Yellowknife Legislature

The legislature in Yellowknife is well worth a visit. Almost everything about the building has some sort of symbol, including the shape of it. I love the way it snuggles into the landscape along Frame Lake, pictured here. Another benefit of a tour is that visitors are allowed into the room where more informal discussions take place. In this room about a dozen A.Y. Jackson paintings are arranged around the room created during his visits to the north in the 1950's, I believe. The round room and the round building and the round area where laws are made are symbolic of northern dwellings, the igloo and the tipi, and they allow for round table discussion. Political parties don't exist and decisions are made by consensus. The building itself has plenty of zinc on it, easily obtainable in the North, polar bear rugs grace the legislature and the mace has diamonds on it to illustrate the new wealth of the north. I know that there's plenty of disagreement about political decisions made throughout the North and a legislature is only going to be as good as the people in it, but I think we Southerners could learn a lot from the model of the North.

Prince of Wales Museum, Yellowknife

This was one of my favorite visitor locations in Yellowknife. It fits in so nicely with its surroundings and is a perfect size for a museum, in my opinion. It's a bit odd to find a museum named after the Prince of Wales, and to observe a huge portrait of the current Prince posing just like all of his 17th and 18th century ancestors. It'll be worth a visit when William becomes Prince of Wales!

I loved the huge wall map of the Mackenzie River with photos highlighting various places along its route. I had hoped to see the beginning of the river, but there's a couple of lakes that need to be traversed out of Great Slave Lake before the Mackenzie really begins. I'm not sure where "mile 0" is located. The museum is a place you can visit in a couple of comfortable hours and the restaurant looks out to a portion of rocky shelves and another lake.

Morning Skies

I loved the skies of the NWT. This picture was taken at 3:30 a.m. on June 20 - almost time for the solstice. As it turned out, those "red skies at morning", did bring us a few hours of rain beginning about 7:30 a.m. On the night of the 21st, I made it up to Pilot's Monument with a group of about a dozen others, all watching the sun disappear. The mosquitoes were fierce. The sun set at 11:40 p.m. and would rise at 3:30 a.m. It really never gets dark at this time of year. I preferred this picture of the fog on River Lake in the NWT and the sunrise on a date close to solstice.

Oh Canada!

Happy Canada Day, Readers! I plan to write more about the Yellowknife trip (forgot to publish it the other day!) but today belongs to Canada. This flag picture was taken at the cabin I stayed at in the NWT, and was probably the most "Canadian" scene I'd seen in a long time - the view from the cabin included the flag, a serene northern leg in muskeg style country, with a loon swimming just a few meters away from the landing spot.

Yesterday, I had a pre-Canada Day walk up Mt. Schroeder and I need to devote a separate post to that experience. It was another very Canadian landscape and very dramatic!

Today I'm off to do a 10 km walk which is a fundraiser for people who need help deferring transportation and accommodation costs when staying in the distant hospitals around here. Pretty Canadian, eh?

North of 60

I recently returned from my first land visit north of 60 degrees N. I spent a week in Yellowknife. This is truly Canadian Shield country. Pictured here is the Cameron River, part of a big-time canoe route in the north. It is gorgeous country and seems to me to be the most typically "Canadian" of all possible landscapes. Flying into Yellowknife, I could see a land of lakes and rivers and the sight lines go on forever. I wouldn't call it a paradise for gardeners, but those who love the life on the land, this area is perfect. The bugs are pretty fierce and insistent but I was lucky in that we had reasonably windy weather to keep everyone from going insane. I loved the midnight sun!

Roadside B.C.

I've always felt that British Columbia roadsides are the nicest in Canada - the exception could be NS and PEI when the lupines are in bloom. On our recent trip to Lilloet and Pemberton, the case was proved once again in the example here. I collected these flowers in the Thompson Canyon just north of Lytton. Pretty smart of me to bring along a vase. While in NZ I used one of our very few cups as a container for the roadside bouquets. This is one thing I really like about having a camper van - flowers are always a part of home.

These Boots Are Made for Hiking

Wanted to get a blog going for June and didn't mention yesterday that I hiked in my new boots purchased at REI in Spokane. I wore them around the house quite a bit, but decided a week or two ago that I'd keep them. They are a women's Asolo hiking boot and I did like how they performed on Sunday. I am keeping the "high" tops for ankle support and spent the bucks on another pair of Superfeet - my feet felt great throughout the hike. The waterproofing stuff seemed to have worked well, too, and it got tested on Sunday. Happy Hiking, everyone!