The last full day in Yellowknife, what to do what to do...I woke up at 0900 and had coffee in front of the fire. I went outside to go start my car and it was sluggish…BUT IT STARTED!
I looked into gym memberships for the week and Kim reccomended the Field house where she goes. I kind of wanted to go run at the field house, but I kind of didn't want to waste daylight running inside, so I walked down the road to the diner to have breakfast instead. I started the car just to make sure it would start for the day but I really liked walking around town as much as possible, especially since I wasn't running that much.
Two Pines diner was a near perfect place for me. It had a pinup style decor with a northern twist. The place was very small…maybe 8 tables with one waitress. The diner didn't have menus on the table, only the one drawn on the chalkboard! The specials were a form of poutine and a peach compote waffle with a bourbon glaze and they sounded great but I went with a different wildcard option, the eggs benidict. I typically don't care for eggs benidict, but the title of it sounded intreging (The Bannock Benidict), and it paid off! The bread made it and the bread was homemade in house and was soooo good. I later learned this bread is called Bannock and it is very similar to a biscuit. I thought the antlers and Notorious BIG picture on the wall was hilarious but made sense in this place as odd as that sounds.
The waitress had sleeve tattoos, purple hair, and a bad ass vintage shiny dress on and was VERY energetic. This was hands down the best restaurant I have ever been to inside of a hotel/motel with the exception of Las Vegas. The potatoes lacked much flavor and were the only downside to a awesome diner! I try to pick up on local dialects and pronunceations when I trabel and I gathered that Northerners pronounce poutine as “puutin.”
I walked home after brunch and talked to Graeme for a little bit, then I left to go to Erasmus Apparel to look for a coffee cup and a shirt. I stayed there for quite some time, trying on different shirts and debating what color combo I wanted for my coffee cup, and I finally bought a t-shirt and a coffee mug. The prices were a bit steep but the items were unique, not touristy crap, and I felt okay supporting local business. I then headed back over to the Dettah ice road and did some snowshoeing over The Great Slave Lake. I love being outdoors in nature and this was a great way to end my last day in Yellowknife. I just parked my car on the side of the ice road, thre on my snowshoes and started walking on the lake. I made it about a mile before my toes where in a lot of pain so I headed back to the car. Once I left the Lake I went to a different grocery store in town…most places did not accept AMEX, and didn’t find any cool local treats so I got some more trail mix to snack on.
Now I went to check out Barren Grounds Coffee and that was an experience. I wanted a coffee mug but the guy Casey the Co-owner said they wouldn't have any until February. Let me take a step back and tell you how this place was down a small alley between two unmarked buildings.
You had to be looking for this place or you would never know it was there. I asked if he could ship a coffee cup to me and he said he hasn’t looked into shipping to the states, but he would see what he could do. I was already at this coffee shop so I ordered an espresso and for whatever reason, Casey gave it to me on the house. I ended up talking to Casey for a hot minute. He said he had come up from Calgery, where him and his wife were living, to go on a fishing trip and....the fishing and outdoors was so nice they decided to move there. He was an electritian so it was easy for him to get a job and I belive his wife got a job with the government. We talked fly fishing, about The Great Slave Lake, his business, roasting coffee, camping, and it was great. A super friendly place that I look forward to supporting and coming back to. As I was leaving he told me to take a decal , which has a cool logo, and I took off.
After the Coffee shop I headed back to the ice road and watched the sun set in Yellowknife one final time. The sky was pink and glowing blue around the sun as it set and the sky opposite of the sun was a majestic purple. That was one of the two most beautiful sky’s I had ever seen, the other being over the Mediterranean Sea.
I headed back to the bnb where I started packing and took a shower….Did I want to try a new place for dinner and possibly be disappointed or go back to the brew pub…I like trying new things but that brew pub was off the chain, so that is where I went.
When I showed up to the brewpub I sat at a table next to the bar until a seat opened up for about 3 minutes, then sat back at the bar. I noticed a couple at the end of the bar playing cribbage. This was the second time I saw people playing cribbage up north s it must be one of their games of choice. This time my first beer was a collaboration with NWT Brewing and Barron Grounds Coffee. It was the Breakfast milk stout and it was delicious. It reminded me of a Guinness the way it was heavy, yet light, and went down faster than water. After two of those I ordered some food. This time I once again got the mushroom toast, because it was that damn good, and I ordered the fish. They put whatever fish is freshly caught on the menu and that night it was white fish, and it came with cubed sweet potatoes along with a sweet potato pure. The fish was flavorful but the texture was a bit mushy, and not as flakey as other white fish I have had. I spoke with Thomas, the bartender, for about an hour until they started getting busy around 1900. I asked him questions about bottling, marketing, etc. and Thomas said he was in fact their marketer as well as their bartender. I told him how there beers were pretty choice and would make a killing in the US. I could tell the other bartender for the night was new because Thomas was ensuring he had the right uniform on, which was the brewpubs t-shirt, and was instructing him on how to make certain drinks. I unfortunately did not get this guys name but small world…he grew up in Dallas, Texas. We talked fishing for quite some time and he showed me pictures of his catches and said it is a bad day when he goes out and doesn’t catch a 5 lb fish!!! He told me he does mostly lake fishing and trawling deep for the big guys, but some lakes and rivers do have sight fishing because the water is so clean and clear. As I was preparing to leave the Texas bartender had purchased one of my beers for me and said it is not everyday I get to talk to a Texan up here.
I walked back to the air bnb, grabbed my camera and headed out around 2000 to see if I could catch the aurora again. I immediately saw it from the street I was staying on and it was prominent and cutting through the city lights. I went back to the Dettah Ice Road and immediately saw the strong glow and it was dancing! I could see the green lights moving like a snake and energy shooting into them, making them dance even harder! That only lasted about five minutes than the lights went dull. They were everywhere in the sky but the colors were very dim. I tried to get more pictures but the lights weren’t nearly as bold as the night before. The Dettah ice road is an easy place to get away from the city lights buts it has other cars driving by every now and then that can interrupt your photos. I reccomend driving out of town on the Ingram trail for about 20 minutes or so to get past all the aurora tours and you will be all alone in the Tundra. For a grown ass man with a knife, cold weather training, and a trained killer…I would not recommend doing this alone. There were times my head was on a swivel because I thought I heard a bear or something stalking me. I did some reading on the spirits, deities, and creatures in the Inuit culture, and found they have a spirit that takes fools that hunt alone...I thought I was going to be taken that night...
When I got back to the house I was hoping I would see Kim and Graeme so I could thank them one final time before I left but they had gone out with some friends. I noticed something on a stool as I walked in the house and it was a note and a gift from Kim and Graeme! I got my license plate, a real license plate, not that $20 tourist crap, and it was awesome! These people were such great hosts and remembered the first night when I had gotten in, and commented on how I thought the license plates in the NWT were cool. Yellowknife was an unreal place few poeple venture up to see. I am an off the beaten path kind of guy and let me tell you...Yellowknife was off the beaten path and I can't wait to experiance it in the summer!
