June 6 - Inuvik!! wonderful scenery
Emily and I went to our gate this morning for the flight to Yellowknife. Soon Louise joined us. She had flights that went through Calgary to get to Edmonton and this flight.
It turned out that after the Edmonton to Yellowknife plane trip we had to get on another plane with a new crew but the same flight number to get to Inuvik. Kind of confusing.
While waiting for the first flight - Edmonton to Yellowknife, I noticed I had a boarding pass to Yellowknife only and my luggage tag for my checked luggage was for a Yellowknife destination. We got some things resolved but in the end in Inuvik at the baggage carousel, there was no luggage for me or Emily. They lost our luggage!!
We filed a report with First Air but they had checked in Yellowknife before we left. Their captain also called and nothing came forward from Air Canada. So another problem on the trip.
But that was not enough to cast a shadow on our day. While waiting in the First Air waiting room I took photos of the beautiful art.
On the first plane to Yellowknife and then on the one to Inuvik, we went over 2,000 km over forests, alvar areas and muskeg, for over four hours of flying. We did not see any signs of civilization at all. There were winding rivers and lakes and bush and tundra area. We had snow and ice but mostly green. Truly spectacular!! We crossed over the huge Great Slave Lake and it had some broken ice and frozen in huge areas.
First Air is great to travel on. On the Edmonton to Yellowknife flight, we had breakfast on the plane with yogurt and egg croissant and fruit cup and Starbucks coffee. On the second plane we had a chicken with orange sauce with noodles, a salad and a brownie and a glass of wine. All of it complimentary. I would recommend First Air. These are prop planes and not too big. I took some photos of the other airline I saw up in Yellowknife also.
After we filled out the lost luggage report in Inuvik with First Air, we took a van taxi to the MacKenzie Inn. The driver was from Sudan who lived in Toronto and had been in Inuvik for 15 years. We asked him about the place and he loves it up here. His hobby is fishing and he and his wife are go camping. They had been up to Tuk this past weekend. He loves the quiet and the small town. Inuvik is very remote to us although there are even smaller places in the area. Once we checked into the Inn we went out to walk the main drag. Here is the selfie photo of us.
Emily had her medication which she needed in the lost luggage so the first thing we did was go to the local hospital which was a 5 minute walk away. It is a very modern and a happy-coloured building. I took a photo of the hallway and you can see the design aspects we don't usually see in a hospital.
The hospital helped Emily get her meds info from the pharmacy in Ottawa which was great and she could get some meds at the pharmacy in Inuvik. Louise and I went in search of an area map at the Inuvik visitor center. They were very nice here and we got the map we were looking for. We met up with Emily on the main road. We visited several local craft stores and workshops along the main drag. There is beautiful bead work, carved artwork and other crafts like gloves and mitts etc.
We went by the log Anglican Church in town and the Catholic Igloo Church. This church was designed by a grade 5 educated Belgian immigrant who had natural carpenter and architect skills. It is a major tourist stop in town. It was locked so we did not get inside to take photos.
We stopped in at the pharmacy with Emily and viewed the North Mart (clothes and groceries) . We stopped in at library too just to see what it was like. The RCMP building is across the street from the we are staying in and the Post Office is at the corner. What we noticed around town was that there were lots of kids out and about once school was finished. Lots and lots of kids. We walked around town for a couple of hours as we wanted to exercise our legs since we had sat for about 18 hours in the travel to get here. So now we are tired.
I just took a shower and I am wearing my First Air long T-shirt and we are all tired. There are three of us in this room. We have two beds and a cot which is fine. We are exhausted from the travel and the little bit of sleep we got last night.
We have seen several huge Common Ravens and we heard White crowned Sparrows while we were walking around. The taxi driver told us that the nearby golf course has bears visiting it and they come into town too. The dump is down that road but we won't go there until we meet up with our guuides Tom and Bruce, when we get a van. Nothing is far but we are surrounded by bush here.
Right now it is early evening and the sun is just as bright as midday. This will be interesting. My sleep mask is in my lost luggage so hopefully the sun will not bother us too much tonight. The taxi driver we had said the dark months are very difficult to handle.
