Spectacularnwt – A Pursuit of Life – Barefoot& High Heeled

NWT – Beach Vibes On The Shores Of The Great Slave Lake

Northwest Territories, sun, sand, beach, and fall weather – I love all of those things. The NWT continually has unique beauty on offer. Summer comes to an end so fast here. When she goes, she goes. It’s essential to enjoy as much of the sunshiny outdoors and beach weather as possible before the Arctic freeze takes over.

So a sunny warm day in September, means it has to be enjoyed!

My hometown of Hay River is situated on the Great Slave Lake, the tenth largest lake in the world.

At first glance you may think the water looks a little murky, being brown and stuff… But it’s as fresh as they come, being a fresh water lake, and the fishing is fantastic. The water can be chilly, but us Northerner’s are used to it, and our blood has no problem adjusting. Really though, it’s not bad at all. Once you hop in it only takes a minute to adjust.

Now even though there is also a very large amount of driftwood, don’t let that deter you either.

The more driftwood the bigger the beach bonfires.

I love when myself and friends get together and crack some cold ones on the beach while enjoying the crackling of a bonfire.

I would call it pure soul food. It always varies with the drift wood situation, sometimes there is loads, other times not so much.

It was a stunning autumn day – warm, sunny, calm winds, absolute perfect day to enjoy some outdoor bliss. Not to mention I had scheduled a date with myself. You know, epic ‘me time’, where I bask in my own awesome company, and re-charge.

One of my favorite past times. It also gives me the opportunity to reflect, and get my creative juices flowing. I decided what better place to go then to the beach on such a miraculous fall day.

The water was ridiculously calm, not too cold, and the sun was as bright and lovely as a ever. I brought my blanket, and had some chill time. It was truly blissful. I have a massive appreciation for this part of the world. Perhaps I am a bit biased because this is my home, but it speaks for itself really.

My awesome energy was once again on full form so I could venture back into the world and share it with as many people as possible. Taking time for yourself is a gift that everyone deserves. Not to mention, taking that time to appreciate the beauty you have surrounding you exactly where you are. So what are you waiting for?! Get out here and enjoy some of that epic ‘me time’. You should also plan a trip to the alluring Northwest Territories.

Solo Road Tripping – How To Be Awesome On a Long Ass Drive

Recently I once again undertook the long ass drive from Calgary, Alberta to Northwest Territories. Having spent the most of year in Calgary, being awesome as planned, it’s coming to fall, which is one of my favorite times of year to be back home in Northwest Territories. The leaves start to change color, mother nature surrounds you like a beautiful painting full of stunning orange hues, and I can wear a few more layers of style. It’s just darn wonderful. Seeing as how it’s coming up time for me to head back to Mallorca, Spain, home time in the NWT is exactly where it’s at for me right now. How lucky am I to live this awesome life that I get to split up between my favorite places. Although, I created my life to be this way, and it’s possible for anyone.

Now usually the drive the from Calgary to my hometown in the Northwest Territories is about 14 hours, but I had decided to take my sweet ass time and stop to see any appealing sights along the way – so this time around it turned into a hard 22 hours. Hard, but enjoyable. I love my road trips, it’s the best time to have epic ‘me time‘, bask in my own awesome company and crank my tunes while taking in all the scenery. I just make the most of every situation life gives me.

I embarked on my journey at around 8:30AM, a tad later then planned, but only because I may have enjoyed an epic wine fueled laugh session with a couple of friends the previous evening. As if you can leave a place with out spending time with your peeps. It was way to much darn fun. Totally worth it. The late start and the sore head. I grabbed fuel for my car, and then fuel for myself from Starbucks, and I was on the road once again.

Calgary to Edmonton goes by pretty fast it’s only 3 hours, and with the highways being so busy between the two, it’s a breeze. Just outside Edmonton located by the little town of Devon, is the Devonian Gardens. I have driven by them for so many years with the intention of stopping, but previously when I tried it was always just out of season, and was closed. This time around, it was in season, and open! So I pulled on in and was ready for the ‘garden experience’ I had so long awaited.

I truly was blown away by this gem of a botanical gardens, they were much more then I expected.

