June 29, 2023: More Yellowknife

We were up ridiculously early (far earlier than the hotel serves breakfast), still being on Toronto time, and the sun was already fully bright at 5:00 am. We had breakfast in our room, with the items we had rounded up at Shopper's Drug Mart the night before (granola bars, nuts, and dried mango strips used as scoops for yogurt). 

Then we walked to Old Town for an 8:00 am birding boat tour with our guide, Carlos, and another guest, Chantal. There were many gulls, bonapartes, and ducks, as well as some grebes and loons. We saw two bald eagles - one perched on top of a tree, drying off, who made a sweeping dive for a fish (he missed), and another sitting on a nest, with what looked like possibly a bird that had been caught, or chicks that were getting fairly large. There were also some fuzzy herring gull chicks on shore. Near the end of the tour we passed through a shallow channel (the lake level is at a historic low) and Mark had to help pole us through.

Birding tour - our guide provided binoculars

Bald eagle drying off on top of a tree

View from the harbour

After a rest in our hotel room (it was a long, hot walk back from the dock) we had lunch at the hotel restaurant. Miles had the "best quesadillas of my life" (pulled lamb). Then we visited the nearby Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, with interesting displays on the culture, history and natural life of the Yellowknife area. After that, we returned to the nearby park for a self-propelled ride on the carousel. We also picked up a giant box of wine as a contribution for the raft trip (equivalent to 5 1/3 bottles).

Carousel ride

Avenue of flags en route to the museum

Moose hide boat similar to the one in the CBC documentary. It is huge!

Love this bubble effect in display created with a string of pearl beads

Hilarious partial stuffed seal in the process of being eaten

We ate dinner at the well-known Bullocks Bistro, getting a table on the shady back patio with a view of the water, and a funny dog tied up on the outside of the patio railing who kept trying to wriggle in to be with his people. I had the Buffalo rib-eye, which wasn't noticeably different from beef. The house salad dressing was touted as being famous, and it was quite tasty. All of the interior surfaces of the restaurant are covered in signatures, sayings, business cards, money, etc., which Miles found entertaining. We walked back up from Old Town yet again - still a hot, sunny, dry day, with no sunset in sight. [Addendum. We saw Bullocks Bistro's famous dressing for sale in the airport vending machine on our way home!].


Our lovely table at Bullock's

Yellowknife overall is a bit odd - very spread out, and no real historic centre as would be typical in other cities, even at the waterfront. Mark says it reminds him of some other northern towns which are founded on mining - a lot of the population is transient, passing through on the way to/from work, so there are many hotels, but not a lot else to do. The few blocks we explored near the hotel seemed a bit dismal. Miles declared one establishment to be the "dampest bar in town" (which meant that it was not good), which we found hilarious for some reason that now escapes me.


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