A Day Of Firsts

Welcome to another fun-filled installment at the Polar Lounge. This entry is particularly exciting because there were a few "firsts" for us this weekend. We ended up going camping on Saturday with about 12 other teachers near a picturesque part of the river. Even though there's no trees here, the tundra is still changing colour and you can see four small waterfalls cascading one after another about every half a mile if you look at the river just right.

Melanie picking a few blueberries in front of the winding river.

After packing the school’s red half ton truck up with our supplies, we all pilled in the back and set off. That’s right, all 12 of us had to fit in one truck and hold on for dear life while bouncing along a small tundra trail meant for four wheelers and snow machines. At first the ride was a little terrifying with the wind whipping at us from all directions, but soon we learned to lean into the bounces and before we knew it, we arrived at our drop-off point.

From this point forward we would have to carry all our supplies about a kilometer to the camping spot. We were all loading ourselves up with tents, backpacks and duffel bags when something completely unexpected happened. It began to snow.

It was a little rough getting our supplies to the campsite and setting up amidst intermittent flurries and extreme gusts of wind. With everyone helping out it didn't take us too long to get all the tents up and get a fire going. Just as we were finishing the wind broke, the snow stopped falling and clouds decided to leave us alone.

With the hauling and the setting up out of the way, it was time to start making supper. As we were cooking and I was enjoying the view of the river, one of our new friends, Inga, pointed out movement on the other side of the bank. It took me a couple of seconds to realize what it was, but as they turned and moved away from us I could just make out the tell-tale antlers of wild caribou. Unfortunately they left a little too quickly for me to get a picture, but that didn't matter because supper was almost ready!

A little Cookin'

Means good eatin'

After a fantastic meal, some great stories and a lot of laughs, the stars came out and we were all treated to some of the best aurora borealis that I’ve ever seen. I tried to take some pictures of them for you, but our camera’s shutter speed doesn’t go low enough to capture them properly. In any case, the rest of the night turned out to be a fantastic time of eating junk and swapping stories and we all went to bed full and happy.



We got back early Sunday feeling refreshed from the much needed social outing. Now it’s time to prepare for work, I'm afraid, and then go to bed. It’s a school night, after all.

Markus