Sunday, June 9, 2013

the new Wild West


It's garage sale season, dictated mostly by the dates when the teachers leave town rather than by weather. In Cambridge Bay, garage sales are literally in the garage, because nothing would last long in 60km/hr winds and freezing rain.
More significantly, when there isn't freezing rain, our little Arctic community has transformed lately from a winter wonderland to a dusty town right out of a Western movie.  I feel like I should be trading in my Canada Goose parka for a pair of cowboy boots.  I'm half-expecting to see tumbleweed roll across the dirt roads. I'm half-expecting to see a gun fight break out between the County Sheriff and an outlaw. Instead of riding horses, though, the locals ride ATVs.  If only Sergio Leone could have made use of this unique setting for one of his movies...

 It's a losing battle against the dust in this town