Newfoundland 2017

July 20, 2017  Thursday Raining pretty good this morning.  We planned to head on to Doyles, NL today.  It is only 1-1/2 hours drive down TCH 1.  Since we had some time we took a trip into Stephenville and did some shopping at the Walmart and the Dominion, the grocery store. As we drove back into the campground we passed a motorhome checking in.  We unloaded our packages and started putting things away when we noticed the motorhome had stopped in front of our campsite.  They just sat there.  Jim went out and, sure enough, they had been assigned our site!  Jim told him we were just getting ready to pull out so they parked out of the way and waited for us to leave.  Never had that happen before. We were fortunate that the rain stopped before we had to go.  It is no fun hooking up the car in the rain.  The trip to Doyles was beautiful and scenic.  We are camping in Grand Codroy RV Park.  The original owner was nam...

July 19, 2017   Wednesday Got an early start and headed for Kippens, NL.  We have reservations at Zenzville RV Campground just outside Stephenville.  Took 460 off of TCH 1 and wish we hadn’t…it was a very narrow local road with enough bumps to loosen teeth!  We made it to the campground just fine and camped in site 6.  Very cloudy day but we set out on an excursion after setting up the rig. We continued on the 406 to make the loop around the small round peninsula which sticks out into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  The trip was scenic and up and down and all around.  Unfortunately there was never a public area to pull over and take photos of the cliffs and the beautiful coastline we saw.  Once we drove down a steep hill and at the bottom we saw a HUGE rock and gravel quarry.  It was perched up on a cliff and was amazing to see.  We drove right through the area and was amazed by the size of the place.  Huge trucks were unlo...

July 18, 2017  Tuesday Another sunny and warmer morning.  We had an easy and beautiful trip to Deer Lake.  We are camping the night at Gateway to the North RV Park in Deer Lake.  Tomorrow we will head further south and make a stop in Stephenville.  We have finally met summer…it is 87 degrees here in Deer Lake today.

July 17, 2017  Monday We drove back into town and to Tim Horton’s for a cup of coffee and the internet.  It was a great place to check email and make phone calls with wifi calling.  After that we headed back to the lighthouse to check out the waters…we expect to see some more whales and icebergs.  We were not disappointed.  Today is actually warmer and very sunny.  While up there we had lunch at The Lightkeeper’s.  Jim had a BLT and I had fish tacos!  We walked around some more, took some photos and checked out the gift shop which also had a small interpretive center about whales. We have one more thing we’ve not done in St. Anthony so today is the day for that.  We drove back into town and to the Grenfell Historic Properties.  We’ve been here before to connect with the wifi but hadn’t check it all out.  There is a museum in this building with lots of displays and information about Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, MD.  D...

July 16, 2017  Sunday We have to drive about one and one/half hours to St.Barbe to catch the ferry to Labrador.  We are sailing at 10:30 am and return on the 6 pm.  Very quick trip but worth going.  The ferry crossing was fine even with the very overcast skies.  We drove to Point Amour Lighthouse and toured there.  We actually were taken all the way to the top.  Walked around inside the glassed light tower and looked out over the ocean.  This lighthouse is the second tallest in Canada and is still working as a lighthouse.  Most of the lighthouses have been shut down by the previous government.  With all the new technology it was decided they were now unnecessary.  The guide at the lighthouse told me that the Gulf of St. Lawrence was still frozen in June and a ice breaker was brought in to break it all up so the ferry could run and the fishermen could get out of harbor.  Hard to believe but true. On the way to the l...

July 15, 2017  Saturday Today is another beautiful cool morning.  We drove to L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site.  There is a beautiful visitor’s center with artifacts of Norse origin.  We had a wonderful guide to take us through the outside walking paths and explaining the archaeological digs back in the 1970’s and the ongoing exploration of the area.  There is a recreated Norse village with people dressed in costumes and tell about life at that time.  Well done.  We even saw a moose…our first since being in Newfoundland. After leaving there we drove to Norstead to see the Snoddi, a Norse ship.  There is also a Norse village there with costumed people giving demonstrations and talking about how the people lived in that time. Time for lunch.  We found The Norseman (of course) for lunch.  We had fish!  The view from the restaurant was amazing.  It was nice to eat some more good food and rest awhile enjoying t...