Hi, I'm Rick Steeves. Today we'll venture from the Arctic Circle to the Big Easy, visiting two extreme corners of North America.

Guidebook author Aaron Spitzer now lives in Yellowknife in Canada's Northwest Territories.

There's not a huge amount of a tourism presence and there's not that much known about the

NWT so a lot of people still think of it as a drive of discovery.

Aaron will clue us in on the appeal in both winter and summer of Canada's far north.

And later in the hour, Lonely Planets Jay Cook returns for a festival guide to New Orleans

where they're knee-deep in Mardi Gras right now.

My first time in Mardi Gras, I was actually very surprised at the difference between the

daytime experience, which is quite wholesome in the nighttime experience, which I wouldn't call wholesome.

But first we'll start with your calls about the heroic kindness of strangers you've

met in your travels. We're a pack in a parka for Canada's Arctic and catching some beads in New Orleans coming up on Travel with Rick Steeves.

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Hi, I'm Rick Steeves. On today's travel with Rick

Steve's, we'll head for our continents far north and deep south.

We'll hear about the appeal of the Canadian Arctic from a guidebook

author who's made Yellowknife his home. And later in the hour we'll celebrate Mardi Gras in

New Orleans. But we'll begin with your calls at 877333 Rick.

And radio at Ricksteeves.com.

That's our email.

Tell us about the kindness you've experienced in your travels. I find that the very best memories after a trip are not from the top of great monuments or in wonderful museums,

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