We decide to get up and going around 8:30am this morning. I've had about 4 hours of sleep if I'm lucky and I think I might be still inebriated. I have a coffee and some bacon and pancakes and try to stay upright.
Its a slow start for some of us, and many of us are walking around in a bit of a daze.
We get packed up and start loading up the vans to take us to the airport. We are trying to be in the air by 10:00am.
We are in the plane by 10:30am ish. We smell a bit better than yesterday...but maybe a little more like booze today. Many of the young guns crash out on the plane ride back to Yellowknife. Its a cold rainy morning in Norman Wells, and its the same in Yellowknife.
We arrive at the Summit Air Hangar at around noon, and then we get our bags loaded into the shuttle and head for the hotel. We are early for check-in, but we manage to get most of our rooms almost right away. We all sort of scatter at this point for some me time and agree to meet in the lobby just before 6pm to walk down to our dinner.
We had meant to do a quick turnaround and then head out for lunch, but the shower beckons me and I can't resist getting in and doing a little preening. Once I'm feeling semi normal again, I dress into my nice clean clothes that I had left behind in Yellowknife and we head off for lunch at the Black Night Inn. I down a couple of ceasar's (they seem to help my head) and have a great brunch before heading out to do a little shopping.
We head to Northern Images to look at art and sculptures and I pick up a little gift for the girls. I then get a call from the cake people that there is an issue with the image that I sent over...they lost it! I need to get back to the hotel to find the file on Dropbox (I love this app...its saves my life!). I deal with the file and then I can't resist crawling into that bed for a little nap. I'm running on empty.
I get about an hours rest before I get a call from my Uncle to go over some numbers! Yikes, I have to get a move on. I whip on my dress, do my makeup and hair and head down to his room. Once that's resolved, we head down to the lobby to meet the rest of the group.
What a sight all of us smelling good and all gussied up. I run to shoppers to grab some candles for the tables and then head to the Joint Task Force building. Its a great space and its all set up for our group. We hired a band - The committed - who will be coming on at around 8pm.
We have some appies to start and drinks of course and then we have dinner at around 7-7:30pm. Catering options in Yellowknife are limited, so its not the best dinner we've ever had...but its food and fills the belly.
After some nice speeches in honour of the birthday honourees, and a really lovely thank you gesture from the group to me (thank you everyone!), the band gets started and the party really gets going. Its an incredible night. The band is awesome...they know how to rock - they play all the old goodies that get you moving on the dance floor.
We have a brief intermission later on for some cake and then we're back on the dance floor.
Lubricated with lots of drinks and the good music, by the end of the evening most of the men have their shirts off and are in a dancing frenzy. We don't want the band to leave or the night to end.
I have the most incredible family - and we have great friends. That'smy take away from all this. Many from outside the group might have lookedin at all of us and thought we were all a bit crazy - sweating men all dancingaround with no shirts on yelling and hollering and laughing...but to me, itsthe pure joy that we bring to each other...the love that we have for eachother, and the comfort that we feel with one another.
After the band finishes, we head out on the town to get a taste of the Yellowknife night life. First stop is Harley's the local strip club, then The Raven. We then want a bit of dancing so we head to the Monkey Tree. The dance floor is small, but the music is good and we dance our heads off. At one moment I have my three brothers all together with me on the dance floor with our arms around us. Its a nice feeling even though they would probably give me a hard time for being so mushy.
We run into a few more people from Summit Air and we have several of them with us already who have been showing us around. Everyone has been absolutely amazing and welcoming and helpful. Our experience in Yellowknife has been above and beyond my expectations.
After that place closes down, we are treated to the more of that great ongoing hospitality of the north. We head over to Ragged Ass Road and enjoy a couple of more drinks in the amazing garage of one of the men from Summit Air. Nothing like sitting on the back of a sled with a scotch on the rocks! Its another 4am+ end of the night for me...but its been worth it.
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment