My Birthday in the Capitol of Nunavut Territory, Canada

After ten hours of warm, restful sleep, I was able to wake up and just walk to the bathroom!  No crawling over a plywood base to get out through a zippered hole in an unheated tent!  The week on the floe ice was definitely worth the inconveniences and pain, but it was definitely nice to not have the pain any longer!  I didn't really feel like having breakfast, but still wanted my tea.  Even on the floe edge, I hadn't gone without my morning hot tea!  So, I went to the dining room and picked up some extra tea bags and sweetener so I could have tea till lunch time!  I repacked everything for traveling home, meaning hoping my carry-on bag would be gate checked so I didn't have to deal with it and making the checked bag as heavy as I could in case I did have to carry my cabin bag!  The only thing I wanted in the cabin with me was the camera gear and my meds.  Going home, I don't particularly care if my luggage gets lost.  Granted, they are getting better, but airlines are still losing luggage enough that I prefer to have at least one set of what I absolutely need with me when I hit the ground, especially if I don't expect to have time to replace them.  I was able to do this packing in a warm, comfortable environment!  So nice!  Check-out time was pretty good.  

One of our group was down with a stomach bug, probably the same thing that was going around, or it could have been what she was calling "shaken soup syndrome" from the long and bumpy komatik ride after eating soup.  Either way, she wasn't up to getting herself packed and ready to go.  This group had been great about helping each other and looking out for each other.  Other than selecting sleeping bags (when it was like Lord of the Flies), we pooled resources and were mindful of making sure we knew where everybody was.  I recognized just how bossy I can be when I went to help get her packed.  She brough everything in just a cabin bag.  She had used compression bags to be able to do it.  I usually find I can pack more by just tightly rolling and stuffing my clothes into various areas of my case.  Packing cubes, even compression ones, tend to cause too much wasted space for me.  The others trying to get her packed didn't seem to know how to use her compression bags, either, so I just took charge and packed her up.  I also convinced (read "ordered") her to eat some toast to try to change the pH balance of her gut.  They probably wouldn't let her on the plane if she was still throwing up.  Gosh, I sure am bossy!  And apparently not just to family members!  I'm so sorry to all of you I've bossed around for no good reason!

After a wonderful lunch of chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries, many of our group walked around Pond Inlet.  I chose to just hang out in the recliner in the hotel, relaxing, and waiting for time to go to the airport.  The visitor's center was closed.  Apparently, the Parks Canada office was open, though, and the guy in there was happy to fill the time talking about the wildlife and lifestyles of the locals.  Kind of wishing I had gone, but not really regretting it.

We all went to the airport early because Jim said the plane was coming in early and that if somebody came in with a medical flight, the last one checked in is the one that gets bumped.  So we hung out at the airport, and soon after we got there and got checked in, a lady who was also on our flight from Ottawa to Iqaluit who spent some time chatting with us (almost seeming like part of our group) came in with her daughter to see us off.  She was staying in Pond Inlet even after her grandson's graduation to spend some time with her daughter's family.  Such a small town and small airport.  No real security.  Non-passengers can go to the gate with you (the only room that isn't a private office or bathroom).  Shades of pre-2000's air travel!  We used half of the plane when it boarded with the front half being used for cargo.

We landed in Iqaluit just after dinner time and took Caribou Cabs to our hotel, the Frobisher Inn, where Eagle-Eye's credit card was promptly declined.  We messaged Eagle-Eye, and while waiting for the issue to be resolved, I put my card down so I could go ahead and get in my room.  Some others did, too.  Soon after I got settled into my room, while I was FB video calling with Bruce, we got a message that the problem had been fixed.  None of my business what it was, but it was probably something like the card that had been put on reserve had expired, and somebody forgot to update them with the new card.  Not like that's never happened to me before.  Once it was resolved, the hotel erased my information and charged Eagle-Eye.  Dinner was no longer being served, which didn't concern me.  I wasn't really that hungry.  I could have gotten a burger or pizza out of a machine, but naah.  I just went up, took a shower, and hit the sack.  Another good, long sleep, this time without black-out drapes, but it got dusk, so not so bad.

