Girl With The Nerdy-Geeky Full-Body Anti-Bug Suit

Somewhere on west coast of Newfoundland.

Day 84     September 1, 2014

Red Bay, Labrador to Portland Creek, Newfoundland

We’d been sequestered inside the Space Shuttle since sundown the day before…since the nasty biting black fly attack and counter-attack. We’d planned to stay in Labrador another day and night, but couldn’t stomach the idea of dealing with that again. Both of us already had welts from yesterday’s attack, and they were pretty painful.

In fact, we were so afraid to go outside, that we got up at 5:30 am, fired up the engine, and got the hell out of there. If we were lucky, we’d be able to catch the 8:00 am ferry back to Newfoundland. And we were lucky, and we did.

Early morning drive to the ferry terminal to leave Labrador

Adios Labrador. I hope I can go back there some day. But, next time, I’m gonna buy one of those completely nerdy-geeky full-body anti-bug suits.

Couple hours later, we found ourselves touching ground back in Newfoundland. We stopped somewhere along the coast to walk the pups and to get some fresh fly-free air!

Back in Newfoundland! Cute church. Somewhere on west coast of Newfoundland.

Somewhere on west coast of Newfoundland.

Somewhere on west coast of Newfoundland.

And off we went to the next historic site….L’Anse aux Meadows, where there’s evidence of an old Viking settlement. And by evidence, I’d be referring to dead people. Or, actually, grassy mounds that were burial sites.

Getting close to L’Anse aux Meadows…

Near L’Anse aux Meadows

Mark and Fiona

Near L’Anse aux Meadows

Near L’Anse aux Meadows

Near L’Anse aux Meadows

In California, this shack would cost about $1.2 million.

Near L’Anse aux Meadows

There was also an historic reenactment village nearby. Those historic reenactment kinds of places kind of creep me out, but it’s like seeing a car accident on the side of the road…you just can not stop looking. So, we visited that too.

@ the Viking reenactment village

@ the Viking reenactment village. Mock-up of a viking game board.

@ the Viking reenactment village

@ the Viking reenactment village

@ the Viking reenactment village

@ the Viking reenactment village

@ the Viking reenactment village

The view at nearby St. Anthony’s.

As we drove south, we enjoyed the beautiful sunset on the coast, and then finally docked for the night at Mountain Waters Resort Campground in Portland Creek.

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly….Red Bay, Labrador

Red Bay

Day 83             August 31, 2014             Part 2

Red Bay, Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

THE GOOD……

We could count on one hand, the number of cars we saw on the road between the ferry in St. Barbe, and Red Bay. We stopped a few times along the route to take in the enormous size of the place.

War Memorial

War Memorial

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

Curling Champion!!!!

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

A whole lotta pretty countryside

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

The little village of Red Bay was, well, little. And so pretty! We ate lunch at the only restaurant in town, Whalers Restaurant, where for the first time, we tried bakeapple pie. Verdict: Bakeapple pie is delicious and I should eat it every day to stay happy!

Red Bay

Red Bay

Red Bay

Red Bay

My new favorite food group….Bakeapple Pie!

After lunch, we visited the whaling museum. Basque whalers in Red Bay were some of the first Europeans to arrive in Canada…..a fun little fact that might come in handy at a trivia party.

The view from the whaling museum

This place was proving to be small and mighty. But, it was a long way from anywhere, and from what we could see, there were only about 6 other tourists in the whole village. But I can assure you that all of us were having the adventure of a lifetime!

Red Bay

Red Bay

Red Bay

Red Bay

Red Bay graveyard

Red Bay

Red Bay

End of the paved road on coastal Labrador. Red Bay

 

 

The other dirt road out of Red Bay.

Red Bay

The day had already been jam packed full of stuff to do and see, but the best, and worst, was yet to come. Mark had purchased a t-shirt in the gift shop at the restaurant that said “I hiked Tracey Hill.” And so, we had to hike it.

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Me and Trixie

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

The pics from our hike, pretty much say all there is to say…Absolute Beautifulness!! Including stops for photo ops, it took us about an hour to hike to the top. The entire hike, top to bottom, we only saw one other person.

THE BAD……

The sun was setting, and we slightly hurried back down to avoid being caught in the dark. We made it in plenty of time. And so did the ferocious and infamous Labradorian biting black flies. Apparently, sunset is when they come out to suck the blood of the ignorant.

The flies were on us like, well, like biting black flies to ignorant people. And they were biting us something awful. We ran to the space shuttle, brushed the flies off of each other and off of the dogs, and jumped inside.

THE UGLY…..

In those, oh, say, 8 seconds that the door was open to the rig, at least 20 of those freakin’ flies got in with us. We spent the next 15 minutes killing black flies. And it was disgusting. Those little freaks are full of blood, so every time you kill one, you have a mini blood bath on your hands. That shit was everywhere….on the windows, on the window shades, on the off-white wall covering. Yuck!!!

When we were satisfied that we’d killed them all, we drove back to the RV site for the night. And we didn’t dare go outside again, so we just hung out inside and tried to clean up the carnage from the kill. It was during that time that I noticed that I had huge welts on my neck from the fly bites. Two in particular, one behind each ear, made me look like I’d been abducted by aliens.

Stuck inside the space shuttle. And yet, we still had a nice view!

Last light, from inside the rig, on the side of the gas station!!

But, alas we were safe. Safe and tucked into our little RV spot, which, by the way, was one of 4 parking spots, with hook-ups, on the side of the Red Bay gas station. But, we weren’t going outside, so we didn’t bother to hook up to anything. We just hung out, ate dinner, and contemplated how the hell anyone could survive life with the infamous biting black flies!