Day 8 – Saturday 17 August
Content by joanne
Saturday, our last full day in Iqaluit.
No work at the build site today, so everyone took advantage
of the opportunity to sleep in. And what do you eat on mornings when you sleep
in? Brunch! Out came all the leftovers, and with some limited purchases Chef
Paul and his helpers prepared a feast! Bagels, cream cheese, and arctic char,
pancakes and maple syrup, bacon, eggs, muesli – the list goes on and on.
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| Out townhouses on Green Row - and the Habi-Van |
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| High-School across the street from our townhouses - yes, it is shaped like an ice-cube! |
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| Vision 2020 logo complete with Snow-Goggles |
We were hoping to be able to take a boat ride to a nearby
Territorial Park,
but the price was excessive, so we opted for a late start and spent the
afternoon at
Sylvia
Grinnell Territorial
Park. Part of the team
took a 2-hour hike (each way) to reach some snow that was visible from the Car
Park. They did indeed find icy snow, as well as lots of bugs and bones. Some of
the treasures that returned from the hike included a caribou skull complete
with teeth and a full caribou antler which looked to be over three-feet long.
The rest of the group went down to the river and watched people fishing for
arctic char. Char is very similar to salmon in that it swims upstream (up a
small waterfall in this case) to spawn. There was a lot of fish being caught
that day.
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| Fishing for Arctic Char |
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| Double-Waterfalls |
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| View of the Territorial Park |
Supper was at the large Frobisher Inn just up the hill –
where people ordered items all the way from pizza to arctic cassoulet, Once
again there was a steady stream of artisans selling their goods, and yes,
another bear was purchased – this one made from rough-cut granite. We also had
an amusing fellow selling paintings. The paintings were nice, but the guy
obviously had no talent for math.
There was a beautifully orange sunset that night, and
apparently even the locals were commenting on how brilliant the colour was. I
think it was our farewell offering.
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| Sunset over the church (shaped like an igloo) across the street |
One final trip to the park to see Northern Lights – where we
saw a short period of lights, five or so shooting stars, and a dozen satellites.
We also had a number of good laughs, got cold behinds, and then were done for
the night.
The next day was packing, food delivery to Tommy out in
Apex, one last look at ‘our house’ and off to the Airport with all our bears,
bones (anyone know how to pack a three-foot antler?), artwork, frozen fish, and
memories. Until the next time…..
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| Our House... and Joanna's |
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| ' To let them know that we were here...' |