It is wonderful to be in this very remote place in Canada.
It turned out that after the Edmonton to Yellowknife plane trip we had to get on another plane with a new crew but the same flight number to get to Inuvik. Kind of confusing.
While waiting for the first flight - Edmonton to Yellowknife, I noticed I had a boarding pass to Yellowknife only and my luggage tag for my checked luggage was for a Yellowknife destination. We got some things resolved but in the end in Inuvik at the baggage carousel, there was no luggage for me or Emily. They lost our luggage!!
We filed a report with First Air but they had checked in Yellowknife before we left. Their captain also called and nothing came forward from Air Canada. So another problem on the trip.
But that was not enough to cast a shadow on our day. While waiting in the First Air waiting room I took photos of the beautiful art.
On the first plane to Yellowknife and then on the one to Inuvik, we went over 2,000 km over forests, alvar areas and muskeg, for over four hours of flying. We did not see any signs of civilization at all. There were winding rivers and lakes and bush and tundra area. We had snow and ice but mostly green. Truly spectacular!! We crossed over the huge Great Slave Lake and it had some broken ice and frozen in huge areas.
First Air is great to travel on. On the Edmonton to Yellowknife flight, we had breakfast on the plane with yogurt and egg croissant and fruit cup and Starbucks coffee. On the second plane we had a chicken with orange sauce with noodles, a salad and a brownie and a glass of wine. All of it complimentary. I would recommend First Air. These are prop planes and not too big. I took some photos of the other airline I saw up in Yellowknife also.
After we filled out the lost luggage report in Inuvik with First Air, we took a van taxi to the MacKenzie Inn. The driver was from Sudan who lived in Toronto and had been in Inuvik for 15 years. We asked him about the place and he loves it up here. His hobby is fishing and he and his wife are go camping. They had been up to Tuk this past weekend. He loves the quiet and the small town. Inuvik is very remote to us although there are even smaller places in the area. Once we checked into the Inn we went out to walk the main drag. Here is the selfie photo of us.
Emily had her medication which she needed in the lost luggage so the first thing we did was go to the local hospital which was a 5 minute walk away. It is a very modern and a happy-coloured building. I took a photo of the hallway and you can see the design aspects we don't usually see in a hospital.
The hospital helped Emily get her meds info from the pharmacy in Ottawa which was great and she could get some meds at the pharmacy in Inuvik. Louise and I went in search of an area map at the Inuvik visitor center. They were very nice here and we got the map we were looking for. We met up with Emily on the main road. We visited several local craft stores and workshops along the main drag. There is beautiful bead work, carved artwork and other crafts like gloves and mitts etc.
We went by the log Anglican Church in town and the Catholic Igloo Church. This church was designed by a grade 5 educated Belgian immigrant who had natural carpenter and architect skills. It is a major tourist stop in town. It was locked so we did not get inside to take photos.
We stopped in at the pharmacy with Emily and viewed the North Mart (clothes and groceries) . We stopped in at library too just to see what it was like. The RCMP building is across the street from the we are staying in and the Post Office is at the corner. What we noticed around town was that there were lots of kids out and about once school was finished. Lots and lots of kids. We walked around town for a couple of hours as we wanted to exercise our legs since we had sat for about 18 hours in the travel to get here. So now we are tired.
I just took a shower and I am wearing my First Air long T-shirt and we are all tired. There are three of us in this room. We have two beds and a cot which is fine. We are exhausted from the travel and the little bit of sleep we got last night.
We have seen several huge Common Ravens and we heard White crowned Sparrows while we were walking around. The taxi driver told us that the nearby golf course has bears visiting it and they come into town too. The dump is down that road but we won't go there until we meet up with our guuides Tom and Bruce, when we get a van. Nothing is far but we are surrounded by bush here.
Right now it is early evening and the sun is just as bright as midday. This will be interesting. My sleep mask is in my lost luggage so hopefully the sun will not bother us too much tonight. The taxi driver we had said the dark months are very difficult to handle.
It is wonderful to be in this very remote place in Canada.
Hope they brought you back your lost luggage!
ReplyDeleteAlways something ..good luck