Canada Day at the Beach

We packed a lunch and met Marg and Wayne at their home before we all headed to the beach today to celebrate Canada Day.  Beach you say?  Yes, our beach is Long Point and is about a 20 minute quad ride.  It is one of my favorite places to go and we just had to bring Craig's parents there to show it off.  It never lets me down and today was no exception as the wind was calm, temperatures were warm and with water on the ice it reflected the clouds like a mirror.  We probably spent 2 hours there having lunch, talking with friends and just taking it all in.  Days like today rejuvenates your mind and soul. 

 

More and more flowers are blooming and the tundra is starting to come alive with colour.  We see mostly purple, white and yellow flowers and I noticed today that the beach grasses are starting to sprout.  You never know who you might run into while out on the land and today we met up with Cathy, Jim and Emily Barta.  We stopped and chatted for a bit and they continued where we just been and visa versa.

 

Not much more to say except Happy Canada Day!

 

This one gives you some perspective of how tiny some

of the flowers are.

We stopped at the Japanese Monument on the way there

Our beach at Long Point is vast

Nana and Papa soaking it all in

Wayne and Marg enjoying the warm temps

Dad is off to explore

Nana, Craig and Marg relaxing

Marg and Nana about to make angels

Some of mom's treasures from the beach

Dad and Craig contemplating their next adventure

Welcome to Long Point

The point of Long Point is about to be emerged at high tide 

The reflection on the water was amazing today

The next few pictures are an example

After the beach we made our way around and up and if you look closely at the next picture

you can see the point at the beach where we were.

 

I think tomorrow will be a day of relaxation and close to home.  I will head into work and meet up with the family afterwards.  Not sure what the remaining of the week will be but I'm sure we will have some fun.

 

Talk soon!

Week One with Nana & Papa

Craig's parents arrived safely last week and we have been busy ever since.  Craig took the time off while they are here but I am still working, preparing for our annual char harvest.  They have explored the town and I do not think there is much more for them to see in our little village.  We headed out with the dogs on Saturday, a cool day to walk the tundra but they were troopers and didn't really hear them complain. 

New flowers are blooming just about every day

As you can tell it was a bit cool but everyone looks happy

 

Yesterday we met up with our friends, the Bartas and headed to Mt. Pelly, mom was my passenger and dad was Craig's.  We parted ways with our friends at the sign going into the territorial park and after showing Nana & Papa around we drove to where the Bartas were, fishing of course.  They never caught anything but it was fun to watch and especially watching Emily dodge the ice floats going by.

 

Mom enjoying the beautiful weather and Emily fishing

Look out Emily!

Lots of ice break-ups

 

Today after I was finished work we drove out to Old Town.  Our first stop was the famous Maud, she was named after Queen Maud of Norway and was built for Roald Amundsen for his second expedition to the Arctic.  He did not make it through the Northwest Passage and after 6 years she ended up in Nome, Alaska.  The Hudson Bay Company bought the ship in August of 1925 and used it as a supply vessel in Cambridge Bay.  In 1930 she sank and now the Norwegians have plans to lift her and bring her back to Norway.  You can read about her journey back home at http://www.maudreturnshome.no/

 

Craig, Mom and Dad in front of the Maud

This old Singer was recovered from the Maud

The Norwegians made this stone cairn a couple of years ago to

honour the spot where the Maud sank.  Here is mom adding her stone to it. 

The workmanship of this cairn is amazing - I'm thinking it will be here for a very long time.

 

I love all the old relics in Old Town but I think that The Eagle is my favorite.  The ship was purchased by Father Steinman in 1954 from Tuktoyaktuk resident, Johnny Norberg. Father Steinman had planned on fixing the boat but he was transferred to another community before he could repair the ship.

 

 

As you can imagine the Commander gets a little dirty driving through mud, water and dirt. The following two pictures are of Craig throwing a bucket of water on us to clean the windshield.  The other picture is my 'partner in crime'.

 

 

When we took the dogs out on Saturday I had brought some Canada Day flags for the dogs to model and today I took a pic of them with holding the Canada Day Nerf footballs.

 

Proud Canadians

What says Happy Canada Day more than a couple of

GSPs sitting on the tundra wearing Canada flags.

 

Tomorrow we plan on heading the beach, yes I said the beach!  Stay tuned.

 

Talk soon!

Mt. Pelly or Bust!

I know I said I wouldn't post another entry until Craig's parents arrive but we took the quad and the side by side out today, first time this year, and headed towards Mt. Pelly.  'Word on the streets' said that the road was open right to the park, so as Miss Molly as my co-pilot and Craig on his machine we headed out.  After some fun water puddles and bumpy road we made it.  Molly did look at me a few times when I got her a bit wet going through the water. haha 

 

Every year a pair of ravens nest on top of the sign entering Mt. Pelly and this year we finally seen the chicks.  The nest is not only huge but it's amazing how they built it out of anything they can find including bones, antlers, fur from caribou and muskox.

 

Mt. Pelly entrance

If you look closely you can see one chick

I wanted to climb the sign to get a picture of the chicks but Craig wouldn't let me, instead he climbed up.  I had the settings on my camera just right but somewhere between my hands and his the picture was taken in b&w.  Might have to return before they fly away.

My co-pilot Miss Molly

Miss Molly with the vast tundra behind her

With these warm temps the purple saxifrage are emerging everywhere.

 

On the way home we stopped by Freshwater Creek to take some pictures.  Just a couple of days ago there was still ice on the creek.

 

The bridge at Freshwater Creek

The green tone is the ice under the water - one of the graveyards is to the right

Flowing fast and furious

Spring run off into the ocean

 

After being out for a couple of hours Miss Molly was pooped so we decided to try Blitz in the Commander.  You see Molly is an old pro at riding but Blitz has never rode.  I needed Craig's help as I couldn't find the harness to hook him up so Craig was the passenger holding onto the leash.  Blitz did really well, never pulled or tried to jump out of the back.  This ride took us behind the Dew Line to check out the road to see if it was dry and clear. 

 

He looks so little in the back of the Commander

Now that's one happy dog!

 

If anyone of you wonder what a GSP birthday hangover looks like...well here it is!

Talk soon!