Last Thoughts Potpourri

 NL Gardens:

I was a wee bit disappointed in not seeing many ornamental gardens while visiting the province.  I wasn't in any major centers (other than Gander and Corner Brook) and I wasn't really looking for gardens, but when traveling I usually discover lots places along the roadside.  I did see a couple, but not anything to bother with photos.  It was late in the year, perhaps, and the province had experienced a very cool summer.  I noticed tomatoes were just beginning to ripen in some gardens in mid-September.  We asked a park visitor employee about the number of gardens we'd seen along the roadside on Northern Peninsula roads - it was observed as a small fenced area - and before we left the Northern Peninsula we did notice people working alongside the road.  They were harvesting.  The gardens were created from soil being piled up in some areas as the road went through.  People created their own "drive to" gardens to grow root crops.  He said that was the most common crop in NL - potatoes, turnip, carrots, beets and onions.

Food:

We had hoped to eat some genuine fresh seafood in NL.  It didn't happen.  The fishing season is basically over in August so we were a month too late.  And, in general, we were disappointed in what food was available in the stores.  We were in remote areas so we couldn't expect much.  But it was slimmer pickings than I'd thought.  The small villages knew that the tourist season was ending so they did not resupply.  In Rocky Harbour, if we didn't want to go to a restaurant, we had a choice of hotdogs or hamburgers.  There was some other meat available but it was frozen solid and not something you are going to purchase at 3:30 in the afternoon and eat that evening.  Definitely a limit to fresh fruit and vegetables. A lot of the food was deep fried in many places where we dined.  We did go to a "nice" restaurant in Saint Isadore, but I wouldn't call the food outstanding in any way.  And lots of tourist places had closed for the season.  There is a notion that summer ends after Labour Day.

Work:  

We spoke with our last host (one of two hosts we chatted with) and NL has an employment problem.  He was our age and was really finding it difficult to get good help with his B & B.  He finally hired someone in her 60s who is managing well.  According to him (and I did google this), 41% of NL's work force is over the age of 55.  I did notice 3 women my age who managed the kitchen at the Western Brook Pond tour "cafe".  They were selling seafood chowder by the bucket full.  I also noticed women close to my age who were room cleaners.  Many of the young people have left NL to get better jobs in western Canada and I'm not sure if the politicians are taking this event seriously.  After all, the government bought a ski hill near Corner Brook and they think it is going to fly.  (Thanks to a CBC radio host for that interview).  

NL is a fun place to visit and I don't regret visiting the "rest" of the Island at all.  I'd been to St. John's and the Avalon Peninsula back in '73 and even traveled to Saint Pierre Miquelon that same summer to spend a month immersed in French.  I hope my ramblings may inspire a few of you to visit.  And may you have better findings in the food department!   

 

 

 

Signs, Trails, Ups, Downs

 

This was the closest we got to an iceberg during our travels in NL.  We were on the Northern Peninsula on this particular day, doing a very nice, short hike near St. Anthony.  Apparently, icebergs would pass this location on a regular basis at certain times of the year.  September is not one of them.  

This particular trail was called Camel's Back and it was partially under construction or renovation.  No one was around to ask, but equipment was left on the side of the trail in a couple of places.  We were very impressed with the trails of NL.  Every town has them and they appear to be created and maintained by locals.  Basically, every trail that we chose to do was in good shape.  Some are quite short, but lots follow along the coastline and are well marked.  It really puts other provinces to shame, to my mind, that more local trails aren't a showcase.  It is definitely improving in BC and the Kaslo Outdoor Recreation and Trails Society is a fine model.  Perhaps with walking becoming more of a "thing", this will gradually change.  We noticed trail signs everywhere we traveled in NL. 

The sign to the right was a frequent one observed in NL.  We encountered road crews on some pretty remote roads and they were diligently working (with a crew of two or three individuals) in the short season that work can be done.  NL has a pretty extreme climate.  It has a "short" tourist season.  They do their best.  Roads were generally good and the potholes are signed.  There are lots of them.  The TCH (TransCanadaHighway) that we traveled was in quite good shape, I thought, except for the 20km to the east out of Deer Lake.  There was lots of water pooling the day we had to drive that section - I thought it would take us forever to get to the Exploits Motel near Bishop's Falls.   The highway improved, and was in good shape most of the kms that we travelled.  

