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| Elysia, Aymon, Jason and Priya |
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| With Uncle Frank and Aunt Catherine |
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| Hal and Aunt Catherine
Our ferry landed in the fog at Argentina, home of the US
Naval Base during WWII. My father was stationed here during the war and my
mother worked at the base. This is where they met. It had been five years since
our last trip here and we wanted to see different areas, so we skipped the
lower Avalon Peninsula and headed to St. John’s to see family. We had a great dinner with my Aunt Catherine,
her husband, Hal, and Catherine’s daughter, Elysia and her family. We enjoyed their hospitality for a week and
attended a dinner theater (“Spirit of Newfoundland”) in St John’s with lots of local
music. We went out to the family home in Conception Harbor and met Uncle Frank
there. He was doing well and enjoyed feeding the ducks at his assisted living
facility.
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| Whale Watching from the cheap seats |
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| Iceberg |
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| Sundews |
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| Trinity |
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| Trinity Pageant Performers
Pat and I caught the ferry to Belle Island to take a tour of
Mine #2. The ore in this mine is 50% pure iron, the highest concentration of
iron in the world. This mine closed because it was cheaper to surface mine in
Labrador. Our mine tour was given by a
man who had two grandfathers who worked in the mine. He shared many interesting
stories.
After a week in St John’s we went to the Bonavista
Peninsula. We started to see whales and icebergs in every bay. The capelin were
running and the whales were following them. We didn’t need to pay $80 pp to go
out in a boat to see whales when we could see them from shore for free! We did
pay to see the Trinity Pageant again. It covers the history of this fishing community
as you walk through the town with the actors. We hiked many trails in this area and in Terra
Nova NP.
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| Puffin |
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| Cape Bonavista Lighthouse |
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| Blue Flag Iris July set a record for the hottest month ever in Newfoundland. Soon we were hunting out local swimming holes to cool off. Most buildings in NL don’t have air conditioning. One night we had planned to go to a dinner theater near Twillingate. As we were getting ready to leave for dinner, Pat closed the RV door on her right thumb, almost severing the end off. Luckily we were only 5 minutes from the hospital. Pat got X-Rays and stitches. Her thumb seems to be recovering well. We heard later that it was 100 degrees inside the dinner theater, but the hospital was air conditioned! I guess Pat will do anything to stay out of the heat. The next day Pat’s foot got stung twice and her ankle swelled up. Not a good week. |
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| I feel at home here |
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| Where pretzels cone from |
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| Western Brook Pond |
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| Cow Moose
We spent a few days in Gros Morne NP, hiking and looking for
moose. We finally saw three. The moose population, particularly in the park,
had become too large and was doing extensive damage to the trees. Several years
ago, the Park began a culling program to bring the number of moose down to a
sustainable level. We notice a significant reduction since our last visit five
years ago. We took the boat trip down the spectacular Western Brook.
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| Sea Arch at Tickle Cove |
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| You will not find this guy at RED LOBSTER |
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| Stairway to Heaven in Red Bay, Labrador
Despite five previous visits to Newfoundland, I had never
been to Labrador. We took our RV on the 90 minute ferry ride across the Strait
of Belle Isle and landed in English speaking Quebec! After lunch in Quebec, we
drove into Labrador. We spent two days exploring the coastal area up to Red Bay,
the end of the paved road. My camera went for a fatal swim as I was crossing
below Overfalls Brook. This provided a good excuse to upgrade to a better,
lighter and smaller camera for our next trip. We relied on Pat’s i-Phone for
the rest of this trip. We were surprised
how different the terrain was from Newfoundland. It is possible to drive from
the coast of Labrador to Montreal, if you don’t mind 500 miles of dusty gravel
roads. In 4-6 years the road will be
paved and Labrador will never be the same. Fortunately, there are plenty of
biting flies in July and August to help control the inflow of visitors.
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| At Baker Brook Falls |
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| Bunchberry ready for Christmas |
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| Bull Moose |
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| Bottle Cove |
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| Fossil
Returning to Newfoundland, we enjoyed several nights of live
Newfoundland music and more hiking in Gros Morne. We also sent some time
exploring around Lark Harbor and Stephenville. During WWII, Stephenville had
the largest US air base outside the US. The Space Shuttle could land on its
huge runway. After six weeks in Newfoundland, we took the ferry back to Nova
Scotia.
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| Coast near Stephenville |
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| Good bye Newfoundland |
