Blogs from Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada, North America - page 2

First of all I made a mistake on the last blog. I said we were going to Avalon where Ann of Green Gables was written. That was wrong. The Green Gables house is on Prince Edward Island, which we will be going to later. What is in Avalon is the Colony of Avalon. It is an archeological dig of the village of Avalon from the 1700's. We are awaiting Dorian. It has already hit Halifax and Nova Scotia and is producing a lot of damage. We were supposed to fly tomorrow from Gander to Halifax in the afternoon. We called the airlines and our flight has been cancelled. We suggested that they rebook us from St. John's instead. They said sure, but we couldn't fly until Monday afternoon. So we had to add an extra night ... read more

We drove to Deer Lake. Nothing eventful to talk about. Didn't see any moose. We spent the night in a delightful B&B in Deer Lake. The next morning, we drove through Gros Morne National Park. Beautiful mountains, lots of small fishing villages and lovely coastal roads. We ended up at the Wildberry B&B and lodge. Pretty rustic. Mostly no internet and no cellphone service. We got up the next morning and headed over to L'Anse Meadows. This is a Nordic village built nearly 1 thousand years ago. It is the first landing of Europeans on the North American continent. When they came into contact with the natives, it is believed to be the first meeting of homo sapiens who travelled from Africa and headed east and west through Europe and Asia and over the Bering Straits ... read more

August 30, 2019 – St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador – Weather: 63°F/17°C am, partly cloudy, sun tried to peek out in pm, wind 19.5 mph, humidity 93° Today we were expected to enter the harbour of St. John’s at 8:00 am and be tied up alongside the pier by 10:00. That didn’t happen! As we approached the harbour and not long after picking up the local Pilot the ship began to veer away from the harbour entrance. Shortly thereafter the Captain came on the PA system to announce that due to present weather conditions and those expected to exist when we are scheduled to leave this evening that our stop in St. John’s was cancelled. The Pilot and the HAL’s Fleet Operations office concurred with the Captain’s decision. A tropical depression, Aaron, was approaching from the ... read more

We left Halifax on Thursday. The day before it was almost 80 degrees. Thursday morning it was 55 degrees and raining. We left around 1:00 pm and flew to Gander, Newfoundland. For those of you who don't remember, Gander was the airport that received 225 planes and 6,000 people after 9-11. They took strangers into their houses, hotels, resturants and schools. We visited the Aviation Museum and went to the Silent Witness Memorial. It is a memorial to honor 225 American soldiers whose plane crashed on takeoff in December 1985. All perished. Tomorrow, we leave for Deer Lake, which is 185 miles west in Labrador.... read more

August 3, 2019 – Corner Brook, NL - Weather: 77°F/25°C, Bright sun in am - partly cloudy skies in pm, wind 8.1 mph, humidity 78° After crossing the Gulf of St. Lawrence overnight we docked in Corner Brook on the western coast of Newfoundland. The area has been inhabited for over 3,500 years, first by the Maritime Archaic people, the French, Spanish, Portuguese and the British. All were attracted to the area for its fishing, and whaling. This region was extensively mapped by Captain James Cook in 1767, and there is a monument to the famous explorer and cartographer overlooking the city. Our tour today was to Gros Morne National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. This driving tour stopped at the Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse, where our daughter-in-law’s great uncle was the lighthouse keeper. We ... read more