all of the modern-day visitors who tweet
about the tower or post cellphone pics of it
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
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 certifi cate-carrying
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
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 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.parks
canada.gc.ca/woodbuff alo).
13
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 Pacifi c. Finding
them helps solve one of the world's great
marine mysteries (
www.parkscanada.gc.
ca/franklin).
HMS EREBUS, NU • PARKS CANADA
WOOD BUFFALO NATIONAL PARK, NT • NWTT/PETER MCMAHON
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