Day 1 (July 19, 2020): On the Road Again!
Back on March 12th, we cancelled our Qatar / Seychelles March Break trip at the last minute, as the pandemic was declared on March 11th. We knew, however, that we had Armenia / Georgia / Azerbijan to look forward to in July. As the spring wore on and summer bloomed, an overseas trip still seemed impossible, especially given the requirement to quarantine when returning from abroad. (Plus, all three countries are remaining closed to the outside until August 1st.) And then came along the Atlantic Bubble on July 3rd. Pam has been saying for years, "Forget Europe, I'd love to see the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland!" In a vein of "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade," I whipped up a week on The Rock.
Our loyal friends, Mel and Juliet, picked us up at 10AM and dropped us at a near-deserted Halifax Airport. Our Air Canada Express flight to Deer Lake left at noon, half an hour late and packed to the rafters. But everyone wore a mask, and I heard only one sneeze on the entire flight. In flight service comprised a zip-lock bag with a bottle of water, a mask, gloves and sanitizer.
Arrival in Deer Lake required everyone to line up and fill in a declaration / contact tracing form. We threw our bags into our rental car which, by a bizarre coincidence, was the very same VW Jetta (with Nova Scotia plates) that I had rented in St. John's last weekend! I kid you not. After picking up supplies for tomorrow's hike, we hit Route 430 north, through some nasty construction areas, and then into the stunning -- STUNNING!! -- Gros Morne National Park.
Every kilometre unfolded more dramatic scenery, rivers, bays, and mountains before our eyes. Before long, we saw the incomparable Gros Morne Mountain to the right. And we gulped heavily, thinking, "We have to climb THAT tomorrow?!"
By 4PM, we pulled into Rocky Harbour, the accommodation and restaurant centre of the National Park. Something seemed immediately "off", however: the town, which is normally bustling in July, was quiet, largely closed, and sort of eerie. It just seemed all wrong for this time of year.
We checked into our all-but-empty hotel and set out to explore the beautiful town with its semicircular harbour, a thick fogbank hanging a few kilometers off the coast. The spectacular Tablelands hold a prominent spot in the background to the south of town, while Gros Morne itself raises like a bald mound of tundra behind the centre of town.
A Newfie "Jigg's Dinner" at the ever-popular Earle's Restaurant provided the piece-de-resistance for Day One of this vacation.
Tomorrow starts early, with a 16km round-trip / eight-hour hike to the summit of Gros Morne. At 807m, it is the second highest peak in Atlantic Canada and will definitely provide a huge challenge to these fairweather hikers.
Masks are required in all Canadian Airports now. This scene would have been unthinkable a year ago.
The 78-seat Dash 8-400 was packed. But a smooth ride.
The flight path hugged the north coast of Cape Breton, over the Cabot Strait, along the Long Range Mountains and the Humber River, to Deer Lake.
The compact Deer Lake Regional Airport. We were glad not to have to endure a series of flights overseas this summer.
I did a double-take when I arrived at our Hertz rental car -- it was the same car (with a Nova Scotia plate) I had rented last weekend in St. John's!
No trouble to know you're in Moose Country! Newfoundland has 525,000 people and 125,000 moose! No lie. A sign a little further along warned there have been five moose collisions in Gros Morne this year.
Woo-hoo! We're in Gros Morne!
Beautiful Bonne Bay.
Our first view of Gros Morne.
We arrived at the Park's Visitor Centre, only to find it closed, due to Covid. Many things are open in the Park, but many other things -- such as boat tours of Western Brook Pond and Norris Point -- have been cancelled for the full season.
The gift store, where we checked in for our hotel, had a huge stock of seal-skin items. A great place to shop, if you have $3,000 to drop on a seal-skin coat, for example.
Pam was charged by a caribou, right in the middle of town. (NOT.)
Having grown up in an Outport, Carnation Evaporated Milk was a staple: mixed half and half with water, it was all we had for cereal or anything else requiring milk. So it was nostalgic to see this oil drum painted with the Carnation branding, serving as a trash can.
The thick finger of fog over Rocky Harbour's colourful buildings.
Looking south to the Tablelands.
The view of Rocky Harbour from the north side.
The Sunday evening special at Earle's Restaurant is always a traditional Newfie Jiggs Dinner. (Salt beef and boiled vegetables, with peas pudding.)
