Fox Lake

I have just returned from what finally feels like a true vacation. I wish it could never, ever end.

Idyllic campsite at Fox Lake

Unfortunately, not sure (yet) what this is.

Fox Lake

I left Whitehorse after doing some web updates and feeling rather stressed about it (learning a new interface). It was good to get N0MAD back on the road.

On the run to Inuvik, I'd slept at a roadside pullout on the shore of Fox Lake, and swore that I was going to come back.

This was my chance.

I wasn't sure whether to stop here or push on to Twin Lakes Campground, but even though I got there in the later afternoon, the Fox Lake Campground was not crowded, and I got The Best Ever Campsite, right on the water. How could I not stay the night?

Mew gull: unmarked beak, yellow legs, dark eye, small size

So many good things:
• NO mosquitoes!
• Thunder echoed across the hills; it threatened rain that never materialized.
• Cooking dinner by the side of the lake — with NO WIND — was a special treat.
• Fresh vegetables (broccoli! peppers! mushrooms!) made a tasty dinner, too.
• Plus, bird-featured entertainment!

I was amused by the antics of a number of seagulls cavorting nearby. They evidently knew what stoves, and pots, and "cooking" was all about and seemed to have an expectation that goodies would be forthcoming. They were not really annoying, but one did feel like one had to pay attention so they wouldn't make off with something.

They certainly are opportunists.

Herring gull (tentative ID): red spot, white head, pink legs

The fact that they were so close was a good opportunity to observe them and try some Gull identification. Identifying gulls is akin to those intelligence tests where there are shapes that are seemingly the same with very small differences.

Gulls can be identified by beak (unmarked bill makes it a mew gull); color of the legs (pink, yellow or gray); eye color; back/wing patterns (white, gray or mottled), and size.

It's so helpful to have different gulls together, and these posed quite nicely. One does have to LOOK at them closely; it wasn't until I got my book out and started REALLY looking at the characteristics of the different gulls that I realized there were different species, all swimming together.

If only sparrows were as cooperative!

I got to walk by the lake, do some beading, and read my book at night. Does not get any better than this.

Brightly colored sunsets just haven't materialized. I'm not complaining at all.