Spock's Rocks

Yesterday we took a little road trip out to see the Vasquez Rocks.  These are a little bit north of Los Angeles, near Santa Clarita.   They're famous for being the set for the worst fight scene ever (12.5 million YouTube hits can't be wrong) from the first season of Star Trek.

They're pretty amazing:

Here is Gorn, back in 1966, at the start of the famous fight scene :

And me, 47 years later in 2013:

Here is a screen capture from the Star Trek Movie at another spot in the rocks.  The mountains on the right were digitally added, the one on the left is the real one:

... and here are the guys from Big Bang Theory doing their tribute at the same spot ...

And me, same spot:

Here are a few more photos of the rocks and the hike we did around the park that they are in.  Spot me in the one below...

The rocks have these interesting craters in them - it seems from looking at other spots, that other rocks were embedded in this sedimentary rock and then came dislodged over the years, and the spots eroded out:

I loved this curvy rock formation, very surreal:

... and that was our trip to Spock's (Vasquez) Rocks!  I know I am completely unreliable when I say to stay tuned, but I do have photos from trips to Death Valley (back in December) and Joshua Tree (earlier in March) National Parks, and I am going to post them, so don't go away!  Or... don't go away too far, and keep an ear out for when I post them ...

The Dentist's Igloo

I passed through Resolute on my way to and from Grise Fiord.  While I was there, a friend told me about an igloo that one of the travelling dentists had built out behind the sea cans beside the South Camp Inn.

It's a small one, it could probably just hold one or two people, and even then you'd have to fold them!  It's pretty good though - the small gaps in the walls are probably due to strong winds since it was built, it had been there around 3 weeks or so at least before I visited it.  There was drifting at the entrance so I couldn't go inside (plus, it was minus 42 out so I had to keep moving, and keep my mitts out of the snow!).

The Vagabond boat

For the second winter, the Vagabond arctic research boat is overwintering at Grise Fiord.  They spent last winter at the South Cape of Ellesmere Island, frozen in the ice, around 2 hours by skidoo from Grise Fiord.

This year, they are overwintering on the beach of Grise Fiord itself!

If you want to read more about this interesting expedition, the Vagabond has a blog at http://www.vagabond.fr/news .

Grise Fiord Community Centre

I just came back a few days ago from a week in Grise Fiord.  Here's something that was new since my last visit:

The new community centre is under construction.  I guess I don't need to call it the "new" one, as there is no old one.  Grise has not had a community centre before now, all community events have been held at the school, at least in recent years.  This new building will house the hamlet offices, a few other offices, and a gymnasium / gathering space.

It's on a nice site overlooking the pond ... the only unfortunate thing is it blocks the health centre's view of the mountains at the mouth of the fiord.  Ah well, progress.  I think it will be a beautiful building when it's complete.