A Trip to Trenton - On the Road to Alert

After a few hours of driving east along the 401, and a couple of u-turns within the city of Trenton, I found myself at the humble Yukon Lodge. The hotel which doubles as the residence office for the military base in Trenton was quite comfortable offering amenities such as a fridge, microwave and access to the internet which is occasionally operational. None of which were much of a concern considering I arrived in Trenton at approximately 11PM and had to arrive at the nearby AMC terminal at 5AM.

Sure enough I wake up, call the local ABC taxi, pay the flat-rate $7 fare and arrive at the AMC at 5AM sharp. A couple of chocolate bars and introductions to fellow passengers flying up to Alert later, we were ready for boarding and proceeding through the security check doors.

Upon completion of the security check we were able to get a glimpse of the air-liner which would take us on our voyage. 7AM rolled along and we received word that our flight had been delayed an hour due to weather conditions. Being familiar with movies such as Alive, we were more than understanding of taking the necessary precautions. An hour rolled by and sure enough we then received word that the entire flight had been delayed for 24 hours and that a shuttle bus would transport those of us heading back to the Yukon Lodge.

After checking back in to the Yukon Lodge and a failed nap attempt I thought I may as well see what downtown Trenton had to offer. I grabbed a pamphlet from the hotel concierge and was on my way west down Dundas past RCAF road. I stopped at a local diner where they were providing a breakfast special for under $5, ka-ching! With some food in my belly I perused the pamphlet a little more and discovered that Trenton was holding a Street-Sale on that day. I decided to check it out and was there early enough to see people setting up their various stands and beat the crowd. After grabbing two pairs of shades for $15 I went to the nearby theatre, aptly name Theatre, to see when the latest Harry Potter was playing. To kill the few hours before the show I stopped at the local bookstore and picked up a couple classics to add to my "To Read List", To Kill a Mockingbird (So far so good), Moby Dick and The Catcher in the Rye. I was able to find Trenton’s surprisingly modern library and spend a few hours there, stopping to watch the occasional HERC fly by.

By noon I was ready to head back to Theatre and picked up my ticket, popcorn and a pop for the amazingly low price of $10! The movie was good but left me with that incomplete feeling that the first Lord of the Rings film did, impressed with the overall plot but wanting to see more.

I made my way to the grocery store on the way back to the Yukon Lodge, stocked up on pizza pops and juice boxes and came across Byron Street, where oddly enough the beer store is located! Next I passed by what is known as an Adult Mobile Home Park (your guess is as good as mine as to what that entails?!)

Back at the Lodge I pretty much vegetated until I could no longer keep my eyes open and repeated the wake up procedure of the previous day.

This time we were successful in our take-off attempt and on our way through a 3.5 hour flight to Iqaluit, the capital city of Nunavut. It may come as a surprise to some people but Iqaluit is actually home to a population of approximately 8000, with the entire territory of Nunavut providing residence to 50,000.

After a slight delay due once again to weather conditions we were on our way to Resolute Bay, a more modest city in northern Nunavut of approximately 800 people, a 2 hour plane trip. The flight went smoothly with a slightly scary landing, the plane appearing to almost tip after catching a gust of wind. Fortunately our pilot was skilled and able to land the plane safely.
The final 2 hour trip from Resolute Bay to Alert went off without a hitch and before we knew it we were greeted by cheering members of the station eager to welcome familiar and unfamiliar faces alike.

In the following post I'll show you around my first few days in Alert including a brief history lesson and other frozen fun. Until next time, keep fit and have fun!

Byron
your source to up north