The Igloo Church in Inuvik, NWT

One of the most iconic and beloved buildings in the circumpolar North is Inuvik’s Roman Catholic church, Our Lady of Victory, commonly called “the Igloo Church” because of its shape. I told my friend Tyson that my #1 wish was to see inside the church again and photograph it...
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A day of Spring gifts – swans and aurora

Although I’m not nearly finished showing you the Arctic trip, it’s Spring and the weather is wonderful, so there are other things happening that I also want to show you. I probably wouldn’t have posted about our outing to photograph the migrating swans yesterday, but then as I went...
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Exploring downtown Inuvik, NWT

In this post I’m going to assemble three little tours of downtown Inuvik, starting at 9:35 pm after getting back from Tuktoyaktuk, with a look at some of the public art downtown. First is a mural painted by Brian Macdonald in 1994 – it shows the Rec Hall, constructed...
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Exploring Tuktoyaktuk, NWT

Although Tuktoyaktuk was mostly just part of the package this time, on my first visit 39 years ago, Tuk was the target destination, and the many other places we visited were just bonuses. The first photo today is a flashback to that 1985 visit, with my Cessna 172, C-GWDM,...
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Driving the road to Tuktoyaktuk in April

On Monday, April 8th, Tyson and I drove from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk and back, with a lot of exploring and some visiting in Tuk. Here’s another orientation map – during a 3-day period, we would visit all five of the communities shown on the government road conditions map. The...
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Exploring Inuvik, Northwest Territories

I arrived at the Inuvik Mike Zubko Airport on Sunday, April 7th. After not coming over the horizon at all for 30 days, the sun returned in early January, and Inuvik is well on its way to a 56-day period of 24-hour daylight. On the 7th, the sun set...
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Journey to the Arctic: the flight

I arrived home yesterday evening from an Awesome Arctic Adventure, and am now sorting several hundred photos for probably five blog posts. In brief summary, I flew from Whitehorse to Inuvik to meet a friend on Sunday, we drove to Tuktoyaktuk and back on Monday, drove the ice road...
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Searching for Spring

That was a very easy Winter we just had, and I’m craving Spring now. But Mother Nature has gotten lazy, and the advance towards Spring has stalled out. For the past 2-3 weeks, and the 2 weeks ahead, highs are just above freezing and the lows just below freezing....
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From Winter to a snow-free hike at Skagway

I’ve been watching the weather forecasts to make another try to get to Skagway, and yesterday, though not great, was the best day in Skagway for 10 days or so, and was forecast to get as the day progressed. in both Skagway and Whitehorse. The day turned out to...
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A perfect day to welcome the RCAF

For many Yukoners, aircraft are an important part of life – at the very least as a way to travel. Yesterday I went to the Whitehorse airport to see the air display that’s been part of our end-of-winter Rendezvous events since 1971, when 2 aircraft were on display. In...
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