Issue link: http://read.canadatravelguides.ca/i/809166
to Facebook and Instagram owe a debt to another trail-blazing Italian, Guglielmo Marconi. The radio pioneer ushered in the era of global communications when he received the fi rst transatlantic wireless signal here on December 12, 1901 ( www. parkscanada.gc.ca/signalhill). 11 CRAZY COCKTAILS: 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 certifi cate-carry- ing member of the Cocktail Club, you can drink your shot fast or you can drink it slow, "but your lips have gotta touch the toe" ( www.downtownhotel.ca/sourtoe- cocktail). 12 LIGHT DELIGHTS: 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 do 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 Buff alo National Park— Canada's largest national park and the world's largest Dark Sky Preserve— creates top viewing opportunities from mid-December to mid-March ( www.parkscanada.gc.ca/wood buff alo). 13 THAT SINKING FEELING: 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 Pacifi c. Finding them helps solve one of the world's great marine mysteries ( www.parkscanada.gc.ca/ franklin). SIGNAL HILL, ST. JOHN'S NL • SHUTTERSTOCK/CHRIS HOWEY HMS EREBUS, NU • PARKS CANADA WOOD BUFFALO NATIONAL PARK, NT • PARKS CANADA/JOHN D. MCKINNON 15