Get outta town!

May 30th, 2012
Sunrise: N/A
Sunset: N/A
Temps: 3'C - 19'C (last 24 hours)
Ground cover: dirt, puddles, scrub grass, garbage and a few little tenatious piles of snow.

So I left Inuvik. Already.

Just for a week! I had a lovely time visiting my hubby, moms and friends in BC, and now I am back in little Inuvik. A lot changed in my short time away, but first I have to tell you about my trip.

To the right is an Air North plane at the Inuvik airport. This Hawker Siddeley's notable features include a passenger compartment in the rear of the plane (behind the cargo space), a super steep set of stairs for boarding at the back of the plane, and a malfunctioning propeller. (After a failed take-off attempt they sent us another plane from Whitehorse and fed us pizza.)


Views from the air:

To the left is the NWT terrain, not long after take off.

To the right, are the spiny mountains not far from Dawson City, Yukon. Tombstone Mountain Territorial Park is propably not far away.

I don't think it would take long to fly from Inuvik to Terrace if, magically, there were a direct flight. It was a little challenging to accept that I was esentially flying over my destination at 10:30 am Saturday morning, only to have to continue on to Vancouver, wait several hours, take another flight, and arrive at 2:45 pm.

Parachute anyone?

Oh well. It was a lovely visit at home.

While I was gone, I missed break-up! In a matter of days, sloppy sheets of ice turned into a moving waterway with small icebergs in it. The river is now in full flood, overflowing its banks and backing up into tributaries and neighbouring lakes. Chunks of ice on the side are thick but melting fast, and over the last 2 days I've heard the purring of outboard motors as people eagerly take to the water. Upstream, the Mackenzie River ferry will soon be back in the water and the Dempster Highway will be passable once again.