In July 2013 I was delighted to travel to the Yukon and the Northwest Territories with Mandate Tours. We flew from Vancouver to Whitehorse for the first leg of the journey. From then on our travels included small planes, coach, train and boat transportation.
There were many great moments such as flying over the Mackenzie Delta in a Twin Otter at 500 feet. When you are that close to the ground the view is fantastic. It was exciting to see the numerous pingos, land formations unique to areas of lakes and permafrost.
Once we landed in Tuktoyaktuk we stopped to take pictures at the welcome sign. The next adventure was to visit an Inuit’s home on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Here I put my foot in the ocean, took a picture and sent it to my sons, one in Ontario and one in BC. Both boys texted me a reply immediately. Imagine, WiFi along the Arctic Ocean shore.
Before we left the Tuk and after a delicious meal of beluga whale, snow goose, bannack and Arctic Char, we visited the town’s cold storage. Down a frosty and slippery ladder I went 30 feet into the permafrost. The underground cold storage complete with individual “rooms” for each family, was a spectacular array of ice crystals sparkling in the flashlight beams.
Most families now have their own freezers at home so this underground walk-in freezer is in low demand.
Flying back to Inuvik from Tuktoyaktuk we oohed and aahed at the vastness of the Mackenzie Delta.
Our five day stay in Inuvik was highlighted by several visits to the Northern Arts Festival. The exhibits of carvings (including soapstone), jewelry, paintings, dolls, textiles, and gift ware was of exceptional artistic quality. The artists were from all the Arctic regions. The northern people are wonderfully friendly and welcoming everywhere we went, including when some of us attended a Sunday service in a local church.
What was the ultimate highlight for me? I enjoyed it all, including the muddy Dempster Hwy, but most definitely it was the feeling of awe that this vast natural beauty is my country.
Alice Kennedy
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