Inuvikphotos.ca (Daily views from the NWT)

Here is the stained glass from the Nanook lounge. 

The bar has no windows, but instead has these decorative light boxes.

(click on this image for animation)

Ice on the Mackenzie river doesn’t melt gradually. Once a year it suddenly breaks apart and starts flowing down the river. This is a loud, impressive spectacle.

Once the ice is moving (about the speed of a person walking fast) people gather and watch it move like it was a parade. They have BBQs, etc.

Update: Here is the ice as it appeared the day before:

There is a lot of garbage on Inuvik’s streets these days!

Frosty’s used to be a great place to have a beer, but now the parking lot looks like a landfill.

UPDATE: There’s been some effort from the “fast food” restauraunt to clean up lately, so credit to them. (Some “after” shots will be published soon.)

Inuvik had snow blowing today, but it seems trees are starting to develop.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans held a workshop at Samuel Hearne secondary school today.

They were encouraging students to pursue careers as wildlife officers.

Part of the fun was dissecting fish, looking for earbones whose rings can be counted like tree rings, determining a fish’s age.

Wildlife officer Wade Norman told the students he loved his job.

“Some people pay thousands of dollars to come up to the Territories and fish. If you become a wildlife officer, it’s something you’ll be paid to do. Plus you get to fly in helicopter, ride boats and skidoos and spend time in nature.” He also shared stories of tagging Bowhead whales in the Beaufort sea and stopping for tea with people in the communities.

Sounds like a good day at the office!

Wade also said there is a big demand for resident officers in the NWT, since many southerners come here for a few years and leave. Therefore, the job has excellent salaries and northern allowances. (He told students they could make $90,000 a year with a $24,000 northern allowance, with only a two-year college course.)

For recorded audio interviews and more photos, please check out www.cbc.ca/northwind.

(extra note: boy did this ever remind me of my time at Lapointe’s fish market in Ottawa!)

Interesting juxtaposition here: Nature’s chaotic tangle versus man’s straight orderly lines.

Nothing says “run down” like old barb wire fencing.

If you’re shooting a movie and you want to convey “the bad part of town” all it takes is one shot of something like this.

Local musician Bob Mumford held a blues workshop at the high school in the evening on May 27, teaching people the basics of the style.

On the blackboard he wrote “12-bar blues: (in Inuvik we only have the 2 bar blues).”

Get it? The town has two bars…the Mad Trapper and the Mackenzie!

(See www.cbc.ca/northwind for coverage of this event including sound and more photos)

Update: Of course, we also have the Nanook Lounge, but there are usually about three people there on a Saturday night. 

This bird was peeking out of its house near the Public Works building on Veterans’ Way.

Nice to see such a lovely birdhouse being used!

Young people seem to have a parrallel network of sidewalks in Inuvik. They walk on the utilidors, pipes, and other raised structures.