Our hotel, a small but comfortable place built last year, had just two units occupied, including ours.
Rocky Harbour's largest hotel is fully closed this summer - a sign of the few tourists visiting this year.
A run along the waterfront showing the setting sun. The end of a great first day!
Our loyal friends, Mel and Juliet, picked us up at 10AM and dropped us at a near-deserted Halifax Airport. Our Air Canada Express flight to Deer Lake left at noon, half an hour late and packed to the rafters. But everyone wore a mask, and I heard only one sneeze on the entire flight. In flight service comprised a zip-lock bag with a bottle of water, a mask, gloves and sanitizer.
Arrival in Deer Lake required everyone to line up and fill in a declaration / contact tracing form. We threw our bags into our rental car which, by a bizarre coincidence, was the very same VW Jetta (with Nova Scotia plates) that I had rented in St. John's last weekend! I kid you not. After picking up supplies for tomorrow's hike, we hit Route 430 north, through some nasty construction areas, and then into the stunning -- STUNNING!! -- Gros Morne National Park.
Every kilometre unfolded more dramatic scenery, rivers, bays, and mountains before our eyes. Before long, we saw the incomparable Gros Morne Mountain to the right. And we gulped heavily, thinking, "We have to climb THAT tomorrow?!"
By 4PM, we pulled into Rocky Harbour, the accommodation and restaurant centre of the National Park. Something seemed immediately "off", however: the town, which is normally bustling in July, was quiet, largely closed, and sort of eerie. It just seemed all wrong for this time of year.
We checked into our all-but-empty hotel and set out to explore the beautiful town with its semicircular harbour, a thick fogbank hanging a few kilometers off the coast. The spectacular Tablelands hold a prominent spot in the background to the south of town, while Gros Morne itself raises like a bald mound of tundra behind the centre of town.
A Newfie "Jigg's Dinner" at the ever-popular Earle's Restaurant provided the piece-de-resistance for Day One of this vacation.
Tomorrow starts early, with a 16km round-trip / eight-hour hike to the summit of Gros Morne. At 807m, it is the second highest peak in Atlantic Canada and will definitely provide a huge challenge to these fairweather hikers.
Masks are required in all Canadian Airports now. This scene would have been unthinkable a year ago.
The 78-seat Dash 8-400 was packed. But a smooth ride.
The flight path hugged the north coast of Cape Breton, over the Cabot Strait, along the Long Range Mountains and the Humber River, to Deer Lake.
The compact Deer Lake Regional Airport. We were glad not to have to endure a series of flights overseas this summer.
I did a double-take when I arrived at our Hertz rental car -- it was the same car (with a Nova Scotia plate) I had rented last weekend in St. John's!
No trouble to know you're in Moose Country! Newfoundland has 525,000 people and 125,000 moose! No lie. A sign a little further along warned there have been five moose collisions in Gros Morne this year.
Woo-hoo! We're in Gros Morne!
Beautiful Bonne Bay.
Our first view of Gros Morne.
We arrived at the Park's Visitor Centre, only to find it closed, due to Covid. Many things are open in the Park, but many other things -- such as boat tours of Western Brook Pond and Norris Point -- have been cancelled for the full season.
The gift store, where we checked in for our hotel, had a huge stock of seal-skin items. A great place to shop, if you have $3,000 to drop on a seal-skin coat, for example.
Pam was charged by a caribou, right in the middle of town. (NOT.)
Having grown up in an Outport, Carnation Evaporated Milk was a staple: mixed half and half with water, it was all we had for cereal or anything else requiring milk. So it was nostalgic to see this oil drum painted with the Carnation branding, serving as a trash can.
The thick finger of fog over Rocky Harbour's colourful buildings.
Looking south to the Tablelands.
The view of Rocky Harbour from the north side.
The Sunday evening special at Earle's Restaurant is always a traditional Newfie Jiggs Dinner. (Salt beef and boiled vegetables, with peas pudding.)
Home-made jam and pickles for sale.
Our hotel, a small but comfortable place built last year, had just two units occupied, including ours.
Rocky Harbour's largest hotel is fully closed this summer - a sign of the few tourists visiting this year.
A run along the waterfront showing the setting sun. The end of a great first day!
Looks like you guys had a wonderful.time on the westcoast
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