This picture was taken from one floor lower and a few rooms to the right of the first one I took on the way up.  It was also taken in the morning, after I woke up.  You can't see the lights from the buildings this time because they aren't on.  You can still see the frozen Frobisher Bay, which is brown on top, supposedly from the dirt on land blowing onto the ice.  Plus, the bay is supposedly somewhat shallow, so some of the mud from the seabed gets into the ice.

I had breakfast with a few ladies from our group, then went back to my room to pack and get ready to leave.  We were mostly all meeting at check-out time, storing our bags, and exploring the town of Iqaluit, the capitol of the Nunavut Territory.  We had about six hours free between check-out time and the time we needed to leave for the airport and some folks wanted to buy souvenirs.  Me?  I wanted to see the museum and town.

Almost directly across from our hotel was the medical center.  I loved the murals on the retaining walls in the front.

These Inutsuks are everywhere.  They are historically trail markers, but with the meanings of the two words that form the name, "inuk" (person) and "suk" (substitute), and the meaning of the word "inutsuk" itself (that which acts in the capacity of a human), they are popularly being used to symbolize guidance, unity, and working toward a common goal.

The town has an amazing amount of sculptures and rock carvings all over.  This one stands in front of the Royal Bank of Canada branch.  It is much more detailed than I can show in a thumbnail picture.  If you can blow it up, you can see how detailed it actually is.

While at a carving shop, we saw the raw stones they work with.  These stones are harvested in other places and have to be shipped up to Iqaluit.  Because of the weight, it has to ship by ship, and the ships have to wait until the ice melts.  Only then can the carvers actually make things like that lovely black narwhal in the second picture or the polar bear (or other items) in the one below it.

We also learned some of the legends of Sedna, thanks to one of our group recognizing her and purchasing a carving.  There are multiple versions, but the one we heard went like this.  Sedna was unhappy with the marriage prospects her father was getting and ran off with the man of her choosing.  Once they arrived at his place, he revealed his true identity, which was that of a dog.  When her father came to visit and learned that she was married to a dog, he took her in his kayak to take her back home.  The sea became rough, and to save himself, he threw her overboard to try to stabilize the kayak, but she grabbed the side of the kayak, making it more unstable.  Her father took a hatchet and cut off her fingers and pushed her into the sea.  Her fingers became the sea creatures (whales and seals, especially) and she ruled over them from the depths.  There are multiple other versions, but they all end with Sedna's father cutting off her fingers and sending her to the depths and her fingers becoming the marine mammals.

Designs were carved into rocks in multiple places around town.

We ducked into the Black Heart Cafe where I tried caribou and shrimp spring rolls.

The faces of assembly members are carved on this side of the stone in front of the assembly building.

We made it to the museum.  Basically three rooms and a gift shop, but very informative!

And they have my favorite!!  A touch table!!

With a sign that clearly says to "go ahead and feel the textures in the materials!"  Oh was I in heaven!  I thought the polar bear fur was actually softer than the Arctic fox fur.

That explains why the claw marks are so deep in the footprints!

This carving was on a whale rib bone.  Probably a bowhead whale, but we didn't ask that specific.  Each of the two local communities is allowed to take one bowhead whale every other year.

On the way back to the hotel, we passed lots of pussy willow.  I haven't seen it wild for many years!

When we got to the airport, the guy at check-in said he'd do what he could to keep the seat next to me empty since it was my birthday, and he did!  Of course, we had to establish that it really was my birthday, and he was looking at the expiration date of my passport!  I really wasn't born four years in the future!  It was a lovely flight back to Ottowa with a late check-in at the hotel. 

About five hours later, I was headed back to the airport for my flight home.  It was uneventful, and I slept most of the way.  This was an amazing trip and a fabulous birthday, but I was ready to get home and see those I love!  Gotta rest up for the next adventure!