Our trip to Newfoundland June 2008

As some of you may have already read we had a great trip from Vancouver. The stopover in Toronto was short (about 30 minutes) which just gave us time to get a coffee and sandwich from Tim Horton's. Now that Airlines do not have food on the plane you have to plan ahead. We arrived in St. John's airport at about 12:15 am on Sunday. There was fog on the ground and the trip to the Travelers Inn was slow. We have rented a Chevy Impala for the trip to be dropped off at the Halifax airport in about 3 weeks. We have beautiful Sunshine today so all is well as we head to our first breakfast in Newfoundland.
This weekend is St. John’s days so lots going on in the area. We started with a visit to the information centre in downtown followed by a walk around the area. We followed a written laid out map which lead us to many old and interesting buildings, one being the first bank in British North America.
We then went up to Signal Hill to get a view of the area but found that it was the 50th Anniversary of the making Signal Hill a National Park. The building at the top of the hill is well known having been where Marconi sent the first wireless signal to England. With the celebration we were able to sample a special salt cod dish and have a piece of the celebration cake.
We then went out to Cape Spear which is the furthest point east in North America. This included a nice walk out to view the Atlantic and walk up to the new lighthouse and view the old historic lighthouse from a distance.
On our return to St John’s we went to an Irish pub to sample the local beer and to our enjoyment there was a singer performing that we recognized from one of the CD’s we had purchased on our 2005 trip. We finished the evening off with a Jiggs Dinner well known in Newfoundland because most of the vegetables grown here are root vegetables so the dinner was a boiled potato, cabbage, turnip, carrot and parsnip along with salt beef and a thing they call pea pudding (yellow peas pureed with butter). The meal tasted good.
We started out day two by driving down the Avalon Peninsula where we were going to drive what they call the Irish loop. After talking to a gal at an information stop we realized we could not complete the loop that day so decided to do the things we wanted. We went to Bay Bulls and took a great catamaran boat to see the puffins, whales and icebergs. We got to see all three. After the boat ride we had a bowl of chowder.
We were going to go for a hike in the afternoon to an abandon village but when we arrived at the parking lot the black flies were so bad we left. It was then on to Ferryland and the Colony of Avalon established in 1621. This is an ongoing archeology site and very fascinating. Some of you may recall in the Vancouver Sun three weeks ago, they had an article about a gold coin discovered which is one of the oldest ever discovered in North America. Well this is the site and it was very interesting to view their work. We go back to the Inn a little later this evening.
Day 3 started with Dave not feeling too well. He had developed a cough which he saw the Doctor some time before we left and he said it was a virus and it will go. Well that was 6 weeks ago now the cough was getting worse. We decided to see if it was and allergy and bought some Reactine which made him sleepy so Marilyn had to drive. By the end of the day the cough was feeling better and he may now get a night’s sleep.
We had a good drive on the Trans Canada Hwy but got our first rain. It only lasted while we were on the hwy and once we started up to coast to Bonavista is stopped. The scenery along the way is great. We visited Ryan Premises National Historic Site which told the whole story of the Newfoundland Cod and Seal fishery. Quite the interesting story and one you need to know in this province. We then arrived at Butlers by the sea B&B. Once settled we went off to the Bonavista Lighthouse which has the oldest one with oil lamps. It was a museum in itself and we enjoyed the visit. We also stopped to view the statute of John Cabot close to the spot he had first landed in North America. We then had dinner at a restaurant. On the way back we met the couple who were also staying at our B&B. They were traveling in the opposite direction so filled us in on things to see as we traveled west. We also met a couple Jeff and Ann who we would see again at a B&B a few nights from now. During dinner we learned that you could see the Puffins returning to their nests near the light house so after dinner we returned to see this sight.
On day 4 we drove to Twillingate going through Gander. It is quite the airport town and famous for all that has happened over the years. Once off Hwy 1 at Gander we went north through the land of Islands. We were for ever going over causeways from one island to the next. Once settled in our B&B, which also was on the water so our room had a water view, we went for a hike. The couple the evening before told us about this hike and once at the top of the hill you could see a iceberg. We went on the hike but took the wrong trail so our hike was a lot longer and more difficult but the scenery was great and we did get to stand on this hill and look at a big iceberg. They call the water from Cape Onion where we will be in a couple of days and the water past Twillingate iceberg ally and lots are flowing past but too far out to get a good look so seeing the ones in close is great.
We had booked a dinner theatre for this evening but on the way saw the Twillingate light house another great example of the old structures. We then had the dinner theatre where the people participating in the theatre also cooked and served the dinner. We had stuffed cod one of the many cod dishes we would have and the dinner was delicious. The entertainment was good with Newfoundland music, singing and skits. Back at the B&B we had a view of the harbour with the wind blowing and whistling across our windows and shutters.
The next day we had a long drive to Deer Lake planned. We drove down the coast to get on hwy 1 west of Gander then it was through Grand Falls-Windsor. We had rain again on the highway but made great time so decided to drive through Deer Lake and go to Rocky Harbour in Gros Morne National Park. We rented a cabin overlooking the harbour. Marilyn was able to do a wash and I started to catch up on some of this journal. I had learned that there was a lobster pool at the end of the road so after the wash we went and ordered 4 cooked lobsters for 5:30. The cost of these lobsters was $36 and with some garlic bread did we have a feed. We also toured the area of Rocky Harbor and Bonne Bay before we settled in for the evening.
