Whitehorse

Hiya,

So ... its been quite some time old blog o mine... I am at work right now ... its 11:42 pm Pacific time in Whitehorse workin away and reflecting away. I left Iqaluit, Nunavut with mixed feelings but I knew in my heart that tis was time to pack it all up in and make the move and find the next adventure and what I hope to be my permanent home. I drove for 8 days from Toronto in my trusty golf tdi right before X-mas after spending a wonderful 2 months at home in Toronto with the family. It was a great ride, I had my buddy Amar along for the ride to Winnipeg and continued on bymyself to Whitehorse. I crossed this great country of ours - a little rushed but a once in a lifetime trip perhaps. The highlight - the praires as well as the section between fort nelson to Whitehorse through the northern rockies. I even stopped at liard and took a dip in the natural hot springs when it was -25 outside - kinda kool...

I arrived in Whitehorse and for the first coupla weeks was terribly home sick. There is alot of adjustment that has too happen when you decide to pick up and go and start a new life. Its exciting but comes at a cost for a while until you find your legs and bearings in a new place. I missed my family and my friends and my gf which I was surrounded with all day and all night I built my life in Iqaluit and can honestly call it a home equivalent to any other, but alas something was missing and my heart and my mind kept telling me to follow the dream and GO WEST YOUNG MAN!!! so true to my heart I did just that. I am adjusting to work now at NorthWesTel a great telecom company, made a coupla friends out here in Whitehorse and found a place to live a nice cozy little bachelor suite to begin before I totally go off the grid :) one day.

Its a beautiful place - I was gonna tuck my tail behind my legs and go back home for a little while - change becomes harder with age and routine and familiar surroundings are easy. But hey, I am looking to build a life here, find myself and be true to my soul, I hope I have come home here to figure it all out. I think its easy to lie to ones self and contentment - ease and happiness are not all mutually exclusive or synonymous on any level.

I don't know what happens now and where I go from here, I take my life seriously 5 minutes at a time and until such time as that becomes unworkable - then this is the way it will be. Here is to adventure - to the frontier and to beign true to ones self. I will update this soon with some pics and some adventures. I hope to canoe from Whitehorse to Dawson City Yukon this summer or do the Nahanni, but we'll see how it all goes....

The Big Move

Hey Guys,

Okay - well its been sometime since I have been on here ... I need to definately do some sweeping updates - there has been so much thats happened between my last post and now, but I just haven't had the inclination for some reason to get this thing REALLY up to date... in any case ... I have a ton more pictures and went on a ton more adventures... which I will post when I am back south.

HEre is the big news... I have decided I have had a wonderful time here but its coming to a close. I found a job in Whitehorse, Yukon that I am super excited to start in Janurary. My plan will be to head home end of Nov. beginning December to Toronto for a month and then move to Whitehorse. I think there is plenty of adventure and GREAT weather - which I have been really missin - in whitehorse ... and here is to finding home!!! - this may just be it ... only time will tell...

Hope alls been well with yalll - see you all shortly -

Cheerio!!!

My Trip To Coral Harbor

Sup Everybody,

Just got back from Coral Harbor. The trip was supposed to start out being Mon-Fri and got extended over the weekend. In the Kivaliq the weather is nutz... and the charters which are the only way in or out pretty much seem to stick to no real schedule.

I digress for a second ... Just found this awesome new Artist/Genre... check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_QAPjtO2cA

Also another digression here ... the author Joseph Boyden is one of the best I have read in a long time, he speaks in simple gentle beautiful truths that appeal directly to the heart. He's Canadian Cree and has won all the top Can Lit awards. Please don't miss these:

1. 3 Day Road
2. Through Black Spruce


Sudarshan Kriya is a breathing process taught by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar;

I am taking part 1 of the course @ artofliving.ca with a real famlous swami for a week thats visiting in IQaluit focused on some amazing breathing techniques .... should be intersting meeting this enlightened man and asking a question or two

By far Coral is the friendliest community I visited. There is only one place to stay, Leonis Place B&B. I met two coast candian coast guards doing a job and they took me out to the waterfall and bridge area outside coral. Thanks guys if your ever reading this. What a beautiful site ... just gorgeous ... snapped some pics ... here they are enjoy em.

P.S I think I know what I am gonna spend that TFSA on - Thelon/Kazan Aug 2010
P.S.S DSLR has to be on my wish list TFSA 2 - the picture brought to you courtesy of my old trusty Olympus 3.2 Mega Pixel A510 :)

July 17th Camping by the Causeway

Kimmirut Trip

Hiya Guys,


Just got back from Kimmirut. About 1/2 hr flight in a Twin Otter from Iqaluit south west. This thing was like one of those small school busses with 2 wings... almost like a skydiving plane would look like. It pitched and rolled throughout the trip, but the bush pilots here are second to none, so naturally I had no worries, and I don't scare easily...

