We feel very fortunate to have been able to see Inuvik, most people have never heard of it let alone seen it, it is the regional hospital for 10 Artic settlements, the government of this area, it's in fact much farther north than the Ice Truck Series on TV right now, the average temperature is 14 degrees, with 70 degrees below being it's lowest, we think you will be hearing more about this little city, maybe about oil, anyway, you've heard about it now
These people were gutsier than us, they had to have come up the same road as us, but the town had a very nice RV park with full hook ups and everything, and a great view of the delta
This is their 52 bed hospital
They have your natural chips, dill chips, salt and pepper chips and katsup chips, then, if you can't make up your mind, they have all dressed chips with every flavor on them, Cindy tried them and said that the first few chips are OK, and then they burn your throat, too many chemicals, I think
They have your natural chips, dill chips, salt and pepper chips and katsup chips, then, if you can't make up your mind, they have all dressed chips with every flavor on them, Cindy tried them and said that the first few chips are OK, and then they burn your throat, too many chemicals, I think
This is the only grocery store in town and also the department store, only time I have ever seen a row of ATV's in a grocery store for sale, must do snowmobiles in the winter, I went in to buy sandwich supplies for the trip back, nobody uses mayonaise, only salad dressing, if I wanted mayonaise I would have had to pay $9 for a jar, only one there, I didn't
This is the Community Center and also the Community Greenhouse, in 1998 they turned a decommisioned building into the only Community Greenhouse in the world, top floor is commercial, bottom is raised garden plots for residents, and they even have plots that are tended for elderly and handicapped, they have classes for gardening and even a community compost pile
The First Nation's People stack their rocks and make symbols
This is their school, the windows are all boarded up for the summer, I'm not sure why
The week after we were there, Inuvik as it's biggest festival of the year, The Northern Arts Festival, artist come from all around the world, demonstrate their art, mingle with other artists and sell their art, their other two events are the Oil Show and my favorite the Muskrat Jamboree, where they have contest skinning muskrats (not my thing) but they dance, play snowball baseball, and have a contest of boiling tea???? This sculpture sits in front of the visitors center and was sculpted by all native First Nations People
This is probably the most famous tourist attraction, the Igloo Church, strangely though their claim to fame with it is it is named the same as the Notre Dame Church, Paris, France (Our Lady of Victory), wouldn't you have thought they would have named it a Grenwich name?
Most of the houses look alike, some like barracks, government made for sure, some colored very bright colors, some with screened in tents to enjoy the outside bug free
They call the brightly colored houses "smart houses" again, I don't know why
Houses were selling for $200,000, old mobile homes for $50,000
The water comes from the Mackenzie River until the summer when it becomes to silty, the water is piped through the utilador
They call the brightly colored houses "smart houses" again, I don't know why
Houses were selling for $200,000, old mobile homes for $50,000
This strange snake-like thing is called a utilador system, all of the utilities are above ground in it so as not to melt the permafrost
The water comes from the Mackenzie River until the summer when it becomes to silty, the water is piped through the utilador
Half of Canada's land has permafrost, nearly all of the Northwest Territory does, this causes big problems for building on it, if any of it thaws in the summer it can move buildings off their foundation, crack walls, just completly destroy anything, so everything has to be put on pilings, or stilts that are drilled down past the active layer of permafrost, then a crawl space has to be there to allow for the buildings to get rid of their heat so as not to heat up the ground and melt any permafrost, is our hotel we stayed at
At our Hotel, the receptionist had potato chips they were selling at the counter, I commented that I had never heard of Katsup Potato Chips, and that it seemed really strange, she took me down with a look and said, "I think it's strange that you haven't heard of them, I grew up on them"
At our Hotel, the receptionist had potato chips they were selling at the counter, I commented that I had never heard of Katsup Potato Chips, and that it seemed really strange, she took me down with a look and said, "I think it's strange that you haven't heard of them, I grew up on them" 
Their hardware store, nice somebody has air conditioning there, it's hot in the summer, we had a little evaporator in our room, took so much water out of the air the floor was wet
The MacKenzie Hotel, very exclusive and expensive, think oil, I think