They have loads of different area’s from wet lands, to rose gardens, a butterfly area,

All the way to Japanese zen gardens, just to name a few.

I was in heaven! I love nature, and this nature hideaway happened to be lush, immaculately maintained and smelled absolutely divine.

It was the best pit stop ever to fill my soul with awesomeness for the rest of the trip. Although I ended up spending a couple of hours there, so it absolutely lengthened my trip. Well worth it though! You could spend all day in there.

Seeing as how by time I left the botanical gardens it was already near 3 in the afternoon, there really weren’t a lot of other places to pull into as they would all be closing. I continued on my merry way cranking my tunes, and just taking it all in. I always have so much going on in my little imaginative mind, that rarely do I ever get bored.

I stop for tea and coffee quite often too, I usually always like to have a tea on the go. I was in absolutely no rush, I was literally just going with the awesome flow. After driving North for the rest of the day, past plenty of farm land, rain storms, and quaint little towns, I finally arrived to High Level, Alberta at around midnight.

High Level is the last little town in Northern Alberta before you arrive to the NWT, and from there it is about a 3 hour drive to my home town. It’s the home stretch from then on in. Seriously though, all this dilly dallying around was starting to catch up, and 2 hours away from home I decided to pull over and take a power nap. I don’t believe in forcing yourself to stay awake, it only brings on accidents if you happen to fall asleep at the wheel. If your on a road trip and you get tired, just freaken pull over. Not to mention, it was a full moon out and it was looking ridiculously appealing. My windshield offered the perfect front row seat to bask in the glow of the full moon. I always have a blanket and pillow with me, so I am fully prepared in case I need a nap.

Cozy as heck, I ended up snoozing for 4 hours! I clearly needed it though. I woke up and it was light out, so I hit the highway. It wasn’t long before I made it to the NWT border.

Tired, grubby and rough on the exterior, but just as happy as always to see that beauty of a sign.

Between High Level, and Hay River(where I was heading) there is a place called Indian Cabins. A random shop in the middle of nowhere that sells off sale liquor, gas, snacks.

I was hoping for coffee, but it wasn’t open yet. I was able to have a good laugh at myself though, because the last time I was there, I got locked in this very outhouse at -30 degree Celsius weather.

Yes, it was freaken cold! And Snowy when it all went down.

Not the most amazing experience of my life. Trust me though, I learned some very valuable lessons and even wrote an article about it.

3 Steps To Take When Your Locked In An Out House. Only me, only freaken me…..

Have a peak at the video blog I posted about my road trippin’ adventures while your here.

Not gonna lie, I was pretty darn excited when I finally arrived home! I loved every minute of that road trip, but I was also ready for it to be done 22 hours later.

So ladies and gentlemen, if your looking to be awesome on a long ass drive, may I suggest to stop and smell the flowers, just go with the awesome flow of it all, crank your tunes, sing your little heart out, and be open to whatever may come your way. As they say(still trying to figure out who they are?!) – It’s not always about the destination, it’s the journey along the way.

Snow, and the shoes for the occasion.

Winter time entertainment. It come is all forms, shapes and sizes. I love a good ol’ winter adventure sesh, especially when you find yourself amidst a beautiful balmy winter day. Not to mention in the stunning Northwest Territories region of Canada. It’s not uncommon to find temperatures dipping down to -50c in January/February, yes freeze your limbs right off kinda weather, so -22 was feeling like a Arctic summer dream. I always say, once you get past -30c, its just friggen cold, and the number of it no longer matters.

That is where my fire place comes in handy, oh yes, a nice toasty warm fire. I get that bad boy blazing in the winter, so when you come in from the ridiculously cold conditions, and need to thaw your lungs since the air pretty much froze in there – your house is like a oven sent from heaven! I absolutely adore it. It’s a winter pleasure for sure. Every season has its perks, no matter what, you can always make the most of any situation, and this is an example of me looking on the the bright side of any circumstance.

Being a balmy winter day, my friend Krystina and myself decided that we needed to get out and enjoy some time with mother nature and all her winter glory. Gosh, its damn stunning out here in the winter. Sheer winter blanket beauty coating all the tree’s and landscape. So I kicked off my high heels, covered my bare feet and we dawned the best shoes for the wintry occasion, which happen to be none other then, snowshoes, and we hit the trails at the golf course just outside town, in Hay River, NWT.

