Cooper. Woke up @ 7:30 am for a 8:30 am pickup for a 9:00 am flight to Tuktoyaktuk. So many numbers! We left in a small plane for Tuk by ourselves. The flight was only about 30 mins long. When we got there, we arrived at their one room small airport and got picked up by own guide Eileen, and she took us to her house. At their house, they also have a tent. We went into the tent first. In the tent, there were lots of animal skins and animal heads. We then went inside and ate some of their tasty local food: caribou soup, eskimo donuts (bread), muk tuk (the skin and blubber of a beluga whale and cut up in small cubes), beluga jerky (dried whale meat), and smoked fish. My favourite was the the soup and eskimo donuts, then muk tuk, then jerky, then fish (I don't like fish in general). She then showed us around town. Something really cool was the ice house, which they use for freezing things in the summer. It was just a hole that led 35 feet underground with 19 freezer rooms! Really cool! Sadly, we couldn't go down because it was dangerous and we might die from falling off the ladder at that height. But I would do it anyway. Next we went swimming in the Arctic Ocean! Well, only my dad and I, my mom just dipped her toes in. Then we went on a small motor boat out in the ocean to spot some whales. We only saw one, barely, but it still was fun! When we got back to Inuvik, we had supper at a cool place called Alistenes where they cook the food out of a school bus! It tasted great! We have got in touch with our friends here now. Going to see them tomorrow. I hope to go in the pool tomorrow as well, I have been waiting for the pool day. Waited 4 days now. But that's ok! I'm writing every day in my journal that Ms. P (my awesome school teacher) gave me as a gift. Hope to write another blog entry tomorrow!

Vern.  We wound up our day with a tour of Inuvik's Igloo Church.  (Strongly recommended.)  Our guide only had keys to the front door of the church.  The front stairs were undergoing replacement and the construction crew had barred the door with a wooden slat to prevent patrons from exiting the church and falling through the open platform of joists four feet above ground.   A quick climb up onto the platform showed that the slat was simply screwed into the surrounding door frame.  One of the waiting tour group supplied me with a #2 Robertson from his car, the guide handed up the keys, and I was able to go through the front and open one of the side doors so we could get on with the tour.   I’ve enjoyed the challenge of getting into locked places over the years (mostly legal), but this is the first time I’ve had to break into a church.

Foodie Report:  Unusual Eats
Most of today's Unusual Eats are covered in Coop's post above.  I'll add to this our fare at Alistene's:  reindeer chili.  Santa, sorry about Prancer.  Kids, your Christmas presents may be slightly late this year.

Cooper. Had a great last 2 days! From Whitehorse, we got on a small plane (not my smallest, but definitely the one with the least leg room!) with 2 stops before Inuvik. The first Dawson, and the second Old Crow. Both with literally one room airports other than one small office and the bathrooms. Then when we arrived at Inuvik (said: i-NOO-vik) and took a cab to our hotel. Inuvik is a pretty small place, only one school, one pool, very small homes, only 5 places to eat and a population of ~3350. As it was Canada Day, (on that note, happy 148 birthday Canada!) there was a big Canada Day event happening conveniently right beside our hotel! I got dunked into the water tank in the ball throw! Went to bed at 11:00 pm but I didn't even know because we are in the land of the midnight sun! Got to not set an alarm for the first time in over a week!!! We woke up at 11:00 am, great way to waste half a day! We went to the visitor center, they had a fun quiz there! We then had lunch (man that was good pizza!) and went and stayed in our hotel room for a while to chill. After and hour or two, we went to play some native games like two leg kicks and high kicks, also strength games. I did very well and I am going to be on the NWT government website! Had a good last couple days and hope to have lots more! We are heading to Tuktoyaktuk tomorrow and we will dip our toes and swim in the freezing cold Arctic Ocean!!! The day after that, I hope to go to the Inuvik pool! It has a waterslide, sprinklers, a lazy river, a wave pool, it should be fun!

Vern. Foodie Report:  Unusual Eats
The Mackenzie Hotel in Inuvik has "Muskox Linguini" on its dinner menu -- an al dente linguini with a muskox bolognaise which clearly had to be sampled.   There was a generous portion of muskox, mildly spiced and a good deal leaner than beef.   All in all, quite good.

Note that food is very expensive in Inuvik.  A medium pizza plus a three-piece chicken dinner with fries ran us $60.  We grocery shopped this morning at North Mart - an all-in-one clothing and grocery store.  Cereal: $8.  Schneider's bacon:  $12 for 500 g.  Pigs must feel safer.

Cooper.  Finally got everything out of our house and into the trash or the storage unit. Yay! The most stressful part of the trip is done! Now it is for the fun part, doing it!