Day 5 started with breakfast in the cabin with Partridge Berry muffins. Today is going to be a long drive taking us to most north western spot in Newfoundland called Cape Onion. On the way we stopped at the Arches a rock formation at the edge of the water which had been hollowed out by the action of the sea. We then stop at Port au Choix National Historic Site. This archeology site traces the history of the Indians and Eskimos who have lived at this spot over thousands of years.
The drive continues along the coast and then inland towards Cape Onion the most northern point in Newfoundland. One of the things we noticed were Lobster Traps all stacked up along the road and back into the woods with just enough space between for the pickup truck. We also saw cords and cords of wood stacked at the edge of the road along the hwy. Apparently during the winter they take sleighs along way into the woods to wood lots and bring out the logs ready to be cut in the spring once the snow fly’s. The third thing we noticed were vegetable gardens all along the roads. These are roughly fenced and are passed on from generation to generation. What is great is that all these things sit out in the open and are never touched.
We arrived at the Tickle Inn at Cape Onion at about 4 pm. We were greeted by a moose that took off when we got out of the car and closed the door. The owner of this B&B, who grew up in this home and he is the 4th generation came over to also greet us. He explained that moose were not native to Newfound but introduced some years back and there are now over 120,000. We had already seen and took a picture of one.
The home we are staying in was built in 1890 and the owner David restored it 18 years ago. What a place! Our bedroom was his grandparents at the front of the house with view of the cape and the icebergs travelling past. The home has been restored well. Once we were settled in we took a walk along the ocean then up to a point of land and what a view. We saw many Icebergs. Only the pictures do it justice. We were joined later by 2 other couples who arrived separately from Sudbury and knew each other but did not know they were going to Newfoundland. Also interesting was they were lay preachers in the Catholic Church. The evening turned out very interesting.
Our host served us a dinner that was as good as any dinner that you could get in any first class restaurant. We started off with an unique creamed soup called Cape Onion. The main course was baked cod and mussels. Fantastic! The dessert was a flan consisting of blueberries and the Newfoundland only berries of Bakeapple Berry and Partridge Berry. What a meal which included wine and a before dinner beer. After dinner we retired to the parlor where David sang and told Newfoundland stories followed by a singsong completing quite the evening. The breakfast the next morning was also wonderful.
We could not reserve another night so David recommended we book in at Marilyn’s Hospitality B&B at L’Anse aux Meadows. Before going to Marilyn’s we visited St. Anthony’s. We went to the lighthouse first and saw a Ming whale in the harbour. We toured the Dr. Grenfell museum. Dr. Grenfell opened Labrador and north Newfoundland to medicine including hospitals, nurses and doctors. He started helping the fisherman in the outposts early in 1900. Quite the achievements!
We then went to L’Anse aux Meadows the National Historic Site where the Vikings landed 1000 years ago. We toured the interpretative centre then walked on the board walk out to the archeology site to view the actual digs and the reconstructed buildings made of peat moss. We also visited another site that had a replica of a vessel the reenacted in 2000 the voyage from Norway.
Our stay at Marilyn’s B&B was great. We had to take a lesser room in the basement but the hospitality we experienced with the 5 other couples one couple we had seen in Bonavista made up for the room. The evening meal of moose soup, fried halibut, fishermen’s brewis, root vegetables finished with angel food cake with ice cream with partridge berry sauce was a real Newfoundland dinner. Breakfast the next morning was also great featuring fisherman’s brewis, eggs, toutons etc. Our stay cost $100.
Day 8 and it is hard to believe we have been away from home just over a week. The ride today will be back to Norris Point on Bonne Bay close to where we were three nights ago. We decided to take this less travelled route back through the woods and moose country. This was a good decision as the road was much better. Although we only saw one moose cross the road we made good time back. We arrive about 2pm and visited my mom’s cousin Edwin Giffin and his wife Marlene. They go on a one week vacation with Marlene’s sisters Diane and Janice and hubby’s Jim and John. Jan is Jan Bick former Ditmars who stayed with my parents in North Vancouver when she went to UBC. I had moved out so she stayed in my room. She had not been told we were arriving so it was quite a surprise to her. She did not recognize me and looked puzzled. It was a good reunion as I had not met Ed and Marlene. We decided to celebrate with a Lobster feed so it was a phone call to the lobster pool and an order of 10 lobsters for 5:30. Eating lobster with Nova Scotians was great as I learned where some more meet was in the head. We had a great family get together. We enjoyed our stay that night in a large home called Walters Delight. The next morning we joined at 9am with the clan for breakfast. At 10 am we left for Port aux Basques.
The drive to Port aux Basques started off good but got worse as we approached with very high winds and rain. Wdrjen@telus.nete saw a travel trailer over in the ditch and learned later the truck pulling it had also flipped. All large trucks were off the roads and sitting tight with their noses into the wind. We got to the hotel and decided to sit tight. We wanted to go on drive we had done in 2005 out to Rose Blanche light house. Our ferry to Cape Breton leaves at 11:30 tomorrow. Will update the blog in a week.