Nixy north of sixty...again

We are back with another post about our visitor-filled month!

Three days after Theresa left, we found ourselves back at the ever-familiar Yellowknife Airport to pick up Rashaad’s family. His parents and niece (who you may remember visited us

- yes, she got to visit in both winter and summer! How lucky!) made the journey up for one week to see the sights and visit with us.

After they arrived, we went for a beautiful walk on a warm, sunny day on Tin Can Hill so they could see the lake and Old Town from afar (and Anyka - AKA Nixy - tried out some geocaching), we followed this up with a delicious welcome BBQ.

On Sunday, we woke up to grey skies (usually a rarity here!), but decided to head out down the Ingraham Trail to Cameron Falls for a hike. You may remember our

to the falls back in March that were frozen and snow covered. This time the snow was melted and the falls were flowing, but the water level was low (we are in a drought up here!). As we finished up our hike, the sun started to peak out from behind the clouds - perfect for the picnic lunch we had planned at the Yellowknife River day-use area.

Our picnic was lovely (complete with s’mores), but the wind and cold air would just not let up! We finished up our picnic quite quickly and headed back into town.

The rest of their time here involved Rashaad and Vanessa working a lot, so they ventured around town to all the sights on their own on most days. They ate lots of food, walked a lot, and met ALL of the local shop employees. They hit up the usual sights that we have mentioned before on this blog… Northern Frontiers Visitor’s Centre, Prince of Wales Heritage Centre, Legislative Assembly (where they said they had an awesome tour!), Pilot’s Monument, local shops and galleries, etc.

Vanessa took them on a longer hike around Frame Lake one day before work. They got to see all of the beautiful lookouts of downtown Yellowknife and experience hiking on the rugged, rocky terrain.

We also hit up the Yellowknife Farmer’s Market on Tuesday evening and had a lovely time walking around between booths and eating in the park.

Rashaad treated his dad to an early Father’s Day gift - a 9-hole round of golf at the Yellowknife Golf Club. This is a unique northern experience for golfers. The course is mostly sand… With greens and tee boxes being the only grass. You carry around a little mat with you that you place under your ball each time you take a stroke, except for in the designated “sand bunkers”. Quite an experience! They were even hosting a midnight sun golf tournament the next night (golfing all night long!).

On their last night in town, they took us out to eat at the historical Wildcat Cafe in Old Town. It is the oldest restaurant in Yellowknife and is owned by the city. Every year different local restauranteurs get to take their hand at running it for the short 3 month summer season. It was delicious and we loved the atmosphere!

We were up before the crack of dawn (okay, not really because it never gets completely dark here right now) to take them back to the airport! We believe they thoroughly enjoyed their time in Yellowknife, both with us and exploring the city (they kept telling us this even after they departed). I think they now have an appreciation for how beautiful the north is!