Newfoundland

My next adventure has taken me to Newfoundland. Well, every day is an adventure, but this includes travel. My sister, Judy, arrived at Stanfield Airport on Monday, May 27, and we left from there. We arrived at the ferry terminal with our reservation in hand and were soon being directed onboard.
Of course, it's a long night but we did manage to get a few winks and it was smooth sailing. We got into port around 7 a.m. (Tues.), disembarked, and headed for Codroy Valley, where we were meeting up with Karen and Madeline, who were there visiting.
We found our way to Downey's in time to be treated to a massive breakfast, much appreciated. K and M gave us a tour visiting Cape Anguille,

historic Holy Trinity Anglican church

-where I rang the bell one dong, the Sand Bar-walked on the beach, and a lovely craft shop with tons of local handmade items including some from Juanita (Karen's mother). We said our goodbyes about 2:30 and headed off to our night stop in Corner Brook. We were booked at the Grenfell campus in a dorm room, went to supper and a movie, and then settled in for some much needed sleep.
Wed.-In the morning, we had breakfast in our room, as I had taken my butane stove and all the fixings for tea and new bread and jam. By 8:35 we were headed for Deer Lake and then turned off for the Viking Trail. We saw a young moose which, fortunately, the car in front of us had seen first. Shortly after, we saw another cross the road, but no time for the camera.
Our first rest stop was just before Norris Point where we found some red chairs for our traditional 'red chair' pictures.


I also took one of my 'feet in the water' shots. Not much farther ahead we stopped at the Gros Morne visitor center where we saw our second 'souvenir rock'. These are rocks that people paint with a picture or message and leave them to be found. You can take it or replace it or leave it alone. Madeline found a 'hello kitty' one at Cape Anguille that she took,

but today we chose to just take it in picture form.

We looked around, used the facilities and continued on our way.
Next stop was Three Arches Prov. Park, which we almost missed, but Judy had been noticing the strange rock piles so we went to investigate. They were amazing! I didn't get to take pictures while we drove but I made up for it when we stopped.

 I'm sorry, but I don't seem to have any control over the placing of the pictures, so I'm just going to keep going.

Remnants of the snow we encountering more and more as we headed north.

We drove in and explored Port au Choix and were even followed by a Mountie down to Philip's Garden until he realized it was just a couple of gray-haired ladies. Went down to the lighthouse, where we spoke, motivated by their European license plate, with a couple from Switzerland

We spotted some red chairs but they were too far away for our energy, so we settled for a picture.

Arrived at our B&B in Flower's Cove, and were greeted by our hostess, Maggie, who showed us all the rooms and let us choose. She invited us for tea and biscuits. We had a great chat and she mentioned some places for us to visit and where we could get supper. We found Marjorie's Bridge and walked down to see the thrombolites.

Another rock by the bridge.

 After supper we stopped at the White Rocks Trail and hiked over the limestone beds.

When we got back to the room, I called to make our reservations for the boat tour the next morning in St. Anthony. We needed to be there by 8:30 so we ordered our breakfast for 6:15. She is used to starting early because she often has guests who are catching the ferry to Labrador.

Thurs.-Breakfast was the full deal- bacon, eggs, toast, juice, coffee and we were on our way by 6:45. We ended up missing our turn and went all the way through St. Anthony to Goose Cove or as the locals call it, Fishing Point. It has a great lookout of the water. Got back to the dock in lots of time. Had to pay in cash (which we'd been warned about when I called) as, like many businesses, they did not yet have their credit/debit machines set up for the season. There were about 24 people from many provinces. Our guide was fabulous, full of lots of good stories and abundant knowledge. It was very cold even with the 5 layers I was wearing, but well worth the trip. We saw 2 giant icebergs and lots of 'growlers' and 'bergie bits'. 

Also, many birds, but unfortunately, no whales. Too early, I think. After the 2 hour tour many of us ended up at Tim's to get warmed up with coffee and go to the bathroom.

.

When we felt sufficiently thawed, we headed out to L'Anse aux Meadows to see that World Heritage Site. It also had just opened for the season. There were still 6 foot snow banks in front of the building. It was very windy but we walked down to see the Viking sod hut replicas. 

They had great fires going inside the first one and it was fun to just sit and hear their tales of history. After exploring around there, we did some more touring of the area. Then we headed back into town to check into our room. It is a lovely Inn called Crow's Nest. We did some more exploring the roads around St Anthony and ended up where we could see the iceberg from land. It's called a 'drydock' because it's not moving, but slowly melting where it is.

We found a place to get something to eat, and then went to our room for the evening.

Fri.-If we'd had things explained to us, we would have known that we could use the kitchen area to make breakfast. Then we had to text to get someone to come and check us out. Turns out we had to wait for them to get back from taking kids to school. Good thing we weren't in a hurry. 

As we were leaving St Anthony area we came upon a caribou strutting down the middle of the road. He was in no hurry so I just followed along behind while Judy shot video. He finally found a place to get off the road.

and shortly after

some young ones.

We drove in to Rocky Harbour to look around and had lunch at Jackie's. There are lots of accommodations there of all variety from rough to luxury. It is very close to Gros Morne. 

When we got there, we drove in around Deer Lake just to see it and got some food so we could stay in when we got to our room. We stayed again at Grenfell dorms in Corner Brook. By the time we got settled in, I was so glad we didn't have to go out to eat. I was tired. After supper, Judy went back to her room, dealing with her pictures and I read and got nice and sleepy.

Sat. 1st-We didn't have to rush in the morning so took our time eating and packing up. Continuing our exploring, we went into Stephenville and looked around there. We walked the beach a little and picked up stones to make our own souvenir rocks. I had bought a package of markers to do the drawings.

When we finished at Stephenville we ventured along Rte. 490 and then 46 and saw St. Georges. Back onto the highway we headed for Codroy Valley to again stop at Downey's and have supper with them before heading to the boat. While there, Judy had a nap and I went up the mountain on the 4-wheeler with Madeline as the pilot and Buddy as our scout.

We had a huge, delicious supper and were given leftovers for the journey. We left there just after 8 and when we got to the boat we were checked in and directed to the line-up. I went into the terminal and then out its front entrance and placed my last rock on a bench there. (I had left my second one by the steps at Downey's but, like all the others, I don't know if it was ever found.)

The call came to board and I went back to the car. When we got on deck there was a huge open hatch and, for the first time in my life, we had to drive down a ramp to be below deck. When that area was full they closed the hatch and loaded more cars on top of it. Intriguing! As long as I didn't have to back up I was fine with the arrangement. 

We gathered our stuff and headed upstairs to find a place to sit/sleep. We watched some hockey in the bar and when I finally settled down it was 7-3 for Boston with 1 minute left. Despite the rules, I eventually ended up having a nap on the floor between rows of seats until my hips couldn't take any more. At least I had a little rest. We were some of the last to be called to our car because they had to reverse the process and get all the other vehicles off the deck above us. I was hoping to get a picture of the hatch but all I managed as we were leaving is the photo you see with a bit of the ramp we had to climb.

We were back on NS soil by 7:30 or so and first stop was Tim's. We were back home by 1:30, emptied and tidied the car and said goodbye to our luxury ride

 by 3:30. We capped off our exciting week by going to see "Rocketman" (story of Elton John) and then supper at Frank and Gino's in Amherst.

The whole trip holds great memories and was fun to relive as I created this blog. 

Sorry for taking so long to write it.

Our wish was to see icebergs and we were not disappointed. 

WHAT NEXT?