You Can't Get Lost in Newfoundland

One of many roadside gardens that we saw

As we traveled up the western coast of Newfoundland past Gros Morne to the town of St. Anthony, we began to see roadside gardens. Even though we’d heard about the gardens from other travelers it was still a surprise when they started popping up by the side of the road. As we drove through an area that looked completely uninhabited we’d see a fenced plot of vegetables—usually potatoes—just beyond the shoulder of the road. Who planted them? Who tended them? No other travelers we had talked seemed to know. When we questioned the young woman at the Visitors Center near St. Anthony she told us that they were planted on “Crown Land” or land that’s owned by the government. As she explained it to us, that land can be used free of charge and is available to anyone.  

Fishing Point B&B, which was the childhood home of the owner

At the B&Bs we stayed at in St. Anthony we had a chance to talk at length with local people. Peggy and Trudy, who worked at one B&B, were happy to chat with us and tell us what life in that part of Newfoundland is like. They said people leave their cars and houses unlocked. In fact, Peggy said that people leave their cabins in the woods open so that if anyone needs shelter during bad weather they can come in and make themselves at home. Peggy added that if you want something that someone else has they’ll give it to you. They both agreed that people there have little interest in owning land. In the fishing culture, land is just something you have to take care of. 

Our view of the sunset from the deck of Fishing Point B&B in St. Anthony

For generations, people on the part of the coast of Newfoundland where we were have depended on fishing for a livelihood. We learned that the fishermen built their houses right on the water for easy access to their boats and had no use for land because everything they did was tied to the water. 

Cod drying on tables outside

Cod was THE fish in Newfoundland and Labrador. We saw cod being dried in the traditional way outside in the sun. We were told that the dried cod was like cardboard but when it was soaked in water it puffed back up. Even now the Cod Moratorium from the 1990s is a painful topic to the people there. Families literally lost their livelihood overnight and had to find new ways of making a living. Today estimates of the cod numbers are all over the place—some say there are still no cod, others that the cod numbers have increased significantly. In either case there are strict limits on the time period and quotas that the fishermen can fish for cod for even their own use.

We were told that Gaelic speakers in Ireland who refused to give up their language were sent to Newfoundland to survive or perish on their own. Today the Canadian government sometimes relocates those living on islands off the Newfoundland coast because it’s too expensive for the government to provide services and utilities to such tiny groups of people.

Indeed, most of the communities we were in were very small and populated with a few families who had lived there for generations. Everyone we talked to seemed to live surrounded by various family members. It was interesting to hear that some of the old customs continue today including the tradition of costumed Mummers visiting village houses at Christmas. 

Yes, this is the size of a town in northern Newfoundland

Perched on the rocks overlooking Goose Cove

During our stay  in St. Anthony we hiked up the trail at Goose Cove for a spectacular panoramic view of the cove and the shore.  What started as a short climb to the crest of the hill turned into a multi-hour trek as we kept hiking from one peak to the next, convinced that just one more peak would take us to the very highest point overlooking the ocean. Fortunately, we’d come prepared with backpacks and hiking boots. Unfortunately, we’d left all the gear in the trunk of the car since we only planned on walking a short distance. Our “short walk” turned into four hours of hiking through lush wildflowers overlooking the ocean.

On the other side of this hill at Goose Cove is an 1800 foot cliff down to the ocean

Winters are long and harsh in the area but are surprisingly a time that the people along the coast of Newfoundland look forward to. That’s when they “Ski-doo” on their snowmobiles back into the woods to their winter cabins and spend as much time as possible snowmobiling, hunting, ice fishing, and cutting wood.  The winter storms can be swift and severe so when one hits, people must stay in place. After an incident where kids were stranded at school overnight in St. Anthony by a sudden storm, the school instituted a policy that students had to take bedding to school to prepare for next storm. Due to climate change in the last few years polar bears are beginning to show up occasionally, usually because they get stranded on a chunk of thinner iceberg that breaks off early forcing them to swim onto shore on Newfoundland where they are tranquilized and helicoptered out.

Photo opportunities are everywhere in Newfoundland

We saw firsthand how friendly Newfoundlanders are one day in St. Anthony when Russ was driving slowly down a street, preparing to pull into a parking lot. Seeing the car behind us follow us into the lot, Russ jumped to the conclusion  that the guy was going to give him grief for driving so slow. But no, the guy—who saw our Washington tags—just rolled down his window and asked if we were lost, ready to take time out of his day to give help to clueless strangers .

Despite the remoteness and harshness of the land, every single person we talked to in Newfoundland said they loved living there and wouldn’t live anywhere else. 

Taking a break on our hike at Goose Cove

Luckily for area seals the "Seal Flippers" are really fried dough

 

 

Traveling on The Rock

Just one of the RV lines waiting to board the ferry

For our adventure in Newfoundland we had to take a six-hour ferry ride from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Port Aux Basques, the entry point to western Newfoundland. So there we were at the ferry terminal at 8:00 am—me, Russ, the motorhome, car dolly, and car, all 59’ of us—lined up in the RV line to board the ferry. It was a pretty amazing process to see how they loaded everything onboard from minicars to semis. 

