Introduction

I hope everyone likes the cosmetic changes to the web site. I may make more before I am done. Many things have happened in the past year some good some bad. The question is how to cover it all? The decision has been made to cover it by subject and make each its own post.

The subjects will be:

Introduction (what you are reading now)
Family (M&M and others)
Northern Travel (to communities)
Vacation '07
Pets (sad part)
Wildlife
The Eclipse & Aurora Borealis

I may add more subjects if I think of anything else. My many thanks to everyone who has patiently waited for me to update this blog.

It's been how long?

Hey Michele give me a hand with this door......okay push....ahhhh. Look at all this dust it must be an inch thick. NO don't touch that it... BANG .... CRASH .... cough .... sneeze. Sorry honey didn't mean to do that. No, I'm not going to eat it. It's going to take forever to clean this mess up. Serves us right for not updating this blog in a year. We will see what we can do about that as soon as we clean the mess up in here a bit. What is that on the wall under the cobwebs? Oh. I guess we can post that on here. We will be back in a bit.

Grise Fiord - One More Picture

I can't believe I almost forgot this picture. The Mayor was telling me it is the biggest iceberg he has ever seen. The iceberg is smilier to an Antarctic one. This is at my maximum zoom.

Grise Fiord - Pictures and stories

We had a blizzard when we were in Grise Fiord and were there for an extra 3 day waiting for the weather to improve. The first 2 pictures are of the co-op hotel. A lot of the siding was missing from the building. Downstairs in the back hallway there was a least 4 inches of snow that had blown in around the back door. One of the rooms downstairs had snow in it from blowing in around the window. The wind was blowing hard enough around the window in Mikes room that it blew the lamp over. He decided to move to another room after that. It may sound bad but it was a fun adventure.


Sorry the next picture is sideways we don't have any photo software on our computer. Hopefully the home budget will allow us a new one soon. If you look close you will see a chain running from the roof to a barrel. The barrels are full of rock. The chains and barrels are at the four corners to help keep the building from being blown off the piles in a wind storm. Now that is windy.This picture is the stink pipes coming from the bathrooms at the airport. Now that is frost. I wonder why the mens pipe has more frost on it. The way Michele gets frosty at me some days it should be the womans side that has more frost on it.
Our flight out. The planes come in towards the mountain then cut hard left to land on the runway. Memorable way to come in.
Here is the airport. You can see the pipes just behind the entrance roof.
See Michele I wasn't alone with a woman on my trip. I took this picture to prove Mike was there also. I forgot to mention that Allashuwa was a woman. Yes I did tell Michele that she was going. I thought that Michele knew who Allashuwa was.

The next three pictures were taken outside during the blizzard. It is hard to tell by these pictures but it was really windy.



That is all from my trip. The photos below are some scenic photos of Grise Fiord. Enjoy.

Grise Fiord Pictures

Try to find the plane in this picture.

Nanisivik & Resolute Bay

The first two images are of Nanisivik. There is not a lot there just the airport. For anyone going to Arctic Bay this is were you get off. 27 Dollars later and a taxi ride your there. We just stopped here to let people off and took a few on.


I have only the two pictures of Resolute Bay. One is off an iceberg just of the shore. I zoomed in as best as I could. The second is taken in the council chambers in the hamlet offices. The flag post are Narwhal Tusks and the critter between them is a Muskox head. The best place to stay in Resolute is at Ozzies. Excellent large rooms and food available 24/7 great people.

Qikitarjuaq to Pangnirtung

Yes we flew low
Inukshuk in Qikitarjuaq
See if you can find the inushuk in this picture.
Glacier
Mountains and Glacier
Glacier
Glacier Stream :)
Yes low
Looking up the fiord.
Mountain
My favorite picture. That is a glacier coming down the mountain.
If you are ever in Qik fly back to Pang on Ken Borak air.
First Air just flies over the mountains.
Next will be Nanisivik and Resolute.

