When in the North, it is advisable to have a warm hotel room. But this is ridiculous. I’m staying at what I am referring to as the small q, Quality Inn in Yellowknife. It is near where I am working and it has a restaurant in the mall next door where I can get breakfast at a reasonable price.

I really do love the North, the people, the landscape, and the ruggedness of living here. This is not for the faint of heart. Long dark cold nights just to begin. Then there’s the cost of living here, the social issues that are in front of you everywhere in the city, and the distance to a larger center.

My room at the Inn leaves something to be desired, including a constant heat of 27C in the room. Yeah – a VERY warm room. I’ve slept on top of the bed the past two nights. Nighttime temperatures haven’t been too bad, -25 or so. But inside, wow, it’s been hot.

And while I didn’t need it, there’s a version of AC on the wall, with a pull string for turning it on and off.

I’ve been to Yellowknife many times. I used to come here two or three times a year, and it was on my way to Iqaluit when I travelled there. In fact, my nephew Noah had, and maybe still does, many postcards that I sent from here and other places in the North.

This is prime tourist season in Yellowknife with busloads of visitors from Japan in particular. Northern Lights, snowmobiles, travelling the ice road and more are all part of the experience.

And then there’s the ice castle, built out on Great Slave Lake!

March is bringing warmer days, longer hours of sunlight, and the end of ice road. So if you’re going to enjoy this, then this is the best time to be here.

Tomorrow I head home and I don’t expect to ever be back.