Packed in like sardines on the ferry

The stevedores packed all those vehicles in like they were working a Rubic’s cube. At the end of our ferry ride as we pulled into Port Aux Basques I could see why they call Newfoundland “The Rock”. The lighthouse standing in the harbor as we cruised in was built on a massive rock island with a cluster of tidy houses scattered on a rocky shore behind it. 

First look at Newfoundland from the ferry

View of Port Aux Basques where the ferry pulls in to Newfoundland

 Like many first-timers planning a trip to Newfoundland, we had originally figured about eight days to travel through the entire province. It quickly became clear after talking to campers we met who were on their way back from Newfoundland that we’d need more time than that so we tore up our calendar and decided to leave our return date open-ended.

In the end we chose to stick to the Viking Trail portion of Newfoundland that winds along the western coast with a side trip to the southern coast of Labrador. Both Russ and I wanted to slow down our travels enough to really explore the coves and fishing villages and to talk to people living in them to get an understanding about what it’s really like to live in such a remote place.

Tour boat on Western Brook Pond

Marveling at the massive mountains and colorful wildflowers along the road, we took off on the one and only highway in the province. We immediately noticed the lack of commercialization. There were no billboards or fast food joints along the way, just miles of gorgeous scenery dotted with occasional mom-and-pop B&Bs or local convenience stores.

Our first destination was Gros Morne National Park, which reminded me a little bit of Yellowstone, primarily because it has such distinct and unique geologic areas. We hiked in for a boat trip on Western Brook Pond which is a deep water-filled canyon with 2,300’ steep walls carved through the rock by glaciers. At one time it had been a fjord but since it had closed off to the ocean and is filled with freshwater instead of saltwater it is now classified as a “pond” or what we call a lake.  The water is crystal clear and so pure that it has hardly any mineral content. While we were on the boat tour we were surprised to learn that the Appalachian Mountains extend all the way into Newfoundland and Labrador.

A completely different part of Gros Morne is the Tablelands area. The Tablelands is a group of mountains created when the earth’s mantle was pushed up above its crust millions of years ago. According to the Visitors Guide, the Tablelands are “a slice of ocean floor”. They look very other-worldly: flat plateaus of orange-brown rock formations dropped into the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately it was raining on the day we went to the Tablelands so we didn’t get any good close up photos but we do have one where the Tablelands are in the background.

The Tablelands form the golden plateau in the distant right of the photo

Our home base during our stay in Newfoundland was near Rocky Harbour. One of the things people said we absolutely shouldn’t miss was the local band Anchors Aweigh. They’re so popular they sell out three times a week and we had to go two hours early to the show to get good seats. And they really are that good. They play traditional Newfoundland music but with a modern twist like playing a traditional song like Led Zeppelin would play it. They also incorporate jokes into their act. My favorite was “What do the Titanic and the Maple Leafs have in common? They both look good until they hit the ice.” 

Playing the ugly stick

The band also did an impressive bit where they asked the audience members what province or state they were from and played a relevant song for that place—Jimi Hendrix for Seattle, Margaritaville for Florida, etc. It was fun to see the more traditional parts of their gig too—playing the traditional “ugly stick” and ending the night with jigs that got people out on the dance floor.

Rocky Harbour was a big town compared to most that we saw. Usually the town consisted of a small group of houses in a cove—sometimes as few as five or six—with a few small, open fishing boats that we couldn’t believe the fisherman actually take out on the ocean. There are no chain stores or restaurants in any of the towns, no supermarkets, only small local groceries—with no fresh tomatoes, a real shock to me—and maybe a B&B or two that look like all the other houses. The houses are small and modest saltbox-type houses that often jut up right to the water. 

Even ordinary scenes are beautiful in Newfoundland

For two people who don’t like to fight crowds it was a spoiler of a trip—most of the time we would be driving the only car on the road for miles in either direction. Unlike in the States there were long stretches of beaches that are uninhabited and undeveloped.

Canada provides a free guidebook for Newfoundland and Labrador that has absolutely gorgeous photos of the provinces. And in this case the photos didn’t lie. At almost every turn we took the scenery looked postcard perfect. Even with our little point-and-shoot camera we got lots of good shots.  

We decided to leave the RV behind, storing it at the campground at Gros Morne, while we left to travel to the heart of the Viking Trail in Newfoundland and over into Labrador.

A "hanging valley" in Western Brook Pond

The "Tin Man" Rock in Western Brook Pond

   

Is Russ the Real Jason Bourne?

You’d think after knowing someone for 46 years and being married to him for over 42 years, you’d know everything about a person but I’ve made a surprising discovery about Russ since we’ve been on the road.