Literally I hadn’t gone snowshoeing since high school, which was quite awhile ago now…. I mean at the very least it was 16 years since I had a pair on – which made this little excursion extra exciting. Not that snowshoeing is a great level of difficulty, its just a nice, relaxing form of winter exercise.

Once we got out there and got ourselves together, it was GO time! Initially it was feeling cold ass out there with the wind chill. Even through my 3 pairs of socks my toes were feeling frozen, but we trooped on. Knowing that once we got our blood pumping we would warm up.

It really didn’t take long before frozen toe syndrome was a thing of the past.

The trails at the Hay River Golf Course are very well done. Full of snow shoe and cross country skiing tracks.

It’s apparent that these are pretty popular winter sports from all those tracks. We were in awe of the winter wonderland-esque beauty that we were surrounded by. Totally engulfed in it.

There wasn’t the best path markings, and we did get lost in and amongst it all for awhile, not in a bad way though, in an adventurous way. As any good traveler knows, “It’s not always the destination that’s important, its the journey along the way”. Oh, and we did at one point find our way, or should I say, ‘Ricardo’s Way‘, so we followed the snowy brick road.

It was so peaceful, calm and serene. At many parts the snow was being blown off the branches giving the effect as if it was snowing. There was another area where there were birds chirping, and squirrels playing. It was majestic to say the least.

In the end we covered just shy of 6 km of distance, and killed a few hours, enjoying every moment, stopping to bask in the endless splendor, playing background music(when my phone was actually working), and held up trees….

Oh, come on now, who doesn’t like to spend some time holding up a pine tree?!

I say when my phone was working because the darn thing kept freezing and shutting off on me….. So I would stick in my shirt and un-thaw it. It’s not as though I have loads down there, so there was plenty of room for it. Worked like a charm I tell yah. Iphones clearly aren’t built to brave arctic winter conditions, but she did well considering. We even had icecycles on our hair and eyelashes.

Being awesome kept us warm though. It never fails.

We knew we found base again when we came into view of the club house.

Yes we were melting with enthusiastic joy of our accomplishment of the day.

Another afternoon of rocking my little world, and doing so with the epic company of a life long friend. It was a breath of fresh scenic air, and a bonding event with mother nature herself. So if your feeling like a nice chilled little winter adventure, slap on some snow shoes, grab a good friend, and get your asses out there.

I am already preparing for round two before I leave my Northern homeland, this time busting out cross country skis. Let’s put our best foot forward. Happy winter days!

Sports fishing like a rockstar at a remote NWT fishing lodge.

So what do you do when you are invited on a fishing trip of a lifetime up high in Northern Canada?! Well….. YOU GO! You freaken go. So off I went. The destination was Sandy Point Fishing Lodge on Gordon Lake, NWT. A wonderful place full of lake Trout just waiting to be reeled in. The adventure began in Yellowknife, NWT – Where we we were to hop on an Air Tindi float plane and hit the skies en route to the lake.

After packing my bags, and having a late night of live tunes on the beach back in Hay River, NWT, I packed up my car and cruised on outta there at 6 am to undertake the 5 hour drive to Yellowknife to get to the Air Tindi airport for our 12:30pm departure. Tired? Yes extremely. Was the love music worth it?! Heck yes! Missing this trip of a lifetime?! I think not!

Awaiting my arrival at the Air Tindi float base was my fabulous friend Michelle. Just as eager and excited for the fishing excursion as I was. We were exuding it completely.

The float plane ride itself was something I was looking forward to. Having only been on a float plane once before in my life, and that was about 20 years ago, it’s still quite the novelty. So that being said, it was like a first time all over again.

Like a kid in a candy store. It was fun though, and I loved every second of it. The flight was only about 30 minutes. 30 minutes of pure bliss on the ol’ eyeballs.

Any of you who read my posts previously, know that I have a massive soft spot for my home turf of Northwest Territories – It has an untouched beauty like none other. An endless feast for the eyes.