Slept at the Delta hotel at the airport for our early 6:00 am wake up to head over to Vancouver, and from Vancouver to Whitehorse. But... of course with our great luck, our bags got lost somewhere in the depths of the Calgary airport from Calgary to Vancouver. Eventually, we had to board our Air North flight to Whitehorse and made our way to and onto our plane. Our flight was delayed by a bit and we were wondering why. Then, just before take off began, our Air Canada guy (John) came to confront us in our seats. Of course we are all surprised to see him and even more when he told us that our bags had just come last second and were loaded onto our plane. Then we realized that all of that process was what delayed the flight. Mwahahahahah, we delayed the plane.

We also had a great day in Whitehorse and went on a massive paddle boat and then went to a wonderful tasting restaurant called Klondikes. That's what we did today! Can't wait for tomorrow!

Vern. Foodie Report on Klondike's:  An establishment with great character.  Open from May through September, the restaurant is housed in the oldest building in Whitehorse and is full of memorabilia.  Lineups out the door and onto the sidewalk, where patrons sit waiting on benches, armed with menus, and are tormented by the aromas from the kitchen.   We sampled the ribs, Caesar salad and the elk stroganoff.  Ribs were nicely spiced and slathered in Klondike's signature BBQ sauce; however, the meat was not as quite as tender as expected.  (Note to self:  The half rack is more than enough; the full rack results in a coma.) The stroganoff was likewise flavourful but the elk meat was dry.  The Caesar salad was excellent - I'd give it an 8.5/10 and I'm picky with my Caesars.  Cooper had fries which were also superb... and it's actually hard to get truly good French fries.  The owner, Dona, has a Mother Theresa quote embroidered on the staff shirts:  "Let anyone who comes to you leave happier."   I agree with the recommendation that it's a "must do" when visiting Whitehorse.

Carolyn.  Can't believe that our luggage didn't make it with us from Calgary to Vancouver!  Over the upcoming year, we certainly expect a few baggage problems to creep in - but on the very first leg of our journey?!  Luckily Air Canada got this sorted out quickly, and our bags were on the next flight from Calgary only 1 hour later, and still in time for our connecting flights on Air North to the Yukon.  Speaking of Air North - what a blast from the past!  It was like flying 20 years ago:  we were served a FREE warm meal, no baggage fees, and no security checks or x-rays between Whitehorse-Dawson-Old Crow-Inuvik:  Swiss Army knives and firearms are apparently just fine if you're travelling to Canada's north!!

Carolyn.  Almost time to go.  We had our "Living Estate Sale" last weekend - a great success, thanks to the marketing assistance from an Estate Sale company.  Sold both our vehicles in the first 20 minutes, that was a huge relief.  Sold all the furniture and so many household items - tools in the basement and garage were very popular.  Put a few things we want to keep in storage, boxed up the leftovers for charity pick-up, and now the house is empty and full of echoes.  Glad we sold our house last year;  now we just vacate this rental, stress-free.  Ha!  We've still got lots to keep us busy this weekend - then we head to the airport hotel on Monday night for our early morning departure on Tuesday.  Up and Away!!

Cooper.  It's very exciting having the trip come up in just over a month! We had a set of shots last Monday, and were going to get another set of shots this Monday (May 11). After all of our shots are done, we will be able to set off whenever! Our first stop is Inuvik, where we will see the midnight sun. I really hope that it's not going to be cloudy!!! I am most looking forward to Antarctica, where we (my Dad and I) will be able to see the penguins! My Mom also reminds me that we will see some penguins in the Galapagos. Someone in my class has asked me to bring a penguin back for them, so I'll see what I can do. ;)

Looking forward to June 30!!!

Let the purging begin...

Vern.  How is it that we accumulate so much STUFF??!  In spite of holding garage sales, selling things on Kijiji, making donations of furniture and clothes to various agencies and recycling books, papers, and electronics, we still have STUFF.

Today I purged old electronics manuals from my office.  I came across the docs for my precious first laser printer, the NEC Silentwriter 2, circa 1990.  A sexy piece of equipment back in the day, let me tell you.  I am still convinced that Carolyn started dating me because she'd have rare access to a laser printer to put the final touches on her resumes.

We only need to shed a few more thousand pounds of infrequently used items and we'll be in good shape for the trip.   But I'm keeping my current laser printer, any which way.

Shots!

Vern.  We all got our first set of shots at the travel clinic the weekend before last.  Sore arms all around.  More to come.  Apparently, rabies is still a very fatal disease if not treated in time and we'll often be a long way from facilities.  Nothing like a travel nurse to put the fear of disease in you!  Forgot how expensive shots could be.  This qualifies as a big investment in the trip!