Yellowknife, NWT

I spent 4 days in Yellowknife.  The name Yellowknife originated from a local Dene tribe known as the Yellowknives Dene, who used copper-bladed or yellow knives.  Yellowknife became the capital of the NWT in 1967.  Ironically, Yellowknife is the diamond capital of North America.

Continuing the odd weather this year, according to the rangers and locals I've spoken with, it has rained every day for a month and it never rains this time of year.  Which really put a damper on my aurora viewing.

I drove the Ingraham Trail Highway 4 one night to the very end where the ice road starts in winter, to try to see the Northern Lights.  That was my first viewing.  There wasn't much to see on the way out, or back, but the full moon was pretty.  Unfortunately, the only picture of the lights I was able to get looked like static.








I had dinner one night at the Bullocks Bistro, famous for their fresh fish from the Great Slave Lake  Side note - Yellowknife has such a large Asian tourist population, this restaurant had the menu in at least 6 different Asian languages.

Ragged Ass Road - A short, unpaved residential street in Yellowknife's Old Town, was named by the late Lou Rocher, who owned property along it at the time.  A poor prospecting season left Rocher and friends "ragged ass broke" and the street name was born.

Fireweed Studio:  Once a blacksmith shop at the Giant Mine site, this small cabin was constructed in 1938 and designated a historic building in 1996.

 Built in 1937, the Wildcat Cafe thrived on the business of bush pilots, prospectors and other early settlers of the Yellowknife area.  By 1939, it became the city's first ice cream emporium.

I did a little grocery shopping while I was here.  The market had a surprisingly huge produce department; nice produce; some overpriced, some not so bad.

Here is something I thought was funny - I saw this sign and pondered what it meant -

It was a cattle guard in the road!