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The Amazing Adventures of Larry and Mark

Volume 16 - Departing the Arctic - Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Winter is coming

 The early snow on September 7 shows what lies ahead.  

Hard frost was two weeks ago, and the six week growing season

is over.  We are packing up and getting ready to leave.  Our adventure

continues in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

THE OLD AND THE NEW

From City of Yellowknife Brochure - city.yellowknife.nt.ca

Even the name is out of another time.  Yellowknife and its surrounding water bodies were named

after the local Yellowknives Dene First Nation, who made tools from regional copper deposits,

long before the "white man" came.

There are thousands of years of native history frozen in the ground of northern Canada. 

Nothing is written from those times.  Many native cultures, including the Dene, the Dogrib,

the North and South Slavey, and the Inuit did not have a written language until early explorers

and linguists took their early speech and began to create writing for these groups.  Much of

their culture is expressed in their hand crafts and art.

Gold was discovered in northern Canada in the 1930's, and Yellowknife was first settled in

1935.  First a prospector's frontier town, Yellowknife became  an economic center for the

Northwest Territories, and, in 1967, the capital of NWT.  As gold production slowed in the 80's,

the area became a center of government services for the region.  Now, with the discovery of

diamonds, the area is a rich and growing destination for young people who want to take part

in the new business boom.

We had almost a day in Yellowknife, so we rented a car.  Our first drive took us into

the Old Town.  This rocky hill is the area which was first build upon by the early

residents in the 1930's.The first time I saw the Rock, it was on Google Maps.

This steep hill looked exactly for real as it did on Google.  Marked in yellow is site

of the observation point and the Bush Pilots' Memorial.

Wonderful view from on top of The Rock.  This is towards the modern city.

This is a view out on the Great Slave Lake

Bush Pilots Memorial.  The sign says it all.

The first place we tried to eat in Yellowknife was Bullocks Bistro. It may not look like much but

it's a very popular tourist attraction complete with crowded seating, crabby waitresses and a

get-your-own-beer-policy. Reader's Digest voted it the best fish 'n chips place in Canada. We

were hoping to try their fried arctic char, but they were closing and only would give us coffee,

but they did it with a smile. 

Their wall board. 

They have and will accept stickers from everywhere.

We stopped at a kennel and met this man who was a yearly competitor in the

Iditarod dogsled race.  He loved his dogs - he had about 60 of them - and knew

the names of all the dogs.  I always had the idea that these dogs were not particularly

friendly, but this was his lead female, and she was all over us!

 Last sunset up North.  I did a pretty good job of hiding

the parking lot light pole, didn't I?

More to come!

Larry Reich

(If you have received this from another source and would like to reply, you can send comments to:  (auburndocreich@aol.com)