Hey! We are in Newfoundland now. I
guess we were on Prince Edwards Island since our last post, so we
have seen a lot since then.
We forgot to say that we saw two
bear cubs crossing the road when we were leaving the National Park in
New Brunswick. I saw one of them loping across the road, and asked
Kris if she saw it. She hadn't but looked up and there came another
one! No time for pictures, though.
The ferry ride across to Nova
Scotia was OK, It didn't take long, so no excitement. Nova Scotia
is a lot different than PEI. Once we got there, we said “This is
more like it!” The Cape Breton Highlands were amazing, to say the
least. It is a National Park, with scenery that can't adequately be
described. Since our reservations for the ferry to Newfoundland was
already made, we couldn't spend much time, but I'm pretty sure we
will stop by on the way back. Alexander Graham Bell lived in
Baddeck, Nova Scotia for a while, and did a lot of work on aviation
here. There is a very interesting National Historic Site that we
visited. Again, we may go back to spend some more time. Luckily
we bought the Canadian National Park Pass, and don't have to pay for
daily use fees. It has already paid for itself!
On a drizzly day, we camped near
the ferry landing for the NL ferry, and did some laundry and were
able to cook a meal before the real rain started. We got an early
start to catch the ferry, but were able to stop to see the giant
fiddle in Sydney (and use their wi-fi).
The Big Fiddle in Sydney, Nova Scotia
The ferry ride to Newfoundland was about six hours
long, and the air conditioning wasn't working most of the time, so it
was not comfortable at all. I managed to catch some ZZZs, but the
foghorns woke me up when we hit a cloud bank. It was a good thing
that unloading didn't take as long as loading the boat.
Picture taken through the windshield as we were driving onto the ferry to Newfoundland (Kris's travel journal on the dash)
I sure didn't know what to expect
on Newfoundland, but I am impressed. Gros Morne NP is beautiful. We
stopped there for a night, and would have spent more time, but we
wanted to get to a Geocaching Event a few hundred kilometres away, so
we decided to spend more time on the way back to the ferry in a week
or two. It is on the way to the north side of the island where circa
1000 AD Viking village was discovered.
There is an area called Tablelands
in the park where the Earth's mantle is exposed. The hike to a
viewpoint was spectacular, but windy! The American and Canadian
space agencies consider it a Mars analog for the type of rocks
exposed there.
Tablelands trail in Gros Morne National Park
Cool clouds over the mountain
You can see Bonne Bay (part of Gulf of St. Lawrence) from our campsite.
Yesterday, we almost missed the geocaching event we were going to. Our clock said it was 11:15, but my phone
said it was 11:45. We asked someone, and they said that Newfoundland
is ½ hour ahead of the rest of Atlantic time. No reason was given,
but I'm glad we noticed it.
Right now we are at Terra Nova
National park. We spent an hour on a hike around a small lake, and
will be camping tonight (3 ½ weeks in the truck now) before heading
out to Bonavista and St. John's to see what those areas are like.
Kris here:
Brian has covered most of it,
but I have a few words to add.
Cape Breton Island is fabulous. We
really need to spend more time there when we return to Nova Scotia.
The Mackenzie Mountain Highway and the western side of the island are
rugged and scenic.
Prince Edward Island was nice, but more
pastoral than we like...gentler landscape, too.
I didn't know what to expect in
Newfoundland. Gros Morne National Park certainly deserves more of
our time and we plan on visiting again before we drive up to the end
of the Northern Peninsula to visit L'Anse aux Meadows National
Historic Site. We woke up at 5:00 one morning and watched the
sunrise over the mountains from our campsite.
Sunrise from our campsite in Gros Morne National Park
We have crossed the
province from west to east on the Trans Canada Highway. The road is
good and the towns are few and far between. Sparkling lakes and
forested hillsides for the most part. I saw a sign along the highway
today that said “15 moose accidents in 2014; 2 in 2015.” We have
seen numerous “Be Moose Aware” signs, but no actual moose yet. I
suppose it's a good thing we haven't seen any along the highway. We
originally planned to spend a week in Newfoundland, but have extended
our plan to stay almost two weeks. We haven't made a reservation for
the return ferry yet, but need to set a date soon.
Gros Morne National Park
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