Arctic Foxes and Avalanches

Today we visited Isafjordur in Iceland.  We went on a tour to discover Arctic Foxes and to learn about the avalanches which can plague this area. 

This is a distant relative of a live Arctic Fox we met at a sanctuary in Sudavik.  She (the live one) is named Mist, and was orphaned when her mother was shot by a hunter.  I couldn't get a good picture of her, partly due to the other tour members pushing to the front, and partly because she was in a chicken wire-fenced enclosure which made it difficult to focus as she energetically sprinted around the perimeter!  This toothy ancestor was stuffed and displayed in a small exhibit indoors, and so -- needless to say -- was a lot more amenable to being photographed!  All I can say is I'm glad I'm not an Eider Duck!

The extra shows the beautiful scenery in this part of Iceland -- great drifts of purple lupines skirting steep mountain sides and bordering gushing mountain streams of snow melt.  Just gorgeous!

Oh!  And one ... two ... more things.  Two days ago, we received certificates testifying to the fact that we had officially crossed the Arctic Circle!  And last night the sun NEVER SET -- it was daylight all night long!  A first for us in the Land of the Midnight Sun.