OFF LINE ENTRY

60th Parallel Territorial Park Campground

60th Parallel, Northwest Territories

Sunday, August 31, 2008, 5:30 pm Mountain Time

Overcast, with sunny breaks;  temperature, 49F

Yes, we are back where we were last Wednesday (there aren’t a lot of choices for refueling stops or accommodations up here).  We left Yellowknife this morning about 7:45 am in a cold (35F), windy drizzle--bone chilling dampness--and drove until about 3:30 pm with only a couple of breaks for gas and a ferry crossing.  Fortunately we had dumped our holding tanks and replenished our fresh water yesterday afternoon so we could just get up and leave this morning.  We had also stopped by a Tim Horton’s (a Canadian version of Dunkin’ Donuts) to stock up on some donuts and TimBits (donut holes) to forify us for the day.

Some thoughts on Yellowknife:  It’s an interesting place--glad we came, but not sure we’d come back.  Part of that was the weather--we had about a half a day of decent weather, and the rest was cold and rainy.  Yellowknife is trying to be a city like any other in North America, but it still has that frontier roughness around the edges.  And we think that’s on purpose.  The most famous street in the city is called “Ragged Ass Road,” and of course the gift shops are now selling the street signs (and the T-shirts, etc.) everywhere (apparently the real street signs kept getting stolen until the city welded them to their posts). The other great souvenir is a Northwest Territories license plate--typical slogan (Explore Canada’s Arctic), but the real distinction is that they are not the ordinary rectangle, but in the shape of a polar bear (of course, we bought one!).  Finally, one of our keenest impressions is hearing the native languages spoken on the street and in the shops and all over the TV and radio.  You get a real sense that the natives are an influential part of this community (particularly when you find out that half the territorial legislature is native).

We had lunch at a place called Bullock’s Bistro--great, fresh fish from the lake (arctic char, grayling, whitefish, etc.).  It was recommended to us by the manager of the campground, and fortunately so.  Without that recommendation, we never would have gone into the place.  It is in a rundown, low-slung log building in the oldest, most rundown section of town, with the detritus of the lakeshore docks and marinas all around (hence, the fresh fish!).   Inside, the ceiling is low, the bar is the dominant structure, and every square inch of space is covered with stickers or hand-written notes and pictures from previous patrons (including the ceiling, walls, and tabletops).  The one we enjoyed most was, “Ringing Cell Phones Will be Deep Fried.”  We were informed right off that cold drinks were in the refrigerator, coffee was on the warmer, and we should help ourselves if we wanted anything to drink!  Then a woman took our food order by asking how we wanted our fish cooked (pan-fried, deep-fried, broiled).  And the fish was awesome--fresh and flavorful.  It came with french fried potatoes, salad, and fresh, yeasty rolls right out of the oven.  We also saw a young boy bring in a plastic tub of fresh fish right from the boat about 40 yards away.  That’s how fish should be eaten!