On the way here one of our group that departed ahead of us was pulled off to the side of the road. They radioed to us they were okay and someone was helping them. We found out at the campground that part of their tow bar assembly broke and a local man that was traveling behind them stopped to help and he was a certified welder. So he took the piece to his welding shop and welded it back and they still arrived at the campground before the last of our group. What are the odds of that happening and we were not traveling in a highly populated area but it was at the edge of a small community.
We set up in site 32. I found out there was fresh made bread in the little campground office so I got two loaves, still warm from the oven. I asked the lady how many she bakes a day. She said it varies but she was on her third batch of 8 loaves now. I told her our group likes fresh bread. I'm sure those will be gone as quick as they are ready.
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| Newfoundland - USA - Canada Flags |
After walking around the campground (Lena found 3 painted rocks) we picked up Katheline and rode to the end of the Peninsula, which was only about a 2 miles from our campground. Just a few yards before the end of the road we spotted a little business selling home made jams, cupcakes, pies and crafts. We stopped only to discover none of us had any money with us. Lena and Katheline checked the place out and were excited so we drove back to the RVs to get our money and picked up Gloria and returned and bought all their pies but one, several jars of jam, blueberry cupcake, some home made earrings and a scarf. The young girl running the place said her grandmother made the pies and jams and her aunt made the earrings and other crafts in the shop. We told her we would tell the others in our group and they may come on Friday since tomorrow we have a full day planned. She said she would restock by Friday. The homemade pies were only $5.50 Canadian which is only about $4.15 US.
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| Jumping off place |
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| Fishing Stage |
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| Jumping off place |
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| Leif Ericcson |
We all met in St. Anthony, about 25 miles away, which is the only town in the area, for a Viking Feast at Lighthouse Cafe and Viking Feast. The entrance to the room was made to look like you were walking into a cave. All the waiters and waitresses were dressed in period costume and acted out a little skit before the meal which was served buffet style. They placed appetizers on the table that was cod tongue and a little dried up fish that looked like a starved sardine. It was Capelin. YUK! The cod tongue was okay but we didn't try the capelin. The buffet was good including the Moose stew.
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| Capelin and Cod Tongue |
Lena and I left early after we ate to take Emma back to her motorhome. She has not been feeling well for a couple of days now and is not eating much due to pain in her jaw. They were going to do another skit after the meal and it was going to get loud in the room and we knew Emma was not going to enjoy it the way she was feeling and we weren't either knowing she was feeling bad. The Wagonmasters said they would take her back since it was their job to take care of problems but we told them it was okay, we didn't mind taking her back.
One thing we continue to notice in Canada is the lack of trash on the side of the road. It is almost non-existent. We rarely see a piece of trash. When we were on Price Edward Island our local guide told us they had banned plastic shopping bags on the island July 1st, The stores could use up their existing stock but when the stock was used up that was the end of plastic shopping bags for the island. It also appears most if not all areas use a garbage service for household garbage. We see wooden boxes, mostly an octagon shaped slated container where they place their garbage in front of their house to be picked up. So there are no garbage cans setting out and people aren't hauling garbage in their truck where some of it blows out onto the roads like people do in the USA. So that eliminates a lot of trash on the roadside. It appears to me that many Americans are loosing their pride in America. We see road signs here that say “It's Yours Take Care of It”. What a concept. Okay I'll get off my soapbox now.
Day 39 Thursday July 18, 2019 A full day was planned for us today, starting about 10AM just 3 miles down the road at the Norstead Viking Port. This is a recreated Norse seafarers (often referred to as Vikings) village. They landed here on the tip of the Northern Peninsular of Newfoundland and built a village. The guide and the Interpreters in the various buildings were all in period costume. The buildings are built with a sharp pitched roof that goes down to ground so the roofs are both the roof and the walls. The roofs are covered with several inches of dirt to provide insulation from the frigid Winter winds. The first building was a ship storage building and a replica Viking ship was inside. It was named the “snorri”. It was sailed across from Greenland in 1998 using only a canvas sail just as the Vikings would have done. It took 87 days and a crew of 9.
The next house was the Chieftans House and was the biggest of all the buildings except the boat house. It had three main rooms, consisting of a trading room, cooking room and room where women were making items of clothing as was done during the days of the Vikings. The beds were built along the walls on both sides of the cooking room. Each room had a heating source. The only light into the buildings were through vents in the roof that let the smoke from the heating/cooking fires out and the single exterior door to each room. There was a women in the cooking room cooking bread over the fire and had samples for us to try with some three berry jam.
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| Brown the Viking |
There was a church and a blacksmith building also. The bellows for the blacksmith was hand pumped. The Blacksmith demonstrated making ships nails like the Vikings used to build ships with. He said the blacksmith was a wealthy person because his occupation was so important but he didn't live long because of all the smoke he inhaled in his job.
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| Church |
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| Church |
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| Hard Benches |
When we came out of the blacksmith's building we spotted a whale off the shore blowing and flapping his tail.
They demonstrated how to throw a small ax and several of us tried it. I did and was able to stick the ax in the target on the second try.