The man notices EVERYTHING and is ready to deal with any situation that comes up. Remember the scene in the first Bourne movie where Bourne and Marie are sitting in the diner on their trip to Paris? Bourne has instinctively checked out all the cars in the parking lot, noticed the position and demeanor of every person in the diner, and has a plan to react to any situation. It suddenly dawned on me the other day that Russ is like a non-violent Jason Bourne.

I always knew Russ was observant about cars. He can tell you the model of a passing car at night just by the shape of the headlights. When our kids were teenagers they knew he'd  catch any their misadventures in the car by spotting every tiny change in its condition. (Indention on the headliner in the car? Oops, a skateboard mysteriously hit it.)

Russ explaining to our guide how the light bulbs in the lighthouse function

But what I’ve learned recently is just how much Russ sees: Small debris on the road. The tire alignment of the car/truck ahead of us. The growth pattern of the trees by the road. What kind of jet is flying overhead. How the lighthouse is constructed. Wear patterns on the floor of a building.  

And he doesn’t just see what’s around us—he also plans on how to react if there’s a glitch like that misaligned tire on the car ahead of us blows. Is there room on the shoulder to swerve onto? Oncoming cars potentially blocking the other lane? 

I almost gave Russ a heart attack when we were hiking on a hill overlooking a cove in Newfoundland. From his angle of view it looked like I was perched on the very edge of a sheer cliff above the rocky coast. Given my record of klutziness it seemed entirely possible that I could easily lose my balance and drop right off the edge. Luckily, the rock I was on was really back farther from the edge than it appeared and I was never in any danger. But before he knew that, Russ was mentally searching for ways to get me off that cliff without startling me into a fall. 

From this angle it looked like I was one bad move from a free-fall.

So now I know what it’s like to live with my own, personal Jason Bourne. (Plus, I know I’m biased but I think Russ is just as cute as Matt Damon.)

Walking Through History

While we were in Nova Scotia we spent a fascinating day at the Fortress of  Louisbourg National Historic Park. Although the original fort and surrounding buildings—built in the 1700s by the French—were destroyed by the British, they have been meticulously rebuilt to be historically accurate using over 750,000 documents from France including the original building plans. 

Park staff dressed in period costumes acted as reenactors, staying in character as they answered questions about life at the fortress during its heyday. The Fortress of  Louisbourg was an important source of wealth for France since it was a key supplier of the dried cod that was so valuable in Europe. As we looked out over the harbor I tried to imagine it filled with 150 ships as it was when the fortress was in use.

Food was an interesting part of our experience there. We bought bread that had been baked using the recipes from the 1700s in brick ovens built using the original specifications. We learned that the whiteness of the bread was a sign of what class you were in: rye/wheat bread for the lower class, white bread for the upper class, and a mix of wheat flour with as much white flour as the buyer could afford for the middle class. (Side note: we bought some middle class and upper class bread and both were delicious.)

We watched them fire the cannon as they did in the 1700s.

We also had a period-correct lunch, eating at a common table with only a spoon to use as a utensil. Russ’ lunch was cod with turnips, carrots, and middle-class bread. Alas, there were apparently no vegans in the 1700s—at least none by choice—so my lunch was the middle-class bread with cheese. Our table mates were a very friendly Canadian family who quizzed us on why American politics are so partisan and angry. We couldn’t give them any answer that made sense.

Woman making lace in the living room. The convalescing bed is in the background.

We also saw something in the Fortress that was a first for me. In an officer’s house one of the reenactors answered our question about a bed in the downstairs living area by explaining that it was a bed for convalescing. She pointed out that disease and illness rates were quite high in those days so there might often be someone in the family who needed special care in a warm, convenient location. She mentioned that there was a higher risk of death for children since they often developed dysentery at the time they were weaned and started eating solid foods.

The harbor in the background used to be filled with ships.

Before we left the Fortress Russ believes he discovered an ancestor of mine. The records of early fort residents included a Jeanne DeFriche, which is pretty darn close to my maiden name—DeFries. Who knows? Maybe my family tree has a few branches in Nova Scotia.

Russ with poutine

After we left the Fortress of  Louisbourg Russ got his first taste of poutine. We’d never heard of poutine until we were at Niagra Falls where we saw it on a menu and still had no idea what it was although I was pretty sure it wasn't even close to being vegetarian. On the other hand, Brack, our son, had heard all about poutine from some of his coworkers and he wanted Russ to try it so when we saw a food truck with a sign for poutine we pulled over and put in an order for it. Turns out poutine is French fries topped with grated cheese and smothered with seasoned gravy. By the time Russ got his order, people were lined up for poutine. 

From what we’ve seen Canadians love gravy—in addition to poutine we’ve seen gravy on hot dogs, hamburgers, sandwiches, just about anything on the menu. We’ve even seen gravy-flavored Lay’s potato chips right next to the  roast chicken-flavored chips!