I love this photo, and these two dear girls.
I’ve always had a great appreciation for the how spontaneously wonderful Yellowknife folk can be, and this was reinforced when friend Jenn called me up recently.
J: What are you doing in one hour?
T: I have a work meeting.
J: Well, I’ve chartered a plane and there is a seat for you…
Fortunately the meeting I was supposed to attend was with a fellow Yellowknifer. Others might not quite understand the devastation of missing an opportunity for a sight seeing trip on a Beaver float plane, but my colleague most graciously assured me I needed to be on that plane.
I turns out it wasn’t exactly Jenn who chartered that plane, it was really Hunter, her dog. More formally known as Hunter The Mostly Good Dog. (She is mostly very good, until she is spectacularly not – and herein is the definition of a husky.) Jenn was planning another float plane trip with Hunter (stay tuned, I was on that flight too!) and wanted to make sure Hunter would be entirely good on the plane ride. How better to ensure this than to charter a plane, right? Entirely logical. Entirely Jenn.
I hustled down to the Ahmic Air float plane dock in Back Bay. It was wonderful just sitting by the side of the lake and taking in the scenery while I waited.
View of Back Bay
Ahmic Air Float Plane Base, also known as a dock.
Old Town and Latham Island
Yellowknife Bay, with our place at the far right.
Land of lakes
Our pilot. (Sadly, I wasn’t allowed to fly the plane – something about Transport Canada regulations….)
We flew over old town, and then south, over a land more water than solid ground. There are lakes everywhere.
Eventually we landed at a jewel of a lake, for some reason called City Boy Lake. It was long and deep with a delightful smooth rock island near one end.
The plane tied up to the smooth rock, and spent a pleasant afternoon there. We meandered, threw a couple of fish hooks into the lake, visited, admired flowers, swam, and were sustained by lemon meringue pie and champagne.
This girl knows how to plan a picnic
And The Mostly Good Dog? She was all good. In fact, once she figured out that a float plane is a ticket to adventure, she didn’t want to get off the pontoon. I know just how she feels.
I don’t want to go home!
I’m hoping Jenn buys Hunter her own plane soon. Because what’s a husky without her own plane?
The Song I Live By 
You ladies and the Mostly Good Dog know how to live, but—lemon meringue pie and champagne? I’m not sure about.
Just wanted to let you know the pictures are great for country boi like me ..
I laughed and laughed at the lemon meringue pie. When I was saling from Hawaii to Alaska, we decided we wanted the same thing. But, how could we make the meringue. Well, it was easy enough. We duct-taped a whisk to a cordless drill, and went to work. Voila!
I loved seeing your area from the air. It gives quite a different perspective on the houseboats, as well as the docks, town, etc. I think a float plane would be wonderful. I certainly enjoyed the chance to fly around in the Cessna STOL that our clinic team used in Liberia. The only real danger to it all was buzzing the so-called “air strips” to get the goats and soccer players off so we could land.
Lovely to see you back! I’ve been wondering, but figured you were off on more adventures.
Hi again,
Thanks for the welcome back. I haven’t had much time at my computer at all, and in fact just this week realized I’d missed all these comments! Thanks for not forgetting about me!
On my camping trip this summer, someone make whipped cream with a can of coconut milk and a whisk. It was fantastic, and easy. (It sadly, did not involve a cordless drill, but what a fantastic idea – my friend made a pepper grinder like that 🙂 ). Makes me think I might just do away with buying dairy and stick to that can in the cupboard.
If you want to try it, all you do is drain off the liquid from the can of coconut milk, and whip up the remaining solids. It has a wonderful taste and texture.
I think buzzing the air strip would be so much fun!
I too have been the recipient of one of those “What are you doing in an hour?” calls from Jenn. In my case, I was just signing over to a colleague after a week on call, and the usual response to her question would probably have been “sleeping” or perhaps “packing for my flight home later today.” But instead of doing one of those terribly boring things, I became the lucky participant in yet another amazing Jenn adventure: pike fishing with a gang of friends on Great Slave Lake, including a delicious shore lunch (thanks, Greg Robertson!) A bit of a rush to get to the airport in the end, but well worth it!!
We all need friends like Jenn to keep our life rather spicy and full of fun. Just this week she found and installed a dining room table in my place, while I was away!