The Charmed Life – The Foster & Baker Lab

Working and living with a small group of people can be draining, especially when you’re putting in the long hours that we are to try to find as many stickleback as possible. Luckily, a good crew [like ours] will make the days easier by finding time to enjoy the beautiful land we’ve traveled to with a smile or a joke or something unexpected. After a long day of travelling and trapping, we had one more lake to find in the Green Point campground. As we wandered up and down a beautiful ocean side trail to no avail, Eric fortuitously took a moment to fall face first into a bed of moss and grass that faced the ocean.

“It smells delicious!” he cried. “Come on down!”

We skeptically obeyed. A soft landing and a sweet but earthy smell welcomed us. These are excerpts from the photoshoot that followed:

Sweet Emma, Jenna, and Eric enjoy the sunset from the patch — Sweet Emma, Jenna, and Jason enjoy the sunset from the patch

Let's compare — For comparison; note the differences in fin morphology

And a real man's beard — An actual sculpin

All of a sudden, this guy was a few feet from us, sniffing at our traps. The first fox sighting of the trip and it was so close we could pet it. — …this guy! All of a sudden, this fox was a few feet from us, sniffing at our traps. The first fox sighting of the trip and it was so close we could pet it.

I wonder how I came to deserve such a very charming scene. After a battery of photos, the fox ran back into its hole, and we strolled back to the car through the iris-laden path.