We woke up yesterday, had some classic hotel instant oatmeal, and walked out into a lightly drizzly Iqaluit morning. The main road was rush-hour busy, but once we were off on one of the unpaved roads just past downtown, it was pretty quiet.
A warily friendly dog sniffed us on the dirt road / ATV track by the water, and we found a pack of snow buntings enjoying a feeder -- a tougher bird to find around Montreal but numerous up here, with darker summer plumage instead of their bright white winter colours. We also saw three new birds in short succession (American pipits, horned larks, and Lapland longspurs).
We took the Apex trail past the old cemetery and out onto a bluff that looks like somewhere in Scotland, with short colourful tundra plants growing next to bubbling rivulets that flow down into Frobisher Bay. Red-throated loons were calling from far across the water, and it was all just too much, frankly.
A few more insistent drops of rain convinced us to actually start our days. We dropped B off at the community centre while L did some work at the hotel. B jumped into the kitchen and made herself useful, got to know the staff, chatted with a young hunter making seal nets, helped serve the community meal, and took over the cash register at the country food store for a few minutes, selling big pieces of frozen caribou and narwhal (muktaaq).
L came back for lunch (chicken and rice) and helped out with some technical stuff. We left in the afternoon, relaxed at the hotel for a while, then went back out for Yummy Shawarma™. Just killing time before our evening plans, we walked into Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park (ᐃᖃᓗᐃᑦ ᑰᖓ) and found a spectacular sunset view with people fishing in a big river, with waterfalls and seagulls and hills in the distance.
We met up with Joseph and his friends at a brew pub near the park entrance and enjoyed some enthusiastic karaoke performances before walking home for the night.
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