The Tablelands, Gros Morne National Park
Day 80 August 28, 2014
(west coast of) Newfoundland, Canada
I was super excited to start our exploration of Newfoundland. However, as usual, before we could get on the road, we had to take the doggies on their morning walk. We leashed them up and followed a nice dirt road through the campground.
Too bad we didn’t have tons more time, or we could have followed the road all the way to the coast. Walking with Trixie and Dax can be a slow process, and at our pace, it seemed like it’d take us at least another hour to reach the coast, so, we turned around.
On the way back to our campsite, we stopped to talk to two of the nicest men you’d ever meet…two park rangers. This was, of course, also when we discovered that the Newfoundland accent can be a bit difficult to understand! They seem to speak with a slight mixture of Irish accent, and mumble-speak. Sometimes the mumble-speak is just in the first few words of a sentence, almost like an engine that’s just getting up to speed. This wasn’t too much of a problem though, ‘cause even without the first few words of a sentence, we could usually figure out the gist of the whole thing. And, no disrespect meant…just trying to describe the accent here.
Leaving J.T. Cheesman Provincial Park
The other interesting thing we discovered today, was the white chocolate Kit Kat candy bar. Y’all do know that white chocolate isn’t even chocolate, right? Mark and I are big fans of the Kit Kat bar. We were NOT fans of this silly white chocolate Kit Kat. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!
As we were driving north, we had our first moose sighting. A giant moose was grazing on the side of the road. Couldn’t believe our luck, to see our first moose on only our second day in Newfoundland. Should have bought a lottery ticket.
On the road north
On the road north
At the urging of one of our tourist center guide books, we took Rt 407 towards St. Andrews. Supposed to be some interesting old church down that way. I think we found it, but it didn’t seem like it had been worth the detour. Oh well, Rt 407 was kind of a bust for us, so we headed back to the main road to continue north.
I think this was the church we were supposed to be looking for..
We made a short stop in Cornerbrook. Just long enough to check out the nice local bike shop and to have lunch, then went on our way.
Gumby, hanging on for dear life as we fly down the road!
Passing by Marble Mountain Ski Resort
Just a bit more driving, and we arrived at Gros Morne National Park. We did a little drive-a-bout to get oriented, and then stopped for the night at Trout River Campground.
Entering Gros Morne National Park in the drizzling rain
Gros Morne NP!!
Heading into the park…
The view from Woody Point
The view from Woody Point
The view from Woody Point
The hustle and bustle of downtown Woody Point
Driving through the park
Nice views all around us!
The Tablelands
Our day was complete after making dinner and walking the dogs, and realizing that it was cold up here and we were completely unprepared for the weather! We’d have to wait until tomorrow to figure out what to do about our lack of enough warm clothing!
Mark and Dax on our evening dog walk on the dirt road next to our campground
Airstream Moho-A-Go-Go 