One thing I very much noticed in NL.  Virtually NO litter.  In a windy place like this province I expected it, but other than one exit to the airport in Deer Lake, there wasn't much garbage along the roadsides.  It was a great improvement over the road we see throughout North America.  In our former area between  Mirror Lake and Kaslo,  Dave and I literally picked up HUNDREDS of discarded alcohol cans every spring.  I was very impressed with the cleanliness of NL ditches!(and they have a lot of ditches - drainage is needed everywhere in NL)
 

 

Insectarium

 Our last day in NL took us to a very nice accommodation just outside of Deer Lake.  We had an early flight to Toronto so we booked at Reidville, NL.  Finally, an actual, traditional b & b with breakfast on offer, and rooms upstairs, a garden to wander, and a big living space to visit with folks.  We did meet our host that evening and had a good chat about the ups and downs of NL which I plan to write about in future posts.  We missed breakfast, of course,  because we needed to be at the airport by 4 am.  

I'd heard an interview with one of the operators of the NL Insectarium on the CBC that morning (I so love having a national broadcaster who can tell you about local and national stuff)  and it sounded pretty interesting.  I'd actually seen the building as we drove north 10 days earlier on the "Viking Highway" and I'd thought why would anyone visit an insect place in NL??  This place is crawling with mosquitoes and other bugs (we were post mosquito season, fortunately, but Dave had spent a summer on the east coast of NL in 1973 and we knew how bad they could be!)  We had an hour of time before our final NL dinner and decided to visit.  It was the correct decision.

The building does not look very large from the outside and there is a plastic greenhouse attached to it.  Not particularly appealing looking.  They only planned to be open until Thanksgiving so we were observing the last "hatching" in their larval stage before we entered the greenhouse.  All of the butterflies that we saw were from either Costa Rica or Singapore and they live their brief lives in that greenhouse.  But what beauty they do bring!!  The permanent structure has 2 more floors of "bugs" - lots of them mounted in displays, but a big selection of living arachnids and an active bee colony and ant colony.  It was all very interesting and I would recommend it to visitors.  

 Here are a couple of examples of butterflies I enjoyed seeing in the "greenhouse".  There were thousands of them.  It was calming and interesting to spend some time in this very pleasant space.  

 

 

Corner Brook

 

I had tried to convince Dave that we stay an extra day in Gros Morne and skip our trip to Corner Brook.  He insisted that we go.  It was a good insist.  On our last full day in NL, we woke up in Corner Brook and took a drive to the end of the peninsula known as the Bay of Islands.  Corner Brook is located on  the Humber River, mapped quite accurately by Cook back in the 1700s. Cook spent 4 summers doing mapping in NL.   We found the route over the Bay of Islands some of the best scenery we saw in all of NL.  We did a couple of more shoreline walks and I wanted to walk the historical trail in honour of James Cook that was located at a provincial park near the end of the peninsula.  Of course, EVERY sign had been removed and yes, it was windy!  The trail to the top of the lookout was 379 steps so I did some stair workout!  

Corner Brook itself, rather reminded me of our new town of Trail - it's a smallish city, and is industry based.  They have a pulp and paper mill; we've got a lead smelter!  It's hilly with beautiful rocky outcroppings around - very like Trail.  We now know why the airport is in Deer Lake - it has flat ground; Corner Brook has none of that.  A good place for an e-bike.   

Tablelands and Bonne Bay

 We arrived at Tablelands - a place I've heard about for years - early in the morning, following a breakfast of grilled hot dogs (I'll get to food on a future post).  The "regular" tourist trail is a short, easy hike with perhaps 100m of elevation gain.  It's unique.  And beautiful in its own way.  By the time we were ready to leave the area (and we did not explore beyond the "tourist trail" ) the parking lot was basically full.  We drove to Trout River and did a short hike there - it was muddy and stumpy and there was a large group of school kids there doing a tree planting thing.  That lead us back to Woody Point, the other "major" town of Gros Morne NP and I did see the Shelagh Rogers Theatre, but it was closed and locked.  Another trail departed from just up the hill above Woody Point and this was my first "big" hike of the entire trip, really - it had 335m of elevation gain.  It also  had lots of boardwalk and great views.  Yes, the wind was blowing a gale once again.  Great views of Bonne Bay from the top.  I had a short conversation with a woman from ON at the top and found the descent fairly painful on my knees.  I guess it was getting close to time to get back to BC!

