NURSES OF THE NORTH: May 2015

Dear Followers,

They say third time is a charm. They were right! Inuvik definitely has a way of drawing you back. We don’t know if it’s the cold weather, the expensive alcohol and groceries or our huge credit card bills but we've returned. In all honestly, it’s the people and experience that bring us back.
We arrived for our third time in Inuvik on March 31st. Yes, we know. We are slacking in the blog department. In fact, we are currently sitting in an Edmonton hotel on route home. We realized we couldn’t end another trip without saying a few words.

Although we spend most of our time working, we always manage to get up to some fun adventures and leave with some interesting stories.

On our first trip to Inuvik we were able to put our nursing skills to work on the plane when we helped an injured passenger. This time Erin was the passenger needing to be helped. That’s the last time she will be eating a Tim Horton’s breakfast sandwich. It’s not very fun having food poisoning on the plane and projectile vomiting on a flight attendant. Luckily the flight attendant had a bag in her hands to catch most of it! TMI? Ewwwwww. If that wasn’t the worst part, they accused Erin of being drunk or with child and called for a doctor/nurse overhead. The only good part of the ordeal was being able to get off the plane first in order to check in with the paramedics who were waiting at the gate. A little extreme for food poisoning don’t you think?

We arrived in Inuvik to bright skies and nice weather. We couldn’t believe it! The last time we came it was cold and dark. The weather this time ranged from -5 to +5. Even more amazing was how much daylight there was. For most of the time in Inuvik the sun rose at 530am and set at 12am. We don’t even remember when the last time was that we saw darkness. We didn’t think we would miss it until we were leaving a bar at 12am. Sunglasses serve a dual purpose. They protect your eyes from the sun and also hide your drunk eyes from onlookers ;) During this time of year one hour of sunlight is gained each week until it reaches 24 hours of daylight. Apparently, you can still suntan at 3am in the summer. Talk about screwing up your circadian rhythm. It’s a good place to be an insomniac.

In our previous visits we had the chance to drive along the Mackenzie ice highway. This time we were able to do some ski-dooing along the ice highway which was amazing! Ski-dooing in the north is quite a big deal. It seems that most residents own and regularly drive a skidoo. Ski-dooing is a big sporting event here, with high bets and big money to win. Our friends from work were nice enough to trust us with their skidoos and took us out for the afternoon. It’s very easy to get carried away with speed. Our parents would be happy to know that we wore helmets. Next time we will brush up on our hand signals because apparently STOP, to Virginia, was interpreted as a friendly wave as she zoomed past. It was an awesome day! Thanks Meegan and Judy.

Towards the end of our stay in Inuvik, the snow and ice were melting and the ice road was closed. Some people however, still liked to push the boundaries and would venture out onto the ice road, driving with their doors open and seat belts off in case they had to jump out. This can make for a busy emergency room.

Each time that we come up here it has felt more and more like home. We are making more friends and have been able to do more things. Another friend of ours (shout out to Andrew) took us to the outdoor shooting range so we could try out his guns. Can’t say that our aim is that good but by the end we were each able to put a bullet in a pop can. Impressive, we know. Between the skidoo racing and gun shooting we definitely got an adrenaline rush.

All right then, that’s it folks, for this addition of Nurses of the North. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we've enjoyed writing it. Although we seem to suck at making ourselves sit down and write one. Netflix, work and northern adventures always seem to win over blog writing. Truth be told, we are also starting to run out of things to say.
We are both looking forward to getting home and enjoying the spring weather in Toronto. As Dorothy said, there is no place like home. If only it was as easy as clicking our heals!

Until next time………and there will be a next time :)

Virginia and Erin