Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk

We had a relaxing morning, walking around town and looking at a few stores. We had a late lunch at the campsite, then I uploaded some pictures to facebook. Around 3:15, dad just happened to be walking into the camp office when the tour company for our flight to Tuktoyaktuk called to see where we were – apparently our trip time changed but they never told us! So, we quickly gathered up all our stuff and raced to the airport. The flight to Tuk was in a 9 passenger Caravan, so we each got a window seat. The views of the delta were amazing! The pilot took an indirect route up so as to show us the delta and the pingos around Tuk. Our tour guide met us at the airport and drove us around town in her van. First stop was the Tuktoyaktuk sign were everyone took their pictures to prove that they had made it this far north. We also climbed a pingo in town, walked into the sod house, and climbed down the ladder into the community ice house. The ice house was really interesting – it’s dug into the permafrost so we could see the layers of ice, sand and frozen mud. After climbing back up, we headed down to the ocean. Mom only touched it with her fingers, dad at least stuck in his big toe, but I was the brave one and went up to my ankles in the ice cold water. I think the worst part was actually the rocks that were slippery, hurt to walk on, and left a layer of green muck on the bottom of my feet! The flight back to Inuvik was more direct, but the views were still great. Back at Inuvik, I stopped by the FSS to talk to the guy working there and was able to climb up the tower to see the view. We then headed back to the campground for a late supper and mom and I walked around town looking for a postcard … of course, most places were already closed since it was after 9 pm, but with the sun, it only felt like 6 or 7! We eventually found one, and headed back to the campsite and off to bed.

Dempster Highway - Part 2

I think we were first out of the campground again, and after a few kilometers, drove into the low clouds. The Yukon/NWT border crossing signs were also off according to dad’s GPS, and we took a quick picture in the fog. The road improved as we continued north, but it was pretty foggy for a lot of the morning. Crossing the Peel River by cable pulled ferry was quick, but dad thinks he knocked the trailer hitch on the ramp when he got off – the ferry just sails right into the gravel back and drops the ramp … nothing fancy here! We bypassed Fort McPherson, deciding to see it on the way back. We ate lunch while waiting for the Mackenzie River ferry to pick us up. It looked like he was having a hard time docking on the other side. We finally got on board, with me taking pictures of dad driving the RV up into it, and then I climbed up to the level of the captain to take a few pictures. We docked at Tsiigehtchic and sat there waiting for two more vehicles to board (they were still up at the village, not down by the dock waiting) before heading across and docking after two attempts. The rest of the drive up was a bit boring – perfectly straight road with pine trees on both sides, but at least the road was smooth and I was actually able to get up to the speed limit of 90 km/h! Arriving in Inuvik, our first stop was at Arctic Adventures to book a trip up to Tuktoyaktuk. The weather hasn’t been good up there so there are lot of people trying to get up there, but we were able to book a flight for tomorrow at 5 pm. The trip should take about 4 hours, but since it doesn’t get dark until after 11 pm, it will still be light when we get back. We got a campsite right in the town, and after getting everything sorted, walked into town to find meat for supper and we found dad some arctic char – he’s been talking about getting it since we first mentioned the idea of this trip! We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the campground and enjoying our first shower in 3 days.

Dempster Highway - Part 1

We left the campground around 7:40 – I think we were the first ones out on the road. The road started of pretty good … a few pot holes and rough patches, but most of it was smooth. It rained the night before so the road was damp, but not muddy or dusty! We also figured out a good way for the third person to be able to have a good view out the windows and be able to hear and be part of the conversation in the front – we took the cushions off the table benches and stacked them up on the floor so the third person was sitting between and just behind the driver and front passenger! Probably totally illegal since there was no seatbelt, but there aren’t any police up here checking for that type of thing.

We had a few pictures stops – the views of the Tombstone Mountains were awesome and we all can’t wait to go hiking in there! Coffee was along the side of the road just past Engineer Creek Campground. As we travelled north, the road got rougher and rougher. The views were amazing, but the camera just couldn’t do them justice. We also began to recognize some of the vehicles going in the same direction as us – we would pass them as they were stopped and later, they would race past us on the road. We had lunch in a gravel pull out along a river and just after we parked, a moose walked out into the river … not to eat or drink, just to stand there. Our original plan was to camp at Eagle Plains, but we were there early and the campground is more like a parking lot, so we filled up on gas ($150 worth at $1.69/litre), took a quick look to make sure all the tires were still fully inflated (no flats or leaks so far!), and off we headed.

We crossed the Arctic Circle, took the required pictures at the sign that is actually to the north of the circle according to dad’s GPS, and arrived at Rock River Campground with plenty of time for supper and a walk around. The campground backed onto the river and was mostly empty, but the pit toilets weren’t the cleanest so it was nice to have our own facilities!