The farthest north stoplight in North America
The farthest north stoplight in North America
This is part of their downtown business section, they use very colorful colors
I never thought much about the Northwest Territory, but it and the Yukon have been Provinces of Canada for many years, 4 years ago a small section broke near the Artic formed it's own Province called Nunavut, I couldn't find anyone who knew the differance between a Province and a state, but they all knew that Ottawa takes care of them, Inuvik is the central government for the Mackenzie Delta
Everybody makes the most of the sun, it is 11PM and there are more people out, doing all kinds of things, picnicing, boating, when we look around at 9AM there is no one out
They have to barge the large stuff up the river, the ferry is only so big
Picnic area at the river
The Canadian Coast Guard in Port Inuvik
These buildings are on sleigh runners, they look like they are ready to go somewhere and there are alot of them, wonder if there will be more oil drilling around here
He must have to float this houseboat down the river during the winter, or it just sits on top of the ice, guess that would make it easy to go ice fishing
The mobile home park, all the mobile homes are up on stilts also, nothing is built on the ground, I still can't imagine these keeping you warm at 70 degrees below zero
NAPA
NAPA
The last thing we do before heading out is we have to buy new wiperblades, we saw a Napa, $75 for front and rear wiperblades, then he sent us to the mechanic's garage because he couldn't put them on, said the mechanics would get mad at him, $5 later, they were on, and they worked very well, note to self, always carry a spare wiperblade set especially if going to the far north
This is a Weather vane
Although the Dempster Highway is open year around, you can fly in also, I noticed in the paper that they were looking for Security Guards for the airport, many people take Artic Adventure flights from here
We say good bye to the Midnight Sun, hard to imagine that it won't set for another month
6 comments:
Not 'Smart' houses - but "Smartie" houses. Hope you now get the reason for the name! Nunavut separated from the NWT in 1999 and the difference between a province or territory is that a province has more rights assigned to them by the federal government - a territory does not have enuogh people and therefore generally abides by the laws at the federal level.
As far as the difference between provinces and states - in general, in Canada, each province is endowed with more rights than are accorded the US states.
I can answer those questions and I live in Inuvik.
No, I don't get the reason for the name, why are they called Smartie houses? The information woman in Dawson Creek told me that Nanavut became a Territory 4 years ago, is that not right? I had asked because, Cindy, who is traveling with me, was sure that there were only 2 territories, and I thought that there were 3, mine was just a lucky guess, because I didn't know anything about Nanavut. We only spent a night in your incredible home, it was wonderful, an experience I will never forget. Thank you for commenting on the blog, I hope I didn't offend you in any way.
first of all i am commenting on the sculpture at the visitors centre the term first nations people is a term not used because there are two diverse cultures # 1 dene people are considerd first nations and the majority of aboriginal people that live in Inuvik are Inuvialuit of the western arctic. I would suggest looking up information first before writing!!
Thanks for your pictures Safarigrl. I hope you had an enjoyable visit to Canada and come back soon.
I found the two anonymous comments quite rude in their tone, so I thought I would add something.
The first one mentions the term 'Smartie' houses. I think it would have been a little helpful had 'anonymous' #1 added something other than 'I hope you get the reason behind the name!' I'm from Canada and the only reason I can guess that they are called that is in reference to 'Smarties' candy which are brightly colored candy coated chocolates that are not marketed in the US. The colors of the candy sort of match the colors of the houses.
Just completely ignore the message from 'anonymous' #2. I can't imagine someone telling you 'look things up' when you're trying to share your vacation experience with others. What a dope.
Anyway, nice job on the post.
Anonymous was being quite rude, I agree with Jeff on that one. I think Jeff did a good job clearing up the confusion with some of the writing you did. They shouldn't expect everyone to know everything about the North. I am Canadian, and know a fair amount about the North. As for your question about the difference between "States" and "Provinces", there are no real differences aside from what each country calls their individual lands (i.e. Alberta, Montana etc). Hope that makes sense...come back to Canada again and see more!!
What a great resource!
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