I am in Yellowknife. It is freezing. It is -30 C today. When I left Vancouver on Thursday it was -1 C and I was freezing then. I am such a baby up here. A baby and the biggest, most shameless tourist! I'm up here to visit my favorite (and only!) cousins on my moms side, but between visiting time they are graciously driving me all over town to see everything, and so far I've seen: the ice road (SO cool); a man dogsledding; a man kite skiing (FYI i saw all of that while driving on the ice road); a FOX and the highest point in the city (pretty but not overly impressive if you're from Vancouver). They also took me on a snow mobile ride across a frozen lake where we tobogganed and made a fire (I contributed one piece of cardboard to that fire). I am having the best time! Last thing on my list is to see the northern lights but so far no dice...
I have learned a couple of very important things while up here in the north and I feel I should share them just in case any of you decide to visit one day:
1. You can't just quickly run outside in your normal clothes- you might die.
2. Bring a real camera not an iPhone because if you leave your mittens off for more than a few seconds your hands will hurt like never before and will probably lose them.
3. Most of the time it looks like dusk or night. Enjoy day while you can.
4. Don't try and be fashionable when you go outside- don't leave your parka open a little so your scarf looks cooler or insist on not wearing a touque so you don't mess up your hair. Trust me just DON'T.
5. Coke in a can outside turns to slush and then ice AND your tongue gets stuck to the can.
And finally: 6. Marshmallows taste different when roasted and eaten in the cold. They taste better!
Here are a few instagrams from the trip...
-Erin
