Diverted to Fort McPherson

On August 29 I flew north from Edmonton, destination Sachs Harbour.  I didn't have a window seat until we got past Yellowknife and to Norman Wells, NWT.

Here is my plane parked at Norman Wells during the stop there:

It was overcast for pretty much the whole flight.  When we came out of the clouds on approach to Inuvik, I got this photo of the tundra and lakes of the Mackenzie Delta area, where the vegetation is transitioning from boreal forest to tundra around the treeline:

When I went to the Aklak Air counter to check in for my flight to Sachs Harbour, they told me my flight had been cancelled.  They waved me into a back office where someone from the regional travel department told me that I was being sent to Fort McPherson instead, as they had an urgent need there.  Another nurse who had also been diverted to go there met up with me at the airport, and we hopped into a cab to go to the Inuvik hospital, to get more info.

After 90 minutes or so there, another cab came and picked us up to take us to Fort McPherson, which is a 2.5 hour drive south on the Dempster Highway, which is famous with RV drivers who can drive to the arctic ocean (the road ends at Tuktoyaktuk).

Here we are crossing the Rainbow River:

Just a photo taken from the back seat as we drove.  It's obviously peak yellow season with the fall colours.

Here we are descending into the Mackenzie River valley, to get on the ferry across it.

The ferry ride was short but fun:

Banks of the Mackenzie River as we crossed on the ferry:

This is the community of Tsiigehtchic, where the ferry docks on the other side:

This is the Dempster Highway at the turn into Fort McPherson, which I am standing on, I took this photo that evening on a walk.  The highway is curving off southward at the right of the photo.

Some "international" M&Ms

Back in late June, we saw some overpriced but irresistible (to me, anyway) M&Ms at Bulk Barn.  My brother and his wife were coming over for dinner on Canada Day, so we decided to splurge and get these flavours for a dessert taste-testing.

English Toffee:

Despite having two english toffee lovers in the group, I was the only one who liked these.  The dissenters complained that they tasted mapley rather than toffee-like.  To that I said, who cares, but this was a low-rated M&M.  It ranked only 4 out of 8 thumbs, with two enthusiastic thumbs up from me, and two grudging thumbs up from among the purists who were expecting more definite toffee flavour.

Mexican Jalapeno:

Everyone loved this one.  It got a full 8 thumbs, although one participant tried to downgrade it due to being sensitive currently to spice, but I overruled that as an individual medical reason to avoid scarfing down too many does not mean there is anything wrong with them.

Thai Coconut:

These ranked 6 thumbs, two from me, and one from everyone else.  They liked them but didn't love them.

And lastly, one more that we tried recently, but not at the same tasting event...

Hazelnut M&Ms:

These we got in bulk at Bulk Barn, but no picture available.  They are the same colour mix as the everyday M&Ms, and are disc-shaped but larger than a milk chocolate M&M.  They rank 4 out of 4 thumbs, nice mild but definite hazelnut flavour, crunchy shell with a soft flavoured chocolate filling.

Flight from Resolute to Ottawa, August 10

Some photos from my trip home to Ottawa from Resolute on August 10.

Approaching Arctic Bay from the west:

Leaving Arctic Bay:

Glaciers outside of Pond Inlet, after leaving.  I wasn't on the spectacular Sirmilik side of the plane, but I enjoyed the glaciers I did get from the west side of the plane:

I took oodles of photos of the textured rock of Baffin Island, but here is just one to give you a taste:

Leaving Iqaluit, I got some good photos of the city:

Then it was mostly clouds until we lost some altitude coming into Ottawa.  Here is the Quebec side just before we cross the Ottawa river:

Petrie Island, you can see the beach at the northeast corner of the island:

Thunderstorm south of Ottawa as we landed:

Flight from Grise Fiord to Resolute, August 9

The weather was amazing on the flight to Resolute.  There was some local fog, which made the pilots fly in a circle just outside of town to gain altitude quickly, which gave great views of the tops of mountains that usually the plane is below on approach or takeoff.

The next two are of rivers and canyons on Cornwallis Island, as we approached Resolute from north of town.

View from my hotel room in Resolute.

By the time I got out for my walk, the weather had become overcast.  The fuel ship was in town, so I went for a beach walk to have a look at it.

More good photos to come from the flight the next day from Resolute to Ottawa.

August in Grise Fiord: Ice and a cruise ship

I just have a few photos from August in Grise Fiord.

Here are a few of ice that came ashore with the tide on August 2:

On Saturday, August 3, the cruise ship L'Austral came to town.  Here are some of the passengers heading off on a short walking tour.  They are all wearing a coat that has a grab-handle on the back, I guess in case anyone falls overboard on the boats that bring them to shore:

On August 4, the tides were really low, and I took a walk into the bay next to town that had a lot of the bottom exposed that is usually under water.  Here are some photos of the ice that was beached along the shore:

And that is it for my photos, or the interesting ones at least, from August in Grise Fiord.  I got some good pictures on the flight out as well, I'll be back with those soon.