First Trip to Inuvik

Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic "Igloo Church", Inuvik

This week I traveled to the community of Inuvik, which is located 6 degrees above the Arctic Circle at the Mackenzie Delta.  You can drive to Inuvik from the Yukon if you take the Dempster Highway, but the only way from Yellowkife is to fly.

It's much warmer here in Inuvik right now than in Yellowknife.  Today it was around -13C here, as I was walking around town doing interviews for work.  Last week in Yellowknife the temperature got down to -31C, which felt like -40C with the wind chill.  We had to buy thermal underwear to keep warm, and I'm learning to knit.  When it's that cold, your eyelashes start to freeze and then stick together after awhile, if you don't wear goggles.

I'm not sure if you'd call this a sunrise or a sunset...I took this picture at around 2:30pm.  I noticed it stayed pitch dark today until around 10am, when the sun slowly started to rise.  This was the first time I experienced that, since Inuvik is much further North than Yellowknife.

Polar Bed & Breakfast

Cafes and galleries, downtown Inuvik

Inuvik's greenhouse!!

Brightly colored houses

Chinese food!

It was a little surprising to see a Chinese food place in Inuvik, although after talking to some locals it seems that Inuvik is quite diverse, considering it's size of around 3000 people and it's remote location.  There is a large Filipino population, and a new mosque was just recently built in town for the Muslim community.  Of course there are the indigenous Gwich'in and Inuvialuit people, as well as the rest of the mainly white population who come from all over Canada.

The last picture I took today was of the above-ground sewage system!  The pipes can't be buried in the ground because of the permafrost.  This is also why all of the houses and building are built up off of the ground.

We fly back to Yellowknife tomorrow afternoon, which is too bad, I wish I could stay here longer!