Winter Wonderland @ Yellowknife, Canada. Day 2 --- Dog sled and Northern Lights

With a rather late night of (attempted but uneventful) aurora viewing on the previous night, our activity on Day 2 in Yellowknife practically didn't start until the afternoon. On this day, we signed up for dog sledding at Aurora Village.

While waiting for our turn in the long queue, there were several options of what one could do. For lovers of speed, there was an ice slide track. For those preferring not to stay outdoors in -20 degree temperatures, there was always the option of sipping a hot drink in the warmth of a teepee. Quite popular was roasting your own marshmallow with a long wooden branch at the fire pit.

Aurora Village in day-time

Roasting marshmallows

In the queue for dog sledding @ Aurora Village

Waiting for the signal

All set to go

Racing across the snow. It was actually quite a bit faster than I had expected.

In the evening, we wandered into a Chinese restaurant after misreading the map while looking for another place. While I didn't have much expectation of a Chinese restaurant on  the rim of the Arctic, the food there turned out to be not bad at all. When we asked the friendly waiter to recommend a good place for local food, he suggested Bullock's Bistro, which we did try out on our last day in Yellowknife.

After dinner, we waited at our hotel to be picked up to return to Aurora Village for the second time in the day. With a very clear sky, we were all hopeful to see the elusive lights. When the lights finally did appear as a pale veil of green spread across the sky, even though they were not as spectacular as seen on postcards or some photos posted by others on the internet, we had the greatest thrills for seeing them for the first time.

Apart from the aurora, we were treated to a spectacle of stars in the clear sky. For city-dwellers like us, a starry sky is something hard to come by. So, this was actually only the second time ever that I had taken photos of the night sky (the first time being in Tasmania several years ago).

Aurora and stars. Which constellations do you recognize?

The two bears --- Ursa Minor and Ursa Major

Recognize the constellations?

The twins --- Gemini. (With Ursa Major on the left)

How about the constellations in this one?

The Hunter and the Bull (Orion and Taurus). The Pleiades (Seven Sisters Cluster)  in Taurus can also been seen