Well...its Day 1 of our big Arctic Adventure. I have felt more apprehensive leading up to this trip than ever before. I'm not sure why, maybe being the mom of three has now made me a little more sensitive. Dave and I have never been away from the girls for this long, and this trip is a little more remote than most we have done. We are excited though, and eager to have some quality time with just the two of us (and the other 27 of us).
Last night was busy, making sure that our bags were all well packed, and ensuring that our pages and pages of instructions on minding our children were up to speed. We also had to run to the neighbours to get them to witness our wills for us. I know, I know...I'm being a nervous nelly...but I think its prudent to have all that kind of thing in order, especially with young children.
I had a serious problem with Air Canada Groups, and they totally buggered up my flight out of Vancouver, so I ended up flying up with Westjet this morning. Booking at the last minute allowed me to get into the premium seating at the front! Yippee. Westjet staff are just so friendly too. I will have some words for Air Canada Groups upon our return. They left us scrambling on a number of the tickets for our group.
The flight to Yellowknnife with Westjet was uneventful. I met some of our group at the connection in Edmonton, and arrived on time into Yellowknife at just after 1pm. The airport is about 10-15 minutes from downtown Yellowknife.
Bill was there to meet me and we headed to the Explorer Hotel to check in. The Explorer Hotel is very nice and the staff were extrememly helpful and friendly. We had a quick bite in their lounge and then headed off for our errands.
First stop was the Joint Task Force to meet our contacts for our big dinner next Saturday. Its going to be a great location. We have a band coming and wonderful catering. Its within walking distance of the hotel and close to downtown. After a week with wilderness, this will be a welcome reception!
One of our contacts fro Summit Air was kind enough to drive us around for our other stops, and gave us a brief tour of Yellowknife. Its a lovely community. It has a bit of an east coast feel to it. The people are friendly and there seems to be a real sense of community. We saw a lot of the heritage buildings in town, one being the old Hudson's Bay Company building.
After stocking up on alchohol for Arctic Watch, ordering breakfast from Timmy's for the morning, and picking up a few things from Shoppers...we headed to Summit Air to drop off the alcohol and check in on some logistics. It was great to meet everyone at Summit Air, its a great team. We also checked-in with Canoe North for our next segment of the journey and worked out a few logistics with them.
After that it was back to the hotel for some emails and planning before heading out for dinner.
Dinner was at Bullocks. A really off-beat place run by a buoyant bunch of women. This is not your usual dining experience. Don't expect top notch service. The food however, was fantastic. There were 6 of us for dinner and we had Arctic Char and Reindeer, served with a yummy salad and great fries. With some cold beers to go with it, it was a great culinary experience. We dined beside a couple from Cambridge Bay and at the end of the table was the head of Avery Cooper Financial and his wife. Its amazing the people that you meet while travelling. The Bullocks is located within a heritage building, and on the outside of the building is a sign that says "please do not write on the outside of the building". Ironically, the entire inside of the restaurant is filled with writing....doors, walls, ceilings, furniture. On our way out, we were handed a Sharpie and asked to sign our names somewhere. All of us did, prominently declaring our place of origin and the date. It was so neat.
After dinner, we headed to the Wildcat down the road, (another fantastic option for dinner - although not as colourful of an experience) for ice cream. This was followed up by a nice walk around and back to our hotel.
I should note that the sun has been high in the sky all afternoon and evening, and it is the most brillient colour of red/orange in the sky. Even as we finished dinner and walked back to the hotel, the night sky is bright. As we head up north tomorrow, this will be interesting phenomenon for us to adjust to.
Back at the hotel, we all had a nightcap and waited for the flight to come in with the rest of the group. We headed out to the airport to meet the 22 people coming in.
Earlier today I had thought to myself...the worst thing that could happen would be if someone luggage did not come in. I was trying to think positively about the fact that this would not happen, but as we are heading out first thing the next morning on a private charter to a very remote area, getting a lost bag up to us would be totally out the question.
So everyone lands and starts grabbing their luggage and heading out to the shuttle. As the conveyor belt finally grinds to a halt, my poor mother is standing their with a grim look. No bag. So we load everyone else onto the shuttle and mom and I hang back with Bruce and Dave to go deal with the AC people. Bless her heart, the woman working the counter did her very best to try and locate our bag. We were able to determine that it had checked in at Vancouver, but not in Edmonton. We had a small chance that it would make it out on the flight arriving at 1:00am, however the next option wouldn't get it in until after our departure time the next morning. We would be able to delay the flight slightly...but not a lot as we have activities planned in Arctic Watch for the Saturday afternoon. With a locator number and a phone number, we headed to the hotel for some last minute packing up and some sleep.
Day 1 is complete...tomorrow the big adventure begins!
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