The biggest of those distractions was a Jimmy! I had an absolutely fantastic visit with my dad last week. He arrived last Tuesday on a beautiful afternoon and the weather stayed with us the whole time he was here! It was easily the best week of the whole summer.
I took the afternoon off and we went for a hike around town. To be perfectly honest, a hike around the main part of town, the downtown area if you will (and in the case of Iqaluit it is very much down from the rest of town... I’m telling you, it is a big ass hill), only takes about ten minutes! We stopped at North Mart and dad was actually quite impressed with the availability of food (and maybe questioning why he drug a big cooler up with him full of tasty goodies for me... it was worth it, if only for the goat cheese! No decent goat cheese in town). I think that first hike back up the hill was hard on the old guy, but he took it like a champ! Back at the house that night we enjoyed a delectable (and downright gourmet if I do say so myself) dinner of baked arctic char and the first of the Indiana Jones series (my roommate has them all! we managed to make it through the whole series before dad left at the end of the week).
I had to work the next day, but dad trucked around town and met me for lunch. I had encouraged him to go and see the museum, art gallery and legislature (all within two minutes of each other) but he was so concerned about the impending arrival of hurricane Earl bearing down on Yarmouth Harbour and the marina that he manages, that I think he spent much of the day on the phone! Thankfully (as most of you know) Earl’s bite turned out to be much less than his bark.
That night (much to my delight) the northern lights shone for the first time since I arrived. There have been hints before, but we stepped out on the back patio and there they were, draped across the sky above the row of houses up from us. They are mostly green, though later in the season I can expect to see other colours, and there isn’t too much movement this time of year. Just the hint of a shimmer, like someone took one end of a drape and snapped it so that a wave travels the length of it. Beautiful. I couldn’t get any pictures unfortunately... you need to have a better camera than I have to capture the northern lights with any sense of reality, but these are some of my co-workers best shots.
I took the day off on Thursday and dad and I hiked around and visited some of the local sites, but the real highlight of dad’s trip, and the highlight of my entire summer, came on Friday! My boss Jim‘s son runs the only boat chartering business in town, Inukshuk Tours. Jim tries to get the staff out on the boat every summer and when I told him that my dad was coming and enjoys being out on the water, he arranged it so that the two coincided! What a great boss :). So we were up with the sun and travelled down to one of the breakwaters (unfortunately for the people of Iqaluit, there are no real wharves in town), donned bright red survival suits and boarded the boat. This monster is packing over 700 horsepower in twin V8 motors and can she ever fly! The day was beautiful and the water was calm as anything... the conditions couldn’t have been better. We cruised among the islands stretching across Frobisher Bay and in and out of a number of the smaller bays and inlets. There were several waterfalls, beautiful calm bays reflecting the surrounding scenery almost perfectly. It was amazing.
When Jim told us about the trip and asked us where we wanted to go he suggested the fiords on the western side of Frobisher Bay, saying there was a one in a million chance that we would see a bear. Well, when I heard Jimmy junior say that there was a female bear with her two cubs up on one of the ridges above us, I thought to myself that I had better run and buy a lottery ticket when we got back to town. I couldn’t see them at first and I was quite upset because I was afraid I was going to miss them all together, but there they were… mother and two cubs making there way across the mountain side. They were quite a distance off, but with binoculars you could make them out well enough. Here is a picture I took of them through my binoculars, lol. You can at least tell what they are... sort of :)
Well, after that experience you just couldn’t get the silly grin off my face. Most people living in Iqaluit that have been here for three, four or more years have never seen a bear, and Taq, who was on the trip and grew up in Nunavut, even living out on the land every summer when she was young, had never seen cubs before this weekend. It was quite the experience. The rest of the trip we saw seals and got up close and personal with a couple of ice bergs. It was a truly unforgettable day! And were we ever bushed at the end of it! We both slept well that night.
On Saturday dad came out to the shelter to help me out with the dogs, and then in the evening we went for a sunset hike out the Road to Nowhere to join a bonfire party, a popular summer activity in Iqaluit. It was quite the little adventure we went on, tripping across the tundra after dark! By the time we arrived at the fire the festivities were well underway. It was a nice gathering with good food and wine, which we savoured out of water bottles and paper cups. There were furry friends we well, including an absolutely massive, Newfoundland drool machine named Tank (yes, I am referring to a dog, in case there was any confusion) and a little white poodle named Moe. We didn’t stay for too long before we decided to head back out from the safety of the fire. On the hike back to town the Northern Lights continued their brilliant dance over head. The stars were fantastic as well, I don’t think I have seen them much clearer and brilliant than up here on a clear night, except for maybe remote New Zealand (remember that Mark?).
There’s a trend that you may or may not have picked up on yet… are you getting the sense that we did a lot of hiking? Well if you are, you are quite right! We ate indulgently (dad had the opportunity to try local arctic char, turbot, caribou and musk ox, and even went home with a cooler full of char for smoking... save some for my next visit home!), but made up for it on long hikes under sunny skies. I was very impressed, dad kept up quite well. He only accused me of elder abuse on a couple of occasions. It is a small town, so in theory you can walk anywhere and everywhere. I don’t have a car (yet), and though taxis are cheap, I am cheaper and so walking has become my standard method of getting around. We went down the hill, and then back up it, and then down again and, though we may have taken a slightly different route… back up it again and again. It’s good for the old ticker! That’s my theory.
On Sunday I volunteered at the local softball tournament in the beer garden selling drinks and food in support of the Humane Society. Dad also supported the Humane Society by downing several cold beers and donating excellent tips to the cause. There is a real sense of volunteerism in this town, so much need for it. Everyone has their favourite cause or two that they donate their time and efforts to.
The rest of the trip dad and I spent hiking some more, and just enjoying each other’s company. It was a real treat to have a familiar face around, if only for a few days. When you move somewhere as distant and remote as Iqaluit it is quite easy to feel like you are in another world, but dad’s presence brought my two worlds a little closer together, and I was so thankful for it. On Tuesday at lunch I walked dad down to the airport and saw him off. He had a little dog in tow that he was transporting to its owner back in Nova Scotia, just another example of his big heart and generous spirit. I was sorry to see him go…
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