They had some sheep, chickens and a pig and a small vegetable garden like the Vikings would have had.
Then we went just across the hill to the Norseman Restaurant for lunch. After lunch the lady that owns the restaurant said she has been running it for 25 years and she also showed us the 4 children's books that she has written.
Then we rode up the road a short distance to the L'Anse Aux Meadows Visitor's Center. It was built up on a hill above where the actual Viking Village was discovered in 1960. This is the first authenticated Norse site found in North America and could be Leif Ericsson's short lived Vinland camp. They had several artifacts that were discovered in the village location and some replica boats and other related historical information. We watched a really nice film about the history of the area then a guide took us out to the locations of the actual village and explained where each building had been located and also explained some of the native vegetation there. They also had a Chieftans House with an interpreter cooking bread over an open fire on a long handled griddle like the one we saw this morning. When she got it cooked she cut it up and passed it and a bowl of partridgeberry jam around for us to try.
The next room had a few old tools including a replica Spring Pole Lathe which caught my eye since I own and use three modern lathes. A Spring Pole Lathe requires the operator to use their foot to pump a pedal up and down to made the piece of wood turn so it can be shaped.
Then we saw another blacksmith making ship nails.
After we returned to the campground and dropped off the two people that rode with us this morning Lena and I drove down a few of the roads that lead off the only main road in the area to see what we could see. All the roads came to a dead end within a mile since the peninsula is so narrow here. We found another French Bread Oven only smaller than the one we saw demonstrated in Port au Choix a few days ago.
We returned to the campground and went to the little campground office to use the WiFi a few minutes and get a Moose Burger.
Day 40 Friday July 19, 2019 We awoke to a slight drizzle of rain and 49 degree temperatures this morning. We had our drivers meeting for tomorrows trip at 9:15AM in the cold wind as this campground does not have a building we can use as many of the others have.
Then Lena and I drove the 25 miles to Tim Horton's in St. Anthony to get a Latte and cinnamon bun and use their WIFI to update the Blog and upload our photos. This was the first time they served the Lattes in a real ceramic coffee cup opposed to a paper cup. The WIFI was the slowest we have ever used in a Tim Horton's so I struggled to get 3 days of the Blog posted and that was with limiting the number of photos I posted. If we ever get to use some good WIFI I may go back and add some photos. If I do I will add a note as to what days I have added photos.
We are scheduled to take an Optional Whale Watching and Ice Berg viewing boat tour from here in town at 3:30PM. With the cold temperatures and fairly strong winds we were a little skeptical so we drove to the boat location to take a look at it. We had been told that all of our group could not get inside of the cabin out of the wind. When we saw the size of the boat and knew the water was going to be rough with the winds we decided that we weren't going. So I sent the Wagonmasters a text let them know.
We drove up to Goose Cove to check out the little community and took a hiking trail up to a point overlooking the bay in the strong winds. Pretty little community located in some pretty rough rocky surroundings.
We returned to the campground to relax for our 224 mile trip tomorrow back down the same road we took coming here. There is only one road to where we are and it has some rough potholes and bumps so we will be driving kind of slow and it will probably take about 7 hours instead of about 4 hours at normal good road speed.
Day 41 Saturday July 20, 2019 Well today it was 46 degrees at 8AM but the wind is not blowing hard so it feels much better than yesterday morning. We packed up and headed to Gros Morne Campground in Rocky Harbour. We passed it on the way up the Peninsula a few days ago. We saw two huge icebergs out in the Gulf of St. Lawrence River as we were driving. We stopped about 2PM for fuel and lunch before arriving at the campground about 3:30PM so it only took us 6 hours even with a fuel/lunch break. We were assigned site 46. Our section of the campground is entirely gravel and the sites are fairly level which is good and we have full hookups (water, sewer and electricity). So as soon as we got setup Lena started doing our laundry. We have not had full hookups or as they refer to it here – three services, in the last three campgrounds.
We drove out of the campground to Rocky Harbor and cruised through the little town. We quickly realized that this little town sitting at the end of a Cove is a popular tourist destination. Everywhere we looked was a cottage or Inn for rent and most of them had No Vacancy signs out. We went onto the Lobster Cove Lighthouse which is sitting up on a rocky outcropping with the attached Light Keeper's quarters. The views from the lighthouse out over the cove and back to the little town of Rocky Harbor were very nice.
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| Balsam Fir |
Last year in North Carolina and parts of Virginia where we went, there was a painted rock craze going on. I think it has about fizzled out back home but it must be in full bloom here because Lena and some other ladies in the group have found several starting in Point Aux Choix. Lena had found 17. Just today she found 5 at the Lighthouse. She has a bunch of paint stuff at home to paint them but didn't bring any so she has used a scripto pen to make a few a leave. Some of the ones she had found she is going to leave along our route.
We found the Visitor's Center but got there just before it closed so we will check it out tomorrow. The Wagonmasters said we should really visit it before doing too much exploring. So we drove down to another little town called Norris Point which also sits right on a cove. Both of these little towns are really pretty, with the water on one side and then turn around and you can see the Long Range Mountains on the other side of the only through road here.
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| Finally saw some wildlife |
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