Our first month in Yellowknife (October, 2015) was quite the whirlwind! We lived out of our tiny car and tiny cabin for another week and a half after our arrival, started our new jobs, explored our new city, had to purchase absolutely everything to outfit our new 600 square foot apartment and then had to build all the new furniture. Oh, and it was an interesting twist to have to order things without a true mailing address (which didn’t exist until several months after moving to Yellowknife). Oh, and then we had two and a half weeks to settle in before we were sent to Dallas, Texas for professional development training!

Despite the craze of moving our lives across the country, it wasn’t long before we were falling in love with our new town. Yellowknife is the only “large” city in Northwest Territories; with a population of about 20,000, it contains approximately half the total population of the entire territory! So being the main hub and transit centre for the rest of the territory, the capital city is equipped with all of the familiar big city comforts. We have 3 large grocery stores, a Walmart, Staples, Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, McDonalds, Boston Pizza, and the Brick to name a few. Along with big city feels, it also has the charming ‘ma and pa’ boutiques, restaurants, and quite a sizeable downtown art scene.

Our apartment is located right on the main street of the city, Franklin Avenue, which allows us to walk about 30 mins in either direction and pretty much cover the whole city by foot. Also, within 30 mins of walking in either direction, we would bump into a body of water which is one of the many really awesome features of the city. Yellowknife and the surrounding area is packed with beautiful fresh water lakes, both small and humungous. Yellowknife’s Old Town reaches out into Great Slave Lake which is the second largest lake in Northwest Territories and the deepest in North America.

When we pictured ourselves living in Northwest Territories, (for some reason) we pictured the landscape as a cold, flat desert with stubby trees. So imagine our surprise and delight when we pulled up to a city built on intricate rock faces coated in a combination of medium-sized coniferous and deciduous trees and fresh water lakes galore! It makes sense, of course, when you consider that Yellowknife sits in the lower two thirds of the territory, comfortably below the tree line. Nonetheless, it was surprising and exciting to discover how interesting and beautiful the landscape was. Better yet, by driving just 10 mins out of the city centre down a hilly, winding road, you quickly find yourself in the vast wilderness of the territory. All of a sudden, the noisy bustle of the city disappears and it’s just rolling rocks, trees, and lakes as far as the eye can see.

Here are some pics of our moving, shopping, and exploring in our first few weeks of life in the Knife:

Enjoying some “local” Vietnamese cuisine at the Vietnamese Noodle House in Yellowknife, NT.

This is what the exterior of our condo building looked like when we first moved to Yellowknife – it was very much still under construction!

Our first tour of our little unfinished apartment

Finally got to move some stuff out of our car and into the new apartment!

Winter clothing shopping at Weaver and Devore in Yellowknife, NT. This tiny shop located above a convenience store in Old Town is a one stop shop for some of the best (and most expensive) Canadian-made winter gear including brands Canada Goose and Outdoor Survival Canada.

This famous road sign is in Yellowknife’s historic Old Town. Originally named by struggling prospectors who thought themselves to be dirt poor or “ragged ass broke”, they jokingly named this road after their unlucky year in the Yellowknife mining industry in the 70’s. The road name was since quite controversial but it drew so much attention and popularity that eventually the city made the name official just in the last 5 or 6 years.

View from the top of Pilot’s Monument

The view of Back Bay from the top of Pilot’s Monument in Yellowknife’s Old Town.

The iconic view of Yellowknife Bay (AKA ‘Houseboat Bay’) from the top of Pilot’s Monument in Yellowknife’s Old Town.

The iconic view of Yellowknife Bay (AKA ‘Houseboat Bay’) from the top of Pilot’s Monument in Yellowknife’s Old Town. These houseboaters are living off the grid in their floating homes in Great Slave Lake.

A glimpse of Houseboat Bay from the front porch of our little cabin in Old Town.

Moonshine over Houseboat Bay – the view from the front porch of our cabin.

Our first Yellowknife glimpse of the Northern Lights from our cabin’s front porch!

Our first Yellowknife glimpse of the Northern Lights from our cabin’s front porch!

Our first Yellowknife glimpse of the Northern Lights from our cabin’s front porch!

Filling our cart in Canadian Tire to outfit our new apartment.

One of the many small lakes within the city, Niven Lake has a beautiful 2km trail that encircles the lake.

One of the many small lakes within the city, Niven Lake has a beautiful 2km trail that encircles the lake.

One of the many small lakes within the city, Niven Lake has a beautiful 2km trail that encircles the lake. The trail includes some scaling up slippery, snow covered rocks.

One of the many small lakes within the city, Niven Lake has a beautiful 2km trail that encircles the lake.

These massive ravens are everywhere in the Knife! Two of them decided to plunk down on our hood in the McDonald’s parking lot. Eerie looking creatures…

Finally we get possession of our new little apartment!

McDonalds – it’s what’s for supper!

And the furniture building begins…

Just a bit of recycling…

Finally the apartment is coming together into a liveable space! Complete with some local NWT art 🙂

Adam & Amanda