SOURTOE COCKTAIL, DAWSON CITY, YT •
GOVERNMENT OF YUKON/JUSTIN KENNEDY
HMS EREBUS, NU • PARKS CANADA
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A DECIDELY DIFFERENT
DRINK: YUKON
More than a century after the Klondike Gold
Rush ended, Dawson City is still a place
where "strange things are done in the
midnight sun." If you want proof—about 40
proof to be precise—head to the Sourdough
Saloon in the Downtown Hotel and order a
Sourtoe Cocktail. The off-beat beverage has
one key ingredient that hip mixologists
tend to overlook—namely a dehydrated
human toe. To become a certificate-carrying
member of the Cocktail Club, you can drink
your shot fast or you can drink it slow, "but
your lips must touch the gnarly toe"
(www.dawsoncity.ca/sourtoe-cocktail-club).
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CELESTIAL SIGHTS:
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Neither words nor pictures can truly convey
the beauty of the aurora borealis, a natural
phenomenon sparked by surges of solar and
magnetic energy. You simply have to see the
iridescent colours dance across the night sky
yourself. An ideal place to see it is the Northwest
Territories, where "the greatest light show on
Earth" is visible about 240 days a year. The
absence of light pollution in Wood Buffalo
National Park—Canada's largest national
park and the world's largest Dark Sky
Preserve—creates top viewing opportunities
from mid-August to mid-March
(www.parkscanada.gc.ca/woodbuffalo).
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SINKING SENSATIONS:
NUNAVUT
Nunavut doesn't make headlines often, but
in 2014 the news went viral: after 168 years,
the HMS Erebus—one of the ships from the
ill-fated Franklin Expedition—had been
discovered in its icy waters by Parks Canada
archaeologists. The feat was repeated in 2016
when her sister ship, the HMS Terror was
located. Sir John Franklin, his crew and both
vessels disappeared in 1846 while trying to
traverse the Northwest Passage—and gain a
lucrative trade route between the Atlantic
and Pacific. Finding them helps solve one
of the world's great marine mysteries
(www.parkscanada.gc.ca/franklin).
NORTHERN LIGHTS, AURORA, NT • SHUTTERSTOCK/MARSZETA
