Northwest Territories: Dragonrats

Make that 5 for 6. From Whitehorse, I flew to Yellowknife via Fort Simpson again - which does exist by the way. I watched more intently, and the tiny town is probably a good 10 to 15 km away from the airport, surrounded by dense boreal forest, which is why I didn't see it. Now you know.

I should mention too that right now, it's 11.23 pm and it's barely dusk outside. If I had a book right now, I could still easily read it outside. In fact, the sky never really gets darker than twilight. Even then, one horizon is still a lighter shade of blue. But don't take my word. Come up here and check it out for yourself.

As NWT was one of the places that I had permission from the premier, I went to the Legislative Assembly in the morning, spoke with one of Premier Joseph Handley's assistants who gave a paper with detailed instructions on how to get to his house. It was about 35 km out of town, with about 3 km of it being what resembled an abandoned logging road - gravel, full of potholes, rocks and bumps that wouldn't allow be to go much beyond 10 km/h the whole time. This is even more painful considering that my rental car was a 2007 Dodge Charger. Yowser! It was the only car left and they gave me a good rate on it, so I went for it.

But, I arrived at Premier Handley's house, met his wife who was home at the time, and took some photographs. She was pleasant but somewhat uncomfortable I think with my presence. However, she invited me in to take pictures off of the deck which had some beautiful views of Prelude Lake. However, there was no tea and/or cookies forthcoming from her, so I scurried on my way.

Now, I'm sure you'll guess that there are bugs in the north. However, never underestimate the size of them, nor the density of the swarms. The dragonflies are the sizes of rats. The mosquitoes are the size of regular dragonflies, and the swarms of them are unbelievable. At the premier's house, when I got out of my car, I couldn't put the bug spray on fast enough. Stopping the car on the gravel road at one point, it was like a thin black cloud hovering outside my window. So, if you come here and plan to camp, find a way to get some undiluted deet. You might need it.

Oh, and if you ever go up there, I know the best bed and breakfast for you to stay at. It's called the City Lodge B&B. Beautiful home with really unique architecture (like a hot tub built into the the living room), and at a very reasonable rate. That's my plug for the place.