Bye Bye Birdie...er...Baker

12 hours.

Looking back at Baker form the lake

The countdown stands at just under 12 hours from now, and when that hits zero, the Nunavut chapter of my (and Pepper's) life will come to an end and I will be touching down in Toronto (Lily's will last a while longer). While I am very excited to come back to Ontario and see friends and family again, part of me is still in denial about my impending departure. It's really hard to believe that everything we've experienced, the friends we've made, the challenges we've overcome...all of this is almost over. Granted, the friendships we've forged will last well beyond our time here, and we now have some amazing stories to tell our families, including ones that were much too inappropriate to mention on our blog. :-)

I say that I'm in denial, but really, it's just hard to fathom how quickly the past two years have passed. With all of our belongings gone, the house is now virtually empty. As I type this, I'm sitting on the couch, as my office chair was donated recently. All the little accents that make a house a home - photos, paintings, plants, decorations, etc. - are all winding their way back to Ontario already. For those of you who have us on Facebook, you know that our next stop after a brief reunion back home is Alberta. We're both really excited for this new chapter in our lives, and we know our families are much happier, now that we'll be much closer to hospitals, and more importantly, closer to them. It's also a heck of a lot cheaper to travel West than it is here.

There's lots I'm going to miss here, not least of which is the beautiful sunsets, which as of late, are happening shortly after midnight.

Midnight sun setting...

There's also the silence. Nowhere else that I've lived has there ever been such absolute silence at night. I should point out though, that I'm speaking of winter. Now that daylight is near-constant, the roar of ATV's can be heard well into the wee hours of the morning.

Mini-van of the north

The Northern lights....spectacular. I may never see them again, but witnessing them up here was the experience of a lifetime.

Northern Lights over Baker Lake

Anyway, we are really thankful that all of you have enjoyed our blog, and followed our exciting journey in the North. Wherever we end up, we will aim to keep you in the loop like always.


-J