Cow Head to Colorado

We slept in on Wednesday, as we had stayed up late to see the play.

As we drove south, we stopped to admire a couple of attractions which we had not visited on the way up. One was the wreck of the SS Effie. The other was sea caves.

When we got to Deer Lake, we called several B&Bs which were full, and ended up in the very nice Humberview BB. Marianne wanted to visit Cornerbrook, which is the largest city that we have seen in Newfoundland. We were told that this is where residents of western Newfoundland go to shop, and we saw plenty of shopping there. We drove up to the top of the hill, where a monument commememorates Captian Cook, who originally made his name producing detailed surveys of the coast in this area. There are views of the bay, of the city, and of the paper mill. Not much for tourists, however.

One interesting thing that ties Deer Lake to Cornerbrook is the powerplant. The hydro plant in Deer lake was built in the 1920s specifically to power the paper mill in Cornerbrook. This was the beginning of the town of Deer Lake. The power lines between the two cities look like they date from the same era.

Our Air Canada flight on Thursday morning left as 6 AM, so we woke up at 4 AM to make our flight. The flight left on time, and almost immediately flew into the clouds. When we arrived at Toronto, we were surprised to learn that we would clear customs and immigration in Toronto. This effectively torpedoed Richard's plan to go into Toronto, as we needed to claim our checked luggage inside the secured area. Oh, well, it was a very hot day in Toronto, and we would have had limited time to tour anyway. The secured area is a very large concourse, dedicated to flights from Toronto to the USA. We found that our flight to Denver was already projected to depart 30 minutes late, even though the departure time was five hours away.

Ultimately, we left two hours late. In addition to the forecast delay due to the previous flight being delayed, they took some time to cool the aircraft before we got into it. But when we pulled away from the concourse, the pilot found that his defroster was giving an error indication, perhaps due to the heat. We returned to the concourse, where the technician reset the computer and cleared the error. This put us back to our house about 10 PM, making it a 20 hour day from when the alarm went off.

We really liked Newfoundland, the friendiness of the people, the lack of stress, the scenery, and the fresh seafood. Marianne said that it was one of her favorite trips ever. We hope to return.

Vikings, Icebergs, Thrombolites, and Theatre

We decided to spend one more night in the St. Anthony area, which meant one more night in the Triple Rose B&B. We found that Rose is the maiden name of Irene and Eileen, the twin sisters who run the place, along with their brother.

We woke up to a beautiful clear day.

We first headed back to the Viking site, where Marianne got a demonstration of single needle knitting, and we took a tour of the archeological site. You can see the Marianne swings a mean sword.

After that, we stopped at a nearby craft store, where Marianne bought a hat made by the lady who ran the store, as well as a needle made of moose antler. The hat and the needle were both single needle knitting. You can see the hat on Marianne's head next to the iceberg.


After a pleasant lunch at "The Catch", we drove out to Onion point, where there was an overlook with a bench. Quite a view, and the weather was nice enough to sit out and admire it.

On Tuesday, we said goodbye to our hosts, and headed south. We decided to stop and see the Thrombolites. We were hiking on the trail, but we did not know what we were looking for. These were fossils of single-celled bacteria and algae, one to three billion years old! They grew in clumps or clots, hence the name.


We decided to stay in Cow Head, and see one of their plays, a comedy about two guys opening Ed and Ed's B&B. Pretty funny, lots of Newfoundland jokes. The sunset picture is from Cow Head, at low tide.



Wednesday is our last day in Newfoundland, as we leave early Thursday. We will be sorry to leave Newfoundland, which we have enjoyed very much.

Icebergs

We went to mass at the St. Anthony Catholic church. A nice mass, with a personable priest. The priest said that his previous assignment was as an itinerant priest in Labrador, where he traveled by air, boat, and snowmobile, to serve his far flung flock.

We took the Northland Discovery tour boat out of St. Anthony. The tour included a knowledgeable onboard biologist. The tour focused on icebergs, as they have more and larger icebergs this year than any time in the last 60 years, because of calving from the Petermann Glacier in Greenland a year ago. The Labrador current carries the icebergs down "iceberg alley". The largest iceberg, really an ice island, was a mile long and a quarter mile wide. Icebergs are the largest pieces, growlers are the size of a car or a house, while bergy bits are the smaller pieces. Seamen regard the growlers as the most dangerous, because the large icebergs are easily seen on radar, but the growlers can still destroy a ship. The bergy bits are not a hazard.


The trip started foggy, but when we reached the icebergs the sun came out, glistening on the icebergs, perhaps the nicest day in a week.

Marianne thought that this was one of the most beautiful sights that she had ever seen.

Icebergs are some of the purest water on the planet. When I put a bit in my mouth, it was salty for a moment, but once the sea water was gone, the ice was pure fresh water. The Quidi Vidi brewery, takes some of the bergy bits and uses them to brew beer!