As per usual, I went on this trip with no expectations, nor even a small mental picture of what this lodge was going to look like like. That didn’t matter though, I already knew in my gut that it was going to be absolutely incredible. I love adventures like that. When you have no expectations, because it always turns out even that much better then you could have ever imagined anyways.

Hello Sandy Point Lodge!!

Serene, tranquil, stunning, and blissful, are just a few words I would use to describe my initial feel and impression of the spectacular place. Ok, and let’s not forget, undeniably freaken amazing!!! This trip was already rocking my world.

The Cabins are very well put together, super clean, welcoming, and comfortable. All the luxuries and amenities you could want while in the middle of the real rugged North Country, and a little more.

Just up the beach is the main lodge, where you can hang out, bask in the view, and enjoy all the delectable home cooked meals that are prepared and served by the on site chef.

He really did create some darn delicious eats and treats. And had an array of them awaiting us when we got there.

After we all had to sign our waivers and listened to the orientation of how we were to undertake navigating the lake, and catching our prized lake trout, we were ready for action.

Accompanied by Brandon, our incredibly helpful and knowledgeable guide for the afternoon, we got geared up and onto the boat.

Once we were good to go, we cruised out to find a prime location where they knew there would be fish, enjoying the stunning scenery along the way.

Received a run down of how to do everything.

Then it was our turn. We attached our bait, and dropped our lines.

Oh and let’s not forget – it was a MUST to crack a cold one.

Well I suppose we didn’t really drop our lines, more like pulled out line 40 arm lengths of line, and let it go into the depths.

For some reason lake trout love me?! And I was getting bite after bite. Well I can’t blame them, I do drop some mighty fine bait.

But seriously, every time I dropped my line, within minutes I had another bit. I was loving life!!! A fisher women’s dream.

It’s not out of the ordinary to catch 25 pounders plus!

This time around though we were only getting the 5 pounders. Although they were still little beauty’s. Sometimes though, these cheeky little lake Trout, would just nibble on our bait! Leaving there little jaw’s of life marks.

After hours of fishing like rock stars, we went back to the lodge for dinner with the crew, and then decided it was time to hot tub! As if things couldn’t get more epic… We had a hot tub that had a 360 degree view of pure paradise.

Michelle and I made a few towel wrapped runs to top up on Vino. Just when you think you grabbed enough – it was suddenly all gone! Hot tub party rockers, and we made good use of the hot tub until we were all pruned up. It was one of those times when you just never want to get out. Until you realize it’s almost 3 am.

Day 2 started off just ridiculously awesome. Baileys and coffee back in the Lodge with a spectacular view. A treat for the eyes, and a party in our mouths.

Being trained up so well by Brandon the day before, our confidence was at its max, and Michelle and I took out our own boat for some rock star fishing adventures.

Things were motoring along quite amazingly, and then I had a bite!! Oh heck yes!

After proudly reeling in my prize and deciding he was a beauty to keep – all my excitement turned in to sheer horror upon realizing we forgot the wacking tool, and the paddles were too long and awkward, and my little fish friend was suffering. That’s exactly the moment my animal loving instincts kicked in(I even let spiders out of my house), and I started panicking. ‘Oh my god, he is suffering!’ as I jumped around the boat looking for something to get the job done swiftly and quickly. ‘This is inhumane!’, ‘I love animals!’, ‘I can’t watch him suffer!’, ‘ I am sorry fish! I meant for this to be a lot quicker!’, were just some of the things I was borderline squeezing, in an on the edge of hysterical tone. In the mean time everyone on the other boats could only see two ladies freaking out with their catch, and each one of them grabbing the radio’s to say, ‘Come on girls, use the paddle!!’ Finally, Michelle was able to get the job done with a paddle.

Horrified and relieved at the same time, we thought maybe our fishing was finished for the day and decided to slowly make our way back to the lodge. I couldn’t help but laugh my ass off at myself, and my nature loving instinct reaction. After the fact it provided some good laughs! Too bad I didn’t have that on camera. Would have been a knee slapper for freaken sure.

Soooo, let’s just head back and get ready for dinner shall we?!