 

End of the "tourist" part of The Tablelands trail.  One could wander forever.  
 

 

 

A portion of Bonne Bay from the Lookout Trail  

Western Brook Pond

 Western Brook Pond is the photo shoot contest winner for visiting NL.  I've seen it for decades.  And compared to fjords of northern Europe it rather pales in comparison.  I'd debated paying the fees to get there, but we were in the area and why not? And those fjord trips in Norway are booked years in advance so I doubt very much if I will see it.  This is what Canada has to offer in fjords.    We were not disappointed.  

We booked by phone out of our lovely little bayside home and needed to be at the parking lot by 11am make it to the 12:30 sailing.  This was not much of an issue, but we didn't leave the parking lot until 11 am.  We knew that we had a 3km walk ahead of us and I can't walk as quickly as I did at a younger age.  I'd question that it was a 3km walk because we were there in less than 45 minutes - it's entirely flat and there are some interesting informative signs along the route which I read.  

Our boat left right on time and I found a spot on the front deck where I stood for the next 2 hours.  It was a friendly group of people other than the couple who took endless pictures of each other and he was "pawing" her throughout the journey.  UGH!  I don't know how she could stand it.  I got to know 4 women from ON who were on a hiking holiday and one of them was a former teacher.  Never a lack of conversation when former teachers get together.  

Our guide by the name of Angus was a born conversationalist and humourist.  He even had a connection to Rossland, BC.  We thoroughly enjoyed the commentary that was provided and were awestruck by the scenery.  Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day that day and the pictures didn't compose so well because the rock is largely the same colour as that sky!  The tour was a full two hours and for our $99 plus HST (everything in NL has HST added to it) it wasn't a bad price considering what we pay for everything in this day and age.  

The picture below is taken near the end of the fjord and is the spot where a person can dropped off to do the "traverse" a 3-day untracked journey over to a spot near Rocky Harbour in Gros Morne National Park. I met a guy at Tablelands 2 days later who was going to start that journey.   The picture to the right was one of many waterfalls that we saw along the route.  This particular one is called "Pissing Mare Falls".  Well named, I think.   

 

 

Storm Day

 Travelling in NL is recommended in September.  It's supposed to get good weather.  And overall, that was true for us in 2026.  Our third day at the top of the Northern Peninsula did bring a storm, however, and we stayed at our Snorri Cabins until just before we HAD to leave and headed over to the "other side" of the North which housed the Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve.  Before leaving, however we found "Aunt Bride's Lookout" trail which we hiked to get some exercise and stay out of the tiresome wind.  The Lookout part lasted a few seconds!  Our second hike was at Pistolet Bay Provincial Park which was basically a walk around the campground, but it was relatively calm in the area.  When the parks close in NL, they are CLOSED!  Nary a sign in sight.  

Our accommodation was full into the wind at Burnt Cape Cabins and we admired watching the gannets riding the wind currents.  Once we got inside, we pretty much stayed there and it was a very nice accommodation.  

By next morning the wind was "reduced" and we took a hike over the very barren land of the ecological reserve.  We went to the "high point" and there really wasn't all that much to see.  It was also the first day that really felt like fall.  

It was time to head south so we took the "alternate" route (the one that does not follow the coastline) and we think we saw many moose hunters out that day - trucks parked along the roadside with no one in sight.  And NL does have a moose overpopulation.  Port aux Choix pleased us so much that we returned and had another close encounter with the woodland caribou.  Marvelous.  We stayed at the sister village called Port Saunders and stayed in our favourite accommodation of the trip right on Ingineaux Baie.  It was called 'A Wave From Home. ' It even had a washer/dryer so finally got some laundry done.