Northwest Territories Part 1: Yellowknife

Yellowknife is a beautiful place! Unfortunately, there was a lot of smoke at first from a forest fire in the neighbourhood--it was quite a surprise when getting off the plane! Apparently the fire was about 40km away and sometimes blowing toward Yellowknife. It had abated in 2 days.
My first night there, I met Leone and Clem of "Buffalo Nights Bed and Breakfast." Clem actually hunts buffalo, but hasn't for a while since it's too much meat. There was a gigantic taxidermied head of one of the "little" ones he got. The view from their house overlooks Great Slave Lake from a high rocky hill. So gorgeous!

I stayed at Fred Henne Territorial Park for 5 days, on a rocky hill. I read 4 novels sitting down at the beach of Long Lake, which is, of course, long and also shallow and chilly.

I took a picture of my first coffee made. I still didn't have fuel, so I got boiling water from the gatehouse. I placed it so you could see the veins of pink rock that went through all the rock on my rocky hill. For 4 of the 5 days, I had the place to myself, as all the other tent pads on my hill were unoccupied. My first night there, though, I met Christine from Switzerland who spends 6 weeks every summer in Northern Canada because she loves the tundra so much. When she talks about the tundra, she speaks as an artist or poet might. She had me anticipating my own experience of tundra coming up!

When in the city of Yellowknife, I noticed that in addition to a variety of places that sell art and handcrafts from the Dene people like beading and furs, there is a lot of what I would call folk art. Everywhere is a canvas. The electric boxes, benches and the dumpsters are all decorated with paintings of lake scenes, animals and people. The "Old Town" is particularly pretty, sticking out into the lake.

In the Old Town,  the highly recommended place from all Yellowknifers and tourists alike if you want a meal of fish is Bullock's Bistro:

I had a piece of grilled Arctic char with a dill sauce, that was so unbelievably delicious, I am salivating as I type. There was a gigantic salad and fries with it. I was so full, I took the giant slice of carrot loaf with me. I liked the "no sniveling" sign at the entrance. The restaurant walls are covered with the messages of visitors from around the world. In the space beside my table I added "Lynne, Waterloo Ontario" chosen over "Lynne, adventurer", I'm not sure....

The weather was sunny, sunny, sunny--I'm as brown as an acorn. The one night it rained (which was good for the forest fire I'm sure) was the night before my flight to Inuvik in the morning. Murphy's Law eh? A wet tent and gear is the way of life if you're on adventure!

Mike, at Fred Henne park took good care of me during my stay in Yellowknife. He introduced me to his friend Kate whom I will be taking a canoe trip with on my return to Yellowknife, August 8.

I went to fetch my boiling water each morning and chatted with Mike who always had some good music on. His taste is wide and varied. The first morning, he was playing Billie Holiday. This is what I heard on my 4th morning:

If you need a reason to fly in the north, in addition to the excellent customer service, here it is:

 

Ever heard of a flight arriving early?

Stay tuned for Northwest Territories Part 2: Inuvik.........