Flying J's: ᐃᓚᒌᑦ - ilagiit

We spent a fun, fast day on quads and got to see every corner of Iqaluit...Apex, Road to Nowhere, the causeway and way up river. It was Mom's first time on a quad and man, she's a wild woman! :) Apex has a beautiful, quiet bay that is home to the Hudson's Bay buildings, where the Inuit used to trade with European explorers. The Road to Nowhere is a taste of the wide open tundra, with nothing visible for miles and miles. The causeway is where the Sylvia Grinnell River meets the ocean and is a favorite camping/fishing spot for Iqaluimiut in the summer. Our trek up river led us to muddy, rocky trails that extend along the runway and beyond to secret camping spots.

River view with seating for three

Fearing for my life!!! (Haha, just kidding Mom)

Quadding out on the Road to Nowhere...which we discovered, truly leads nowhere

Exploring the tundra out by the airport

Checking out the old Hudson's Bay buildings at Apex

We learned a lot about the narwahl. They are arctic whales that grow a long tooth out of their nose. No one really know the purpose of the tooth, but they are valued at about $100/foot. They are also used in Inuit art. Our trip to the fisherman's freezer found some fresh narwahl from Arctic Bay. Naturally, we had to try it. The fisherman explained that the skin and the blubber are separated by a tough, cartilage-like layer. You're supposed to use your ulu and cut the skin or blubber into "tooth size" pieces and enjoy it raw. This proved to be more difficult than we expected, since our knives are quite dull and we don't have an ulu. Scissors did the trick and we all sampled the raw narwahl. The blubber tasted like chewy lard and literally fell out of my mouth twice because it's so slippery. The narwahl skin had the texture of tofu and mushrooms. We honestly can't describe the taste, other than to say, "It tastes like whale." It's not fishy, not gross, just whale. After sampling the raw whale, we boiled it into soup and enjoyed it with fresh bannock.

This is what the skin of a narwahl looks like...they range in color from white to black and everything in between

Trying to cut the skin and blubber apart "properly"

The whole reason we're out here is to work. Mom was proud to see the plane that Josh is currently flying and learn all about the ins and outs of the Dornier. He sure has upgraded since his Fisher Price toy airplane. She also got to see where I spend most of my time and even got to meet the newest Inuit in Nunavut!