LeBleu Pack

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Angie & John's Visit - Part 2

Today after work Craig and I brought Angie to see the Northwest Passage up close and personal via Long Point. John had been up since 4am so he decided to stay home and relax. If you have followed my blog for any length of time you will know that Long Point is one of my favorite places to visit and it never disappoints. Long Point is covered in warm soft sand and I think it should be voted one the finest beaches on earth. Here are some pictures to prove my point. (no pun attended)

We seen this snowy sitting on a chunk of ice just before Long Point

Up up and away

Amazing blue ice on the way to Long Point - yes they are this blue

Trail just before Long Point

Sand covered trail

Blue waters and blue skies = an amazing view

Long Point

Angie making a sand angel

The colour of the land is changing every day and today it is purple. It is a sight to see when the dwarf fireweeds are in full bloom. It is so hard to explain and the pictures do not do it justice.

Dwarf fireweeds in full bloom

Dwarf fireweed with beach grasses

Can you see purple in the distance?

This is the first time that I seen and smelled the Cushion Plant thanks to my friend Angela who lives up here. Driving down the beach from Long Point there was a sweet smell in the air and when we stopped to smell the flowers it was this lovely specimen.

From Long Point we took our normal route to the river and up Augustus Hills. The ride was great but the wind was picking up to 50km and when you are on a quad it feels like 100km. We stopped at the 'rock' to take some pictures and when we arrived at the river Craig brought Angie across. Thankfully the river was at low tide and it was an easy ride through it. When we arrived at Augustus Hills Angie thought she had died and gone to heaven. She may have not died but she was in heaven...Arctic Heaven that is.

Some of the trail leaving Long Point - look how clear the water is

Northwest Passage on my left and purple tundra on my right

Angie and Norman (the frog) at the rock

Craig checking out the seals

Craig with his new chest strap for the GoPro (I will post some video at a later date...hopefully)

Crossing the river

"Look Ma No Hands!"

Seen this female Arctic fox with dinner in her mouth. Soon she will be all brown to match the earth.

Our trail from the river was surrounded by purple and white flowers

Angie and I giving Craig the 'thumbs up' on top of Augustus Hills with

Long Point & The Northwest Passage in the background.

Tomorrow is Angie and John's last full day and Craig & I will be very sad when they leave. I believe some more fishing is in store for tomorrow and after I finish work we will likely head across the bay to Old Town.

Talk soon!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Angie & John's Visit - Part 1

Angie and John arrived in Cambridge Bay last Thursday and they are our first guests to visit us since I moved up here nearly 3 years ago. Angie and I have been friends since grade 7 and have always kept in contact with each other no matter where life takes us. The first day here Angie and I took the dogs out for a run and left poor John at home as he had injured his ankle the day before they flew out of Winnipeg. Thankfully it's not too serious and he is on the mend and walking better as the days go by. We decided to do some fishing at the river on Saturday but the wind was so high that it was just blowing our lures in all directions so we decided to take a drive to Mount Pelly instead.

First Air arrives with Angie and John on board

Yay, they are here

Couldn't contain our happiness

Angie (far) and John trying to fish on the river on a windy day

The bubble bees up here are HUGE!

My first fish I caught this year - believe it or not I caught it with my bare hands

Carpet of purple and white flowers

We celebrated Canada Day with our Annual LeBleu Canada Day Bar-B-Q on Sunday June 30th instead of July 1st as most of us would likely need a day to recover before we headed back to work. It was a far cry from last year; hot and suntanned last year, cool and raining this year so we had it inside instead of on our deck. Here's some highlights of the night.

Some of the decorations for Canada Day

Our friend Athlyne made this cake for the Bar-B-Q

Finishing touches were put on

Cathy made some 'watermelon' Jell-O shooters - cute but dangerous

Cathy and Angie tattooed up

David and Emily

Kim and Norman (Norman is Angie's frog)

Doug, Kim and I

Emily showing her dad how to play guitar

Athlyne enjoying John sing and play

Cathy, Jim and Craig

Mother and Daughter - Marg and Cat

The Epp family - Wayne, Marg and Cat

Samantha, Emily and Samantha's mom

The last of the guests left around 1:30am and as we were cleaning a ruckus was heard and the boys from the band entered. And after a few more hours our heads hit our pillows at 4:30am.

Craig and Ryan

My buddy Darryl

Gary

Craig and Terry

After only 5 hours of sleep we were up and getting ready for a quad ride and some serious fishing. Well some of us were serious. haha Jim was the first one to catch a fish but he didn't land it but we think that Craig caught it just shortly after. Craig actually caught 5 fish but he only kept 2 for our dinner tomorrow. Jim also was bringing home two for dinner. Doug had a good one on line but broke free just before he landed it and many of us got snagged but Craig was our hero and rescued most of the lures and Kim's rod out of Grenier Lake (he was the one with chest waders) We seen a herd of muskox, adult foxes and a den with 3 pups, many swans and birds. It was a great way to celebrate Canada Day with friends.