July 4-8, 2023

We were so excited to to head over to Newfoundland (pronounced new-fin-LAND, rhymes with understand) with our Florida friends Bill & Beverly. We lined up for the 1:00 ferry along with a caravan of 26 RVs riding over together on a tour, plus many other cars, RVs and trucks. This was a huge ferry! Once parked on board we headed up to our reserved seats for the 7-hour trip but ended up spending most of the time in the bar, eating lunch and playing cards.

After a very smooth journey we disembarked safely at Port aux Basque, Newfoundland at about 7 pm and spent our first night right there at Hotel Port aux Basque.  We all enjoyed the delicious moose stew they served for dinner.

One interesting fact is that Newfoundland has its own time zone, 30 minutes ahead of Atlantic Standard Time…but don’t ask me why.

In the morning we set off for our next destination, Woody Point. Before checking into our hotel we drove out to Trout River for lunch a the Seaside Restaurant. On the way back we passed by The Tablelands, part of Gros Morne National Park, where long ago continents collided pushing ancient ocean floor to the surface forming a barren, orange colored landscape. Unfortunately it was rainy and foggy (a common theme you will read about throughout our visit to Newfoundland) so we couldn’t see much of it or take the hike around the perimeter.

We checked into the lovely Rooms at Woody Point and I went for a walk down by the water and through this picturesque town.

For dinner we ate a delicious 4-course meal prepared by The Rooms owner, Donna, on the patio. We all had an amuse (small appetizer), soup and then shared salads and 4 unique and very tasty pizzas. So fun!

The next day we set off towards St. Anthony in the northwest peninsula. Part of the route took us through more of Gros Morne National Park where we stopped off at Rocky Harbour to check out the Glass Station art gallery. Bill ended up buying a beautiful glass Puffin with its mouth full of small fish (lots more on Puffins in part two!).

We stopped off at Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse and read about the lighthouse keepers who lived and raised their families there for generations. The 2nd keeper spent 4 decades there!

Later in the afternoon we checked into the Tuckamore Lodge in Main Brook, about an hour south of St. Anthony. The rooms were cute and I loved the gathering room and dining room where we ate dinner the two nights we stayed there.

We met two nice Canadian couples at the lodge and one of the men, Jim, was a huge fly fisherman who makes his own rods. He offered to sell one he had brought along to Bill, who also loves to fly fish. They agreed on a price and we arranged to meet up in St. Anthony the next day since they were checking out of the lodge the next morning and Bill needed to get the money from the bank. Before going to the bank in St. Anthony the following morning we drove down to Goose Cove and were very please to spot some flat ice bergs floating along.

Bill got the money and we met up with Jim at L’Anse aux Meadows to make the successful purchase. This was one of the places that I really wanted to visit since it was the landing spot of the Norse expedition from Greenland around 1,000 years ago. Unfortunately it was foggy, raining and cold so we couldn’t really see anything except for this silhouette on the top of the hill 🙁  We did spot a couple of moose on the way up so that was fun.

We had lunch at the Daily Catch in St. Lunaire and all tried fried cod tongue, a traditional Newfoundland dish. It’s actually a little muscle from the cod fish neck and lets just say it was interesting…

While driving in this area we had noticed many random roadside vegetable gardens and large piles of stacked fire wood. The waiter at the restaurant explained that people get huge deliveries of wood every 3 years or so and then can stack/store it anywhere they want along the road. They are also free to plant gardens along the road wherever they find a sunny spot.

 

After lunch we took a scenic drive up to Cape Onion.  Beverly and I enjoyed a walk on a nice trail up to the top of the hill.

After another night at the lodge we headed back south the next morning, eventually turning east towards St. John’s. At one point  we came upon a moose standing right in the middle of the road. There was a truck in front of us that scared it off the road.

We made a quick stop at Arches Provincial Park so that I could get a picture of this beautiful arch.

As we were driving back through Gros Morne NP on our way south we spotted another moose in a field who posed for this  picture 🙂

We stopped off in Grand Falls-Windsor for the night, about half way to St. John’s, our next destination. Not far from Grand Falls-Windsor is the town of Gander, made famous on 9/11/2001 when 38 planes landed there as a result of the closing of American airspace. The small town of 11,000 people welcomed about 6,500 passengers and crew, initially stranded on planes for 24 hours, and finally allowed to get off of the aircraft into the welcoming arms of the people of Gander, who housed and fed them for 5 days!

Next we are headed to St. John’s and then to a French island before heading back to Nova Scotia. To be continued…