As we sat in the campground, we also looked for where the screws that we found on the floor had come from (Dad eventually found out that they were from one of the benches and put them back in), and realized that our microwave had shaken its screws loose.

After playing a game of Bohnanza, we were in bed by 10:30 - the sky was still light.

Up the North Klondike Highway

Mom and I slept well, but apparently dad didn’t. We were up just after 6 am, but since we didn’t have any tokens for the showers and the camp office didn’t open until 7, we had breakfast first. We did a quick stop at Walmart and Canadian Tire for a few things we had forgotten about the day before, then headed north out of the city and onto the Klondike Highway.

I drove the first part leaving Whitehorse and it took a while to get used to the size to the vehicle and its handling. By 10:30, both dad and I were hungry, so we stopped for an early lunch at a not so scenic (you had to climb a small rise to get the same view as from the highway) scenic outlook near Braeburn. We continued up the highway, making stops at the Montague Roadhouse and Carmacks. Next stop was at Five Finger Rapids where we did a short hike 1 km down to a viewing platform. The view was nice down there, but that was a LOT of stairs to climb back up. After driving for a few more hours, we stopped alongside a pretty lake for supper. We cleaned up our dishes and continued north towards the Dempster Highway. The road had a fair number of potholes to avoid and a few gravel sections, but wasn’t too bad. The only live wildlife we saw along the road was a black bear who ran off less than a minute after we stopped. We got gas at the station at the junction (last gas station for 370 km) and talked to a guy pulling a 5th wheel who shredded one tire and got a slow leak in another, but judging on the amount of time it took him to get from Whitehorse up to Inuvik (only 1 ½ days), he was probably going too fast. I took the requisite picture of the signs at the start of the highway and off we went. The road started as gravel, quickly switched to pavement, then back to gravel again 5 km later. The road wasn’t in too bad a condition (we heard that the middle part is the worst) and were able to average about 70 km/h. We arrived at the Tombstone Mountain Campground at 8:30 and after driving around 3 times, couldn’t find an empty site. Since the next campground is 120 km north, we just parked in front of the park office. After a mug of tea, mom and dad walked around the campground to read the registration cards at all the sites, but still no luck.

Whitehorse

After a day at the airshow, I was up at 4:40 for my latest vacation trip, but this time, I’m taking my parents! I picked them up around 5:20 and we left the car at work, taking a cab to the airport terminal. We flew Air Canada to Vancouver, sat there for about 40 minutes, and then got on a Jazz RJ up to Whitehorse. It was raining in Vancouver and the plane was hot and muggy when we boarded (and smelt a lot like pee …. Eww!), but the pilots turned the AC on high after pushing pack … problem was, the cold air shooting out of the AC vent beside me created a steam of fog! Mom called the flight attendant over and after she checked with the pilots to make sure it wasn’t something to worry about, she got me a blanket to block to cold air.

We arrived in Whitehorse just after 1:30, and tried to catch a cab outside the terminal … but soon figured out that you have to CALL the taxi to come pick you up! First airport I’ve been to that didn’t have cabs waiting outside. Our VERY friendly and chatty drive drove us south to the RV rental place where we picked up our RV. After being shown a few of the features, we headed into town to pick up supplies. With all three of us tired and hungry, we had supper sitting in the Walmart parking lot (along with about 20 other RVs and trailers) before finishing up the shopping and deciding on a campground to stay at. We weren’t going to stay at Walmart along a main road, right under the airport! We ended up almost back at the rental place, staying at Pioneer Campground south of the city. We wanted to be close to town in case we had any issues with the unit or had forgotten to pick some stuff up at the store (which of course we did).

After hooking up the electric and water, we made some tea, looked at the plan for tomorrow, played game of phase 10 (I won!), and then went to bed early … we were all exhausted!

Waterloo Airshow

I got free tickets for the Waterloo Airshow from work, so took my niece H and nephew N to their first airshow. My sister dropped the kids off at 11, then we loaded up my car with snacks, jackets, dry clothes (it was a grey, showering day), put in a Psalty tape, and off we went. It took about an hour to get there and we saw a group of about 60 OPP motorbikes driving down the highway … not sure what that was about!

We parked in a field south of the airport and took the shuttle bus to the airport. There was a sprinkling of rain and the clouds were occasionally low, but most of the planes were able to perform. The first jet of the day was an F-16. I told the kids it would be loud, but I don’t think they realized quite how loud it was going to be! They both jumped a bit as it raced passed us!