Pang & Qik

Sorry about the abbreviations. We just stopped in Pangnirtung on the way to Qikitarjuaq but I did get a couple of good pictures. The picture on the right is of the famous Fiord. I had to sneak out on the runway to take it. We flew out of the fiord on the way back. I will have the return pictures at the end. Most of our time was spent in Qikitarjuaq so I shall continue from there.

This photo is of Qik and it is looking across the harbour from the hotel.
The 2 pictures below were for fun. I find the churches here to be interesting in that they are so plain and rundown. Most seem to have been built in the 50's and 60's. The arctic dog is the national animal and is the purest bloodline of dog in the world and make for a nice picture. This one is a stray and was sitting on the beach hoping to steal a meal.

The next photo is of a bench mark survey point I stumble over at the edge of the ice. I crawl over rock, snow and ice and trip over this. Only me.

This is a picture of a crack in the ice. It is about 8 ft deep. I did learn from this experience that you do not go out on the ice and walk were there are cracks in the ice. Somehow i managed to step over a crack under the snow when i went on, but did manage to find it when i walked back. Thankfully most cracks seem to taper so i only ended up about waist deep. With a bit of wiggling and cursing i was able to get out with only my pride wounded. So this will be the last and only picture of a crack in the ice you will see on this blog.


Here is a picture of several dog teams that arrived from a different community. There was a film crew with them. I didn't find out from where.

My next posting will have the pictures from the return trip to Pang. Less talk but more pictures. Mountains, glaciers and inukshuks.

Kimmirut

I have no pictures of Kimmirut but a couple of stories. Kimmirut is named after a jut of rock that looks like a heel. Kimmirut is inuktitut for heel. I was pleasantly surprised when I got there and seen the rock. It is as if a giant fell head first into the world and all that was left sticking out was the giants heel. Kimmirut has about a 30 foot tide and it creates an ice wall just below the heel. I wasn't brave enough to go walk out but i seen people walking along the top of it. The food the co-op hotel was excellent. You didn't ask what was for supper you made sure the cook knew you were coming for supper. I had some free time while I waited for my flight out and stoped into the community visitors center. Upstairs it is like a museum with many items that were either donated by the residence or found in the park. The park has the only trees in all of Baffin Island. They are willow trees with some of them topping out at 3 meters. Everyone that I met was friendly and welcoming the whole time I was in Kimmirut. Due to a communication error with the office I wasn't able to get out on the first flight and had to go with the second plane out that was taking cargo. That was neat it was like my own private charter. As we were leaving I hollered out '' to Iqaluit James! '' which I thought was very funny. Given the nearly vertical climb off the end of the runway I gather the pilots didn't have my sense of good humour. I realize that a twin otter aircraft can't do a vertical climb but it felt like it. :) Well that was my trip to Kimmirut. Next is my trip to Pangnirtung and Qikiqtarjuaq. Lots of pictures coming. Once again thanks to everyone who likes to read this blog and your Patience.

Ullaakkut Everyone

Sorry for taking so long to blog. I have been away a lot in the last couple of months. I have decided to talk about one or two communities a day that I had visited. It is quite a list including Iqaluit, Kimmirut, Pangnirtung, Qikiqtarjuaq, Nanisivik, Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord. The last trip I was gone for 2 weeks. I have gone from the most southern community on Baffin Island (Kimmirut) to the top of world (Grise Fiord). The most southern community in Nunavut is Sanikiluaq on an island just above James Bay. Haven't been there yet. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of Kimmirut because Michele had the camera on her trip to Yellowknife for the Canadian winter games but i have some stories. :) Tomorrow I will blog about Kimmirut and Iqaluit then Pangnirtung and Qikiqtarjuaq then Nanisivik and Resolute Bay and finally Grise Fiord. Lots of pictures from those communities. Once again sorry for not blogging on a regular basis. Busy Busy.

My brother Mark is with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan and I want everyone to know he is okay and coming home on leave in less than a month before going back over. We worry a lot about him and all confess about being scared for him. I often wounder if it is easier for him over there than all of us at home. We are very proud of Master Corporal Mark Price of 2RCR and love him very much. Come home safe.