I had planned to go with Steve to Inuvik a while back. My Grant MacEwan University Creative Non-Fiction course would be done by June 16th and I knew I’d need a break by then; this course was a doozer. As it happened, the course load was a bit heavier than anticipated and the deadline for our last assignment (a 4500 word story) extended to the 23rd which meant that my days in Inuvik would be spent revising my last assignment. And then another assignment dropped in my lap – this one from Canadian North Airlines asking if I’d write an article about Montreal for the next edition of their new magazine, Northern Flyer.

I was creatively tapped, I have to admit. The CNF course from GMU pretty much drained me. I was beginning to hate my computer for what it had put me through during the last 6 months. How many words had I read and written over that time? It felt like millions. 

MacBook Air in hand, I headed north.

For a small town (population approx. 3500), Inuvik sure has some big buildings, and some pretty colourful ones, like the smartie-box houses pictured below.

Unfortunately hardly any buildings are restaurants. We ate at the Mackenzie Hotel’s restaurants – the unfortunately named Tonimoe’s (sounds like ptomaine poisoning, or Geronimo’s toes) and the lounge, Shivers.  Thankfully, the food was pretty good (for the most part) because our only other options were KFC, Pizza Hut  and a Lebanese restaurant called The Roost that served Chinese food. There was also “Al Forno” which, by the name you would assume it to be an Italian place, but if you look at the sign, you’ll see it says “Chinese Food”.

Al Forno could’ve promised the best Italian food this side of Tuscany and we still wouldn’t have gone in, I mean check out the building…would you go there?  A little frustrated in the food department,  we asked a local man where to get good food. He recommended the airport. Not a good sign. On a promising note, the old Cafe Gallery has just been taken over by a couple who have renovated it and are trying their best to kick it up a notch with capuccino, lattes, biscotti and panini sandwiches.

I spent a lot of time in the hotel room doing research on Montreal (for Canadian North) and revising my final assignment for GMU. But when I needed a break, I hopped into our rented Suburban and made some quick trips around town to check things out.

Canadian North wanted an article on Inuvik but I wasn’t seeing anything that was grabbing my eye, The igloo church (above), one of the most recognized landmarks in the area, has been written about countless times.

A greenhouse in the Arctic? Looks like Canadian North was going to get a story after all.