Lots to catch up on after our trip to Labrador, so here goes...
Friday - We left Daisy at Triple Falls and took Toad to L’Anse aux Meadows which was about 30 miles away. Along the way we stopped at Cape Onion and Raleigh where we bought some homemade jams made from local fruits (partridgeberry and bakeapple) and had a nice visit and got some local knowledge from the owner of the little grocery/hardware store. Arrived at the L’Anse aux Meadows settlement which is a national historic site and where Leif Eiriksson’s and 60-90 people set up camp upon arriving from Greenland 1000 years ago. This Viking group arrived 500 years before Columbus discovered America. It was interesting walking around this sturdy encampment of turf-walled buildings overlooking the Strait of Belle Isle which was reconstructed in the 1970’s after many years ago, artifacts were found on this very site confirming this is where the Vikings first set foot on these shores. Who would’ve thought that the nomads would find their way and walk the path where Leif Eiriksson once trod? Unreal…..
The Viking Settlement
Mark had to "duck" to get thru the door frame....Vikings must've been short?
Went onto Norsetead which is a tiny village where the Norsemen settled. We had excellent lunches at the Norseman – overlooking the water. Back to St. Lunaire-Griquet where we shopped at The Dark Tickle – more jams. Blueberries are very common here as is the crowberry.
Drove back to Daisy, hooked up Toad and on our way. 75 miles later we are in the Pigeon Cove RV Park in St. Barbe (Barb) and tomorrow we’ll board the ferry for Labrador at 8 AM. Had dinner tonight at The Dockside and this mural was on the wall which all boaters should and will enjoy....
Boys and their toys!
St. Barbe is a charming little town with some very nice homes, but as we were driving around, kept seeing “Welcome” signs and the name “Dredge” or “The Dredges” and then all the family members listed. Occasionally you would see another name, but by far, the Dredge name was most common in this little berg. Also, lots of “Welcome Home 2012” signs on garage doors and banners flying??? Okay….the gist is that several of these little towns have a celebration of where they welcome home all their past residents who came from near and far to meet family and old friends after having been gone any length of time. For the first time ever, St. Barbe had this celebration a week ago (Monday-Saturday) and it was a huge hit. Anchor Point, just a few miles away is having their “Welcome Home” gathering this week. As for all the Dredges…..well, there are a lot of them here and because of the welcome home celebration, many folks put out these signs (permanent – nicely engraved, carved, whatever) for a warm welcome (and conversation piece for we visitors).
Saturday - We are up and going in Toad to the ferry office across the street by 6:50 and then boarded the ferry around 7:30 for the 1.5 hour trip to Labrador. Lots of families on this trip with their cars, RV’s, semi-trucks, etc. Had coffee and shared a cinnamon roll along the way and read. The “Apollo” actually docked in Quebec, we went to Toad and drove a short distance and we were in Labrador. Now we’re talking – REALLY remote, but such beautiful mountains and curvy roads with the ocean on one side till we went inland a bit. Stopped for breakfast at the Seaview Inn in Forteau and then onto Red Bay, a former whaling village that was in its prime in the 1500-1600’s. This National Historic Site was a very interesting museum enjoyed along with a 30-minute movie. There are only 300 residents who live there now. Red Bay is the end of the paved roads – from then on…..gravel all the way with little fishing towns few and far between. Red Bay was the end for us!
The Pinware River along the way to Red Bay
Red Bay fishing village
This path covers a lot of territory. While Labrador’s land mass is much larger than Newfoundland, it has only 30,000 residents (we do not know where these folks are), whereas there are 500,000+ Newfies.
We are spending the night in West St. Modeste at the Ocean View Resort. I was hoping we could stay at a B and B which are everywhere in Newfoundland, but only the very sparse inn, “resort”, etc. is available up here. Not quite the same description we have of a resort back home! The few B and B’s we did see were quite a ways off our route back to the ferry. Most of them are in small homes where the owners have an extra bedroom or two to rent out and add to their income. But our room overlooks the Straits of Labrador!!!
Had an early dinner at the restaurant here at the Ocean View – my seafood chowder was hearty and delicious and Mark enjoyed his pork chops. No lobster up here and not that much in Newfoundland – waters are too cold! Cod and halibut are the popular fish in Labrador and lots of roast beef and chicken (cod tongue, too….NO thanks)! Mashed potatoes are always available and poutine (French fries with cheese and gravy) – good ole comfort food and a heart attack waiting to happen!
We went to 7:00 Mass at Our Lady of Labrador which was down the road a shrt bit! Next weekend, they‘ll just have a communion service as Father will be hours away for Mass at another church – they are few and very far between!
One thing we noticed both in Newfoundland and Labrador is that their elementary schools are called an “Academy” and high schools are a “Collegiate”.
Definitely cool up here and been wearing jeans and layers.
Crafts are a “big” thing here, too – all locally made and many homes, visitor centers, museums, and little shops have their “crafts” for sale with no sales tax versus other things we buy at 15% sales tax.
When we come into a new little cove, village, town….we see the “Welcome to our Tidy Town” and then the year – guess this is special recognition given to those towns keeping things neat ‘n tidy! Coves, capes, bays and harbors are scattered here and there, but lots of trees and water in between! As I said before, we have no idea where most of those 30,000 people live.
We've seen 2 or 3 Cohen’s furniture stores here – just like we used to have back home!
Sunday - We left our resort in the fog this morning around 8:30 and drove to L’Anse aux Loop for breakfast at the Northern Lights and finally able to get online. Nice article about Ryan becoming a Blue Angel in our paper.
Blanc Sablon, Quebec is where the 1:00 ferry took us back to St. Barbe. It was raining when we got to Daisy, hooked up and on our way to Cow Head at the Sea Breeze where we also spent last Wednesday night. Rained heavy at times and then sun came out – beautiful….but that lasted maybe 10 minutes and then it started raining again……
Have a great week!
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