is full... full of fashion!" "When I do number two... I look like number one." "I poo... in blue!" I don't know whether to laugh, or cry, but I can't help but laugh a little. Brilliant!

I just got back from wing night... yes, there is a wing night here! And they're pretty good... lemon pepper and cajun lime, yum! Yet another beautiful, bright, sunny cloudless day. It has been about 20 degrees, t-shirt weather! And because the sun stays in the sky for sooo long it doesn't cool much in the evening. Both my hotel room and my office are south facing so I am just cooking! At home, at work... hot! And with the warm weather... comes the bugs. Oh boy, they're pretty bad, but they're not biting so much as bugging.

I got great news today. I get to do some travelling next week! There is a meeting on an experimental arctic char fisheries allocation program (I know, right!) in Pangnirtung, which is about an hour away, also on Baffin Island. I get to fly up there next Tuesday and I'll be there until Thursday. A nice way to break up the week, if I do say so myself! The terrain is quite different up there as well, so I am looking forward to it! And you know what that will mean.... more pictures!

Good night my friends...

I had a nice Canada Day here in Iqaluit. There was a big tent set up outside the elementary school (the white space station) and there was a festival with music and dancing. The highlight for me was definitely an introduction to live throat singing. Two young women took the mic and throat sang for only about a minute. What an eerie, primitive sound. It gave me shivers, I loved it. Next Friday is Nunavut Day, which is an even bigger celebration, so I am hoping to hear more throat singing then. That also means that next week is a four day week as well :)

On Saturday (yesterday) I had a great day full of hiking out on the tundra. I went out for a few hours in the morning to Sylvia Grinnell Park, a beautiful park only about 10 minutes walk from town. The Sylvia Grinnell River flows through the park, flowing over two waterfalls and that is where most of the fishing for Arctic char around town takes place. I can't wait to try some Arctic char! Apparently it takes a lot like salmon, only better :) Yum! In the late afternoon... I went out again with my soon to be roommate. The pictures below tell the story better than words.

This morning I somehow allowed myself to get sucked into watching Hunt for Red October for probably the 30th time in my life. Dad insisted on watching it every time that it was on TV (and it's on a lot!), and somehow, after all the years of letting dad know every time it was on I have been brainwashed into thinking I have to watch it when it's on TV. Thanks dad, just wasted another two hours of my life ;)

This afternoon? More hiking! Where is my Ella to keep me company?? On to the pictures...

This me over looking Frobisher Bay. That is snow on the mountains in the backdrop.

What a beautiful sunset, eh? And sunset here lasts well over an hour! It kind of reminds me of the northern lights, which I can't wait for!

I'm standing on snow in July!

There are so many of these little land locked ponds on the tundra, the remnants of the winter's snow and ice.

There are losts of signs of caribou kills on the tundra.

This is where the Sylvia Grinnell flows into Frobisher Day.

And this is the upper Sylvia Grinnell. Many famillies living in Iqaluit set up tent-like structures on the river and spend the summer there, much like their ancestors would have. Today the tents are wooden frames with tarps stretched over them and attached. I was inside one and it was quite cozy! There is a little tent city in the picture, but you might have a hard time finding it.

A real Inukshuk!

Clear, cold water... home of the Arctic char.

Melting ice alongside the river.

Another sign of caribou, but where are the live ones??

Isn't this a pretty picture of the setting sun reflecting off the river?

And another...

Here are some recent pics...

This is the local golf course, ha! Apparently there are five holes, but it ain't pretty. They have carpets around the holes.

Here is the river near town where all of the fishing is done. I'm going to try to get out to do some fishing this weekend. Apparently Arctic char is similar to salmon, yum!

This is a line of sled dogs, just like in the movies. They leave them on short chains, maybe up to ten feet long, all summer and apparently they only feed them once a week or something. It is a little heart breaking, they are desperate for attention, but they can also be dangerous. People get attacked by roaming dogs every year... sorry, don't mean to alarm anyone! I'll be fine.

I have some nice panoramas, but I can't load them... I'll have to put them on facebook.