Back at the lodge after dinner, one of the guests notice a bear across the water. It was all alarms sounding. Time to be ‘Bear-aware’. It was only going to be a matter of time before the bear made his way over. He would absolutely follow his nose. With that, it meant – no hot tubbin’. Dang! Oh well, plan B it was then. Time for a good ol’ shindig around the bonfire.

The whole group of us were out there, endlessly laughing, and also playing some campfire games. Who doesn’t love a campfire game?

Todd was on bear watch to protect the camp.

And yes, later on into the evening the bear did show up, but was spotted right away, and Troy was able to scare him off, and the party continued.

Feeing pretty spent by day 3 we didn’t end up making it out for a last fishing excursion. Instead we just enjoyed the beautiful day at camp until our afternoon flight back to YK.

The scenery on the flight back to Yellowknife, was equally as breath taking as the way there.

That trip was not only a massive check off my list in life, as I always wanted to goto a remote fishing lodge, but Sandy Point Lodge gets 5 stars from me for sure. With incredible staff, outstanding amenities, world class fishing, and stunning scenery, I would book another trip there in a heartbeat and recommend it to anyone and everyone looking for a trip of a lifetime experience.

Now it was time to haul ass back to Hay River to pack up for my next adventure. Road trippin’ across British Columbia. Let’s go!!

Tunes, Culture and Community fun at Aboriginal Days.

It was a beauty of a long weekend. On Saturday we headed over to the Hay River Dene Reserve for the Aboriginal Day festivities, to enjoy some cultural fun. It was such a stunning day with loads of sunshine, perfect for the events. It’s so awesome to go and check out these community events, it always ends up being a fabulous little social adventure, and it’s just so nice to see and connect with people out enjoying themselves.

We went straight in to check out the live music that was happening. I love any sort of jam session or live music events, no matter where in the world I am, so this was no different. Having the opportunity to hear some of my favorite local musicians was just another reason I wanted to go to the Aboriginal days. Nothing like some good tunes and local talent to get the ol’ toe tapping going. After swayin my hips and tappin’ my toes for a bit, we made our way out to get some fresh fire cooked bannock.You can’t go to the reserve and not have Bannock?! It’s a traditional aboriginal staple, and something I grew up on as a child, not to mention – of course they will have the best bannock out here, made by someone who has lifelong experience making it. Celine was a little rockstar! We had to dig right in, it looked way to darn good; and it was way too darn good! As did everyone else. Just look at that sheer bannock happiness exuding from his face. Delicious and greasy though(as any good bannock is), but this was not the opportune moment for this dilemma…. Nope, not when there is no napkins on or near me and no place to wash my hands. Dang, I was a bit greasy, and it made picture taking difficult. Long behold though, there was the lake! The Great Slave Lake to be exact. And it worked like a water filled lake charm. Back in business. None sticky business that is – No one is a fan of sticky business. It was worth every bite though!

Out back they had some canoe races going on – and one heck of scenic view. It needed a basking in. So I did just that. I basked in it, and it was awesome. I so love the Native paintings and art work, they are absolutely beautiful, I could have easily bought one of those. However, it was this little stunner of a purse that caught my eye. It literally reeled me right in and hooked me. I didn’t even think twice about it. When you know, you know. Not only was it beautifully hand crafted, but Georgina the women who made it was a beauty herself. It had Petrena written all over it! You could see the love that went into it, and I love supporting the locals everywhere I am. It checked all the boxes. The best purchase ever! Well one of them, that’s for darn sure.

We made sure to grab some Zen in the tee-pee while we were out and about as well. When in rome! Or in this case, ‘When on the reserve’. How can you not?

Every time I went past the bannock table, they were cooking something new on the fire. It was amazing, and all just for anyone and everyone who wanted to enjoy it. That is true community event style. It was shaping up to be a pretty awesome day. Got to chat with loads of people, get to know more of the locals, enjoy some local eats and treats, and take home a piece of art that also has cultural history.

Wait! I forget to mention something.

I wouldn’t be me, if I wasn’t forever prepared for anything and a little more. So, obviously I would never leave home without my backstage pass. So I figured I would flash that bad boy and see where it got me. Yup it worked like a dream. I was right back there with the band. No big deal, it’s just how I roll. Culture, Community, History, and Art all in one day. Don’t you just love when you find everything your looking for all in one place?

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