farewell newfoundland

when last updated, we were at B&B in L'Anse Aux Meadows on Monday. went out for dinner to a restaurant a couple of km away. According to Dot, the lady who cooked and cleaned at the B&B, "dat's fine dining, small portions and lots of fancy sauces, can't even taste the fish. Tain't never been there". so we went. I had the halibut served on a bed of olives and artichoke hearts and smothered with pesto. mmmm.

next day walked to the viking site. can someone younger than me let me know what they teach in school now?? when i went, Columbus discovered North America and Leif Erickson/vikings was treated more as a fable. the L'Anse aux Meadows site was discovered in 1960 and initial excavations done in 1968. there was a real life Norse settlement here ~1,000 years ago. it was a really neat place - movie about the discovery, museum with artifacts, guided tour of the site(see mounds above) and a recreation village with period costumes and replicas.

after the site, we biked and hiked around, went to the top of a high point. we were on the northernmost part of NL.

that night had dinner at the B&B cooked by Dot. Pan fried cod, fish cakes, shrimp salad, potatoes, carrots, pie and ice cream. Portions were huge and there wasn't a sauce to be seen...

Wednesday was a driving day which was good as it was miserable out. Strong, strong winds, rain and cold. The water pic above kind of shows what it was doing out. Driving was a white knouckle experience and sometimes worried we were going to get blown over.

eventually made it back to Gros Morne and a different area/campground called Trout River. Thursday went for a long hike on Tablelands (I won't bore you with a long geography lesson but it was pretty amazing, see other pic above). still very windy out. The tour boat that covered the lake we hiked beside actually went out and turned around as it was too windy, apparently for the 1st time ever?!? Thankfully the campsite was very protected or the wind would have rocked the van all night. Friday we packed up, went for a shorter hike (9 km) down to the ocean. It as high tide and still very windy or we could have wandered on the beach around some sea stacks and caves. After that to Cornerbrook and did laundry, camped at Walmart.

Afraid it is now Saturday morning and we are on the ferry back to Sydney. NL was great!