The inside of the plane was pretty neat too ... all the cargo just sits in a net in the back and there are fold out seats that come out of the sides depending on the number of passengers... There is no real barrier between the pilots and the passengers... pretty neat that way... It was a mesmerizing flight ... the landscape was what I would call an almost dreamscape... you couldn't even dream of the terrain your flying over... its truly dreamesque, almost sucks you to the glass of the window as were only about 1000ft up at all times. The valleys, the hills, the mountains, the exposed rock and monster snow drifts, all with the sunlight and shadows doing their eternal dance across this frozen land that takes your breath away ...


Tons of dogs just lounging and walking around town ... all Husky's but for some reason, they love their hot dog type dogs and mix them for home animals/pets. I find that the husky's are strickly looked at as work dogs and are almost always outside or in the main dog yard for the dog teams. For pets, they really have those small dogs ... cute... but nearly as awesome looking as the full breed Huskys I have seen. The one on the left there is a small baby one.

This is the hotel I stayed at. Across the north, there is a chain of hotels called the innsnorth. They all follow a certain system and are rather nice accomodations for where we are. But sometimes if their is a blizzard or construction going on or the are more guests than rooms then you have to double up. This was the case in Kimmirut, I had to double up with a prof Emertius from Dalhousie doing some work, nice enough fella, but I could tell right away he wasn't from the north or hasn't been here long enough :)

There is also usually one coop or northern store where everyone does their shopping. One stop shop... call is a WALMART SuperCenter hahahah not EVEN close ... they are tiny shops mostly for food and its really the only place to go in a community for any southern foods.

In the middel of the lake this is a dog sled team that sleeps there. These are the real deal husky's. They are strickly fed seal about once every 3 days or so and they are magnificently powerful and big.

This is the only church in town ... the way it was situated and where it stands doesn't really come off in the picture... but its really nice ... I took another picture of it you will see later with some cloud cover and the picture really turned out well, it has an almost ominous but comforting religious presence to it when snapped cause of the shadowing going on.

ITS a dog day afternoon .... two husky's basking in the warmth. One of them saw me and started chasing me around town for a bit ... but he was harmless, although rabbies in the north from wild foxes or wolves is definately an issue and profalaxysis is a BIAAATCH so keeping your eyes open and knowing which dogs to play with is a MUST!!!

This was the church photo I was referring too above... with the clouding and lighting going on ... I kinda like this particular shot.

The picture here doesn't do this shaved off cliff on the right hand side any justice... but it just fell off a coupla weeks before I got there from what I have been told... pretty neat ... the scale of the backed up ice here is awesome ... just doesn't come off too well in the picture.

Self Explanatory... this is the health center I visit for Health & Social services IT along with the mental health center and social services center.

I just snapped this shot and kinda liked it ... u have the tip of a commatik jutting out of the snow with a mountainous backdrop ... looks neat huh ...

Before I forget I just would like to give you a sense of direction here when I speak of these little communities... the map below has kimmirut circled red (click on the map to enlarge it)... Its really super close to Iqaluit ... and boasts a great national park that is reachable via snowmobile or ATV, but since this was an in and out trip for me, I never go the chance ...

Here is the thing about Kimmirut, its a tiny town, about ~400-500 people at the most and its situated around this hill really overlooking the bay ... quite nice really... The airport was tiny (forgot to take a picture) the airports here are pretty much the size of my basement at home (really small) open room... but they have their own uniqueness to them and its almost like a hot spot where people come in and out of the community.

Any who here are some photos of the dream scape I was talking about ...

Anywho off to Arctic Bay now ... I got 10 mins before taking off .... Take Care and post on Arctic Bay coming up SHORTLY ... TRULY the high high arctic ....

Cheerio!!!

Hall Beach - Stilll waiting

Hiya Guys,

Still haven't gotten my Hall Beach photos back from down south through the northmart... I hope they are not permanently lost... but hey ... will post up those pics when and if I get them...

It was a beautiful trip ... quite... I just couldn't believe how much horizon ... flat and cold ... the moon was just sitting at the end of the lake ready to be plucked right from the sky ... glowing a silvery orange and big as the world itself ... a remarkable site almost pieced there by a higher power in contrast to the frozen world around it ...

I should have blogged on this trip soon as I got back ... but the above at night was the highlight... anyone ...

Commenting on the Kimmirut trip next post... and I have some pics for that one ...

Next Trip --> Hall Beach

Hey Guys,

Well got some exciting new news... I will be heading down to the community of Hall Beach within the week. I am kind of super excited, as the population of this community is ~ 600 people. I think thats the smallest community I have ever been too . Its more west than pang and from what I have been told does not have the mountainous terrain of Pang, but is rather relatively flat and cold. Should be really interesting, if your interested there is a little blurb below on Hall Beach. If you click it, it should expand in a new window where the map and writing are alot more legible.

Anywho ... enuff for now ... can't wait to visit snap some pics and post on my experience there...

Cheerio for now !!!