Day 8 (July 26, 2020): The end of a truly amazing vacation

Vacations are multi-staged affairs - the planning... the anticipation... the actual experience... the wind-down.... the reflection.  Waking up to the pounding rain on the roof of the Inn in Cape St. George, it was clear that we were in the wind-down phase.  We knew we had a few hours to catch a last cluster of sights, as well as make it back to Deer Lake Airport for our afternoon flight home.  After a week of what was perfect weather, we didn't begrudge a little rain on our last day.

We knew there was one last hot breakfast to enjoy, followed by a drive along the south coast of the Port-au-Port Peninsula, and then on to Deer Lake, with a drive around Stephenville enroute.  (It was neat to see the way the American Base had shaped the town and still leaves its lasting imprint.)

Upon arrival in Deer Lake, with two hours left to spare before flight time, we decided to make a dash for Sir Richards Squires Memorial Provincial Park (named after one of Newfoundland's pre-Confederation Prime Ministers in the early 20th century).  This last venture was all about nostalgia, as I explain in one of the photo captions below.  

We've had the privilege of visiting over 110 countries, but we can honestly say that this past week in Western Newfoundland and the Labrador Straits ranks among our very top travel experiences.  Scenery as awesome as you'll find anywhere, and in a time of COVID fear, we couldn't have felt safer anywhere in the world.

It has been a week we will carry with us for the rest of our lives.

The Inn at the Cape in Cape St. George provided our lodging for our Port-au-Port experience.

And the Inn's breakfast didn't disappoint!


Sheaves Cove, Port-au-Port Peninsula.


Directional sign in Sheaves Cove, showing all the villages on the Peninsula.


Historic winch and the Newfoundland flag at Hidden Falls, Sheaves Cove.


The beach and beachside cemetery at Lower Cove, Port-au-Port Peninsula.

We hadn't seen fireweed on this trip until we arrived on the Port-au-Port Peninsula, where it is very abundant.


Rock formation in Lower Cove.

White cliffs of talc, just outside Kippens.


Yesterday's photo of the isthmus connecting the Port-au-Port Peninsula to the rest of Newfoundland showed only the roadway, but in fact, there is a beach parallel to the roadway that also forms part of the isthmus.  The overall isthmus area is called The Gravels.  Jacques Cartier landed here in 1534.  By the mid-1800s, The Gravels was the commercial centre of the region.  Much of that commercial development was flattened by an earthquake in 1927, and a major flood of The Gravels in 1951 led to an abandonment of the area.

One last venture on this vacation:  when we reached Deer Lake, we decided to take the 40-minute drive through Cormack to Sir Richard Squires Memorial Provincial Park.  Despite the fact that over 10KM of the drive was on a gravel road, it was an important trek, as this is where my family spent a week of our annual camping vacation from the year I was born until I was 13.  My dad salmon-fished the Humber River in the park - which is more simply referred to as Big Falls - for 47 of his 88 years.  I was last there with my dad in 1980, visited again in 2013, and again today.  Every corner of this park brings back memories to me.

Walking to Big Falls.


Big Falls.  Maybe not as big as it was in the eyes of a kid back when I spent my summer camping vacation here, but very impressive all the same.


The 'ladder' at Big Falls:  the easiest route for a spawning salmon to make it upstream.

Although the majority of salmon jump the Falls in late June to swim up the Humber to spawn, there were still some attempting the jump today.  The water was low, as it often is in late July.  Back in the heyday of the 1970s, you were permitted to take four salmon per day.  Now you can take one per season!


The view of the Humber River looking downstream from Big Falls.


Upon returning the rental car at Deer Lake Regional Airport, I noticed we had driven 2049KM in the last week!



This stained glass installation has been on prominent display at Deer Lake Regional Airport since 2010. A commission by local artist Urve Manuel, it features salmon and codfish swimming into copper netting. The title of her piece is “Coming and Going” - quite appropriate for an airport! This caught my eye because we went into Urve's new store (The Glass Station Gallery & Studio) in Rocky Harbour on Friday and purchased a stained glass salt-codfish work.  It was great to have gotten to meet her!


And speaking of comings and goings, it's time to end this blog.  I can't resist a good aircraft pic, so I end with our Air Canada Express Dash 8-400 from Deer Lake to Halifax, which left a few minutes early.