We had dinner at the Lightkeeper's restaurant. We have not eaten any meat since we arrived, instead we have eaten excellent cod, halibut, and salmon. It reminds Marianne of her diet as a girl. When we came out, Richard noticed a spouting whale, the first whale that we have seen on this trip.

A beautiful day. It is so quiet and peaceful here we will probably stay another day.

Port au Choix to the Vikings

We had an excellent breakfast at Jeannie's B&B, and enjoyed conversations with some of our fellow guests.

We then headed to the Port Au Choix National Park visitor center, where we learned about the many cultures that lived in this area, including paleo-eskimo cultures. The climate would change, and one group would displace another. The archeological digs uncovered some of their fine work in stone, wood, and bone. This was a particularly bountiful area, hence the various dwellings and groups over the centuries.

The cemetary outside of Port Au Choix was especially interesting, including this unique gravestone.

We continued north toward St. Anthony, and saw our first iceberg, as well as the coast of Labrador. Our goal was the National Park of the L'anse aux Meadows, where the vikings built dwellings and lived, at least for a time. This is the only documented Viking site in North America, occupied around 1000 years ago.

The weather was cold, humid, and windy, all day.

We had an excellent lunch at the Norseman restaurant, including an "Iceberg" beer from Quidi Vidi, the local brewery, which came in a beautiful blue bottle. We then proceeded to the Park, a UNESCO world heritage site, which included reconstructed Viking buildings. It was so cold that Marianne did not leave the visitor center. Richard went back in the evening to hear Icelandic sagas and legends, inside one of the buildings. The sagas are like bloody soap operas.

Norris Point to Port au Choix

Friday was a rainy day, pretty much all day. The road north follows the sea. Our first stop was the Rocky Harbor Lighthouse, now an educational exhibit about life in this area. The area was pretty isolated until the road was put in in the 1960s.

Our second stop was Broom Point, which was a fishing business until the 1970s, when the national park bought out the brothers, who wanted to retire. Another fisherman explained life in a fishing camp, before and after the road, which was put in in the 1960s. Before the road, they salted and dried their cod, and canned their own salmon, using a copper pot that may have dated to the 1700's!

We had lunch at the Shallow Bay motel, known for its dinner theatre. They had an excellent cod chowder.

When we got to Port aux Choix, (Port-oo-shwaa), we stopped at Jeannie's Sunrise B&B, where she had a very nice room available, and then headed to the Anchor Cafe for an excellent meal. This is a fishing town, with commercial fishing boats wherever you look. The local Sears catalog outlet sells gas and beer! They say that in a small town, they can't make it on the Sears sales alone.

Colorado to Newfoundland

We drove to DIA, and were pleasantly surprised that we would be flying Air Canada instead of United. The flight was cross listed and for some reason we assumed that we were going to be flying United. We liked Air Canada, the crews were very nice.

We changed planes in Montreal. The airport was about as international a place as one could imagine, with many different kinds of garb and languages.

We arrived in Deer Lake Newfoundland about midnight local time, 8:30 PM Denver time. Yes, Newfoundland has its own time zone. We picked up a very nice Chrysler Sebring rental car from Enterprise, and headed for the Deer Lake Motel, which was convenient, but somewhat overpriced.

In the morning, we slept in and walked across the street to a popular restaurant in a combination gas station, convenience store, and car repair business.

We found ourselves being addressed by many names, including "My Love", "Sweetie", and "My Darling".

We had beautiful weather for the drive into Gros Morne National Park, very rugged and scenic. Everything is very green, and there are wildflowers everywhere.


We stopped in Norris Point, where we received an excellent tour of the aquarium from Mary, a biology student. We enjoyed seeing and touching the different species of sea life. Norris Point is at the intersection of two bays, each of which is a different ecosystem.


The graveyard at Norris Point includes a gravestone for a private Harding, part of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. This regiment suffered a 90% casualty rate in a single attack on July 1, 1916. I spoke to a man painting the grave, he was the son in law of private Harding. He said that private Harding was wounded in the war, that he had a chunk out of his leg that you could put your fist into. Another local man lost his leg in the war, and had a wooden leg. There is a separate War Memorial for a Private Major who died in the war. Many gravestones included a handshake, which signified the marriage bond.

When we started looking for a place to stay in Rocky Harbor, we mostly found no vacancy signs, or $160 hotel rooms. But one of the ladies at a B&B told us that she had spoken to the lady at Burnt Cottages in Norris Point, and that she had a room. We drove back to Norris Point, and were pleasantly surprised to be able to stay in a nice modern fully equipped cottage for $85 a night, cash. We have a view of the bay and the tablelands.

We had dinner at Jackie's in Rocky Harbor. The sunset photos are from the end of the road at Rocky Harbor