the icing on the arctic adventure

April has officially been over for nine days and I have been home for ten very busy days.  I will now share with the you the icing on the cake of my journey to the Arctic.

Going out on the dog sled with Shannon and Amy:

 The team of eight dogs are tied out on the ice.  Two perpendicular chains are staked down and each dog tethered to the chain.

 We rode the skidoo down the hill to the dogs.  In the blue tub is the dogs' dinner...seal!  Yum.  But they didn't get their dinner until after the run.

 The marshmallow-like figure on the left is me.

 The dogs are very friendly and welcoming.  There is a reason people in the north don't wear big glasses...they fogged up all the time with winter gear on.

 

 Shannon and Amy are getting the leads unraveled and ready to go.

 The piece that keeps all the leads together.

 This is the komatik that the dogs pull.  It lives on the ice with the dogs and is made of wood with all the joints being tied together with string.

 

 Shannon instructs me on how to put the dog's harnesses on.  The dog on the right is howling because he is so excited.

 Amy on the back of the komatik as we head away from town down the bay.

 The dog team is in fan formation.  This is the standard style for this part of the arctic.  There are no trees to maneuver around.  The dog team is kind of like taking eight dogs for a walk.

 The dogs got rowdy and started fighting so Shannon had to get them to settle and then untangle them a bit to continue.

 As we headed back to town we had a tea party on the back of the komatik and broke out hot tea and banana bread.  It was amazing!

 This will be one of my favorite memories of the arctic.  We just gently glided across the land...like a magic carpet.

Dog sledding was the perfect end to an awesome, amazing trip.  I had the best hosts you can imagine, met some really cool people and had some really un-imaginable experiences.  What a month. 

The hills and snow have carved a little spot in my heart for the North.  I couldn't inhale enough to take it all in.

I watched as the snow and ice slowly melted below as I flew home.

 Ice breaking apart on the water.

 A frozen river on a frozen land.

 

 And suddenly this is below.

 The clouds were tremendous, so high and so low at the same time.

 Ottawa from the sky.

I was able to spend the night in Ottawa and do a little running around downtown before my flights home the next day.  It was a nice layover, when I walked out of the airport I started pulling off my outerwear and sweating it was so much warmer than what I was acclimated to.  

That night I had a terrible time getting to sleep, which is so unlike me.  I ended up waking up at 4am, not being able to go back to sleep, and watched the entire William and Kate wedding.  I really enjoyed the ceremony.  I thought it was very well said and one of the best I've ever heard.

Spring waited for me and all the blooming things are just now coming out.  I missed all the rain but not the tulips.  It has been a busy few days since coming home but they have all been great things to be here for.  Josiah is home from school now and Sam graduates this Saturday.  It will be so nice to be all together again.  

The garden in full bloom and the house full of brothers is exactly my kind of spring. What a lucky girl I am!