A story to tell

Springtime has hit Inuvik as well. Since coming back from my Easter break, the snow has begun to melt, and I no longer don my winter boots, down parka, and long johns when I venture out of doors. The first spring barbecue can’t be far off now, and, by next week, Inuvik will have over seventeen hours of daylight every day. Runs to the convenience stores for late-night slushies will start soon!

I had a fantastic Easter. My friend in Yellowknife and I drove to Fort Resolution to visit another friend. We feasted like we had never feasted before. (Come to think of it, we had a barbecue there – so that was my first springtime barbecue of the year!) We had an Easter egg hunt in the living room. Due to my non-competitiveness, I lost, but still came away with tons of goodies. The seven-hour drive from Yellowknife to Fort Resolution was largely monotonous, save for the stretch of ice-road by Fort Providence. That stretch was terrifying. Because of the mild weather, the ice had begun to give way to slush, and there were huge puddles everywhere. We were quite apprehensive about traveling on that road, but all was well. It was on the way back that we had our mishap: We cautiously made our way behind a semi across the ice, and plowed through what seemed like a foot of water at some spots. At the place where ice met solid land, we jolted along with a brief but violent lurch. Then came the sigh of relief. The worst was over. Not so…. About an hour away from arriving back into Yellowknife, on a nice paved stretch of the highway, a rock the size of a dollar coin smashed through the front windshield. I had been dozing in the passenger seat when I heard the thud. I opened my eyes and immediately saw the cracked glass. It was a minute later that we noticed the shards of glass in our laps and all over the dashboard that made us realize that the rock had come through. Had we been lower down on the road, in a small car instead of an SUV, the rock would have hit us smack in the face. We are so lucky that all we have is a broken windshield, a bit of fright, and a good story to tell.

Below is a picture of what we had thought would be the most perilous stretch of the road between Yellowknife and Fort Resolution: the ice road. This was taken on the way to Fort Resolution. If I had taken a picture on the way back, you would see the huge puddles. The road closed for the season a couple of days after our return.