We watched the F-16, then went off to explore some of the static displays while the less interesting acts were taking place. The kids got to sit in a cockpit of an old fighter, climb up onto the wing and look in the cockpit of another, and we went inside the C-130 that was also there. It just happened that while we were in the C-130, it started to POUR rain! Luckily, we were dry inside. The last act of the day was the Snowbirds, but because of a storm cell moving towards the airport, it was a shortened show and we were told to leave right away. They had plenty of buses ready to take us back to the parking lot, so we managed to get away before the rain started again. The kids enjoyed the airshow and were excited about it when they got home, but it was hard to tell whether or not I was torturing them while we were out there. H was continually asking “Now what?” N’s resounding theme was: “When are we going home? I want to go home. I’m bored. What do I do?” Of course, it was AFTER I got them back home that my sister told me that that was N’s resounding theme no matter where they were or what they were doing!

Leaving Israel

JUC booked my roommate's and my sherut for us - her flight was only an hour before mine, so they put us on the same bus. They normally book the sherut for four hours before the flight is scheduled to leave, the sherut tells us to be ready 15 minutes before they are scheduled to pick us up, and the school tells us to be ready 10-15 minutes before that, and since there isn't an 8 am sherut because of heavy traffic, we were standing below Jaffa Gate and 6:30 am ... and my flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 12:30 pm! The sherut arrived at 6:35 am, so it's a good thing we were there that early.

We arrived at the airport around 7:50, but we weren't allowed to start the security/check-in procedure until three hours before our planes where scheduled to depart. Since my roommate's flight was earlier, we said our good-byes (in case I didn't make it through until after her flight had left), and she started the security screening at 8:30 while I sat and waited for another hour.

After sitting in the uncomfortable seats with all my luggage for almost two hours, I was finally able to line up for the first round of security. While standing in line, everyone gets questioned by security guards who also check your passport. The security agent I got asked a few basic questions (how long was I in Israel, what was I doing, etc.) while she flipped casually through my passport ... then she got an odd look on her face and started going through the passport again, this time a lot slower and stopping when she got to the page with the stamps from South Sudan. She then asked if I spoke Hebrew (no) and told me to wait there and walked off to the security desk with my passport. She came back a few minutes later, asked some of the same questions, including if I spoke Hebrew, and then some other girl came up and chatted with her in Hebrew for a while. I'm not sure what it was about, but I have a feeling it was to see whether or not I really spoke Hebrew or not!

A guy twice her size then came up and took my passport from her, and asked me the same questions again. Then started questioning the South Sudan stamps: Why are there so many? Why were you there? Where did you stay? I was getting some odd looks from the other people in the line ... they just got the basic questions like "did you pack your bags yourself?" He was finally satisfied, stuck stickers on my bags and passports, and then I continued with the line to get my checked bag x-rayed. My sticker started with a 5 ... on their scale of security risks, 1 is no threat, 6 is high threat ... apparently, I'm dangerous!

Most bags, after flying out the other side of the x-ray machine (they were airborne for about a meter!), got a security tag attached to them ... I was sent to another area to have my bag searched. It took about 20 minutes for the lady to go through all the stuff in my bag, swabbing everything and testing for explosives, I assume. Since I knew that I had plenty of time before my flight left (it was advertising that it was going to be an hour delayed), I didn't really care - it's for my own safety that they do all these checks. After everything got swabbed, she watched my pack up the bag and escorted me past the line-ups to the check-in counter. Again, I got some odd looks from the other passengers waiting in line - how come I got to jump the line? and why was I accompanied my a guard? She finally left after my luggage was checked-in, and I headed off to the next security inspection.

The next security check was closer to what is at every airport - my carry-on bag went through and x-ray machine (though they really take their time to inspect the images before the bag comes out), my boots and passport were swabbed. The big difference was that there were 6 armed security guards watching the whole thing and a big 5 sticker was put on my backpack ... just to make me feel special, I guess. I had no questions at immigration, just a stamp in the passport, and I was off to find my roommate. She also rated a 5! We chatted a bit, then she boarded her flight and I went off to find some food - I can only last on granola bars for so long.

It was a long wait at the airport - at 12:30 when the flight was originally supposed to depart, the plane hadn't even landed yet! It ended up leaving around 2 pm. Ben Gurion is a fairly nice airport - very clean and modern. But I had to laugh at their no smoking announcements - with the accent, it sounded more like they were saying "Your attention please. 'Smuggling' is permitted only in the designated areas." This is also the only airport where I've heard the announcement that "Weapons are not allowed in the terminal area."

The flight finally left, and I managed to have an empty seat beside me so I could spread out a bit. The flights was long (12 hours) but uneventful. My brother-in-law and niece met me at the airport and I stopped by my sister's place to chat a bit about Israel and to have a snack before finally going home.