Newfoundland Trip

[LenS]

We are traveling from Michigan to Newfoundland via the south side of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway. We will be in Newfoundland for two weeks plus. The home trip will probably be through Canada via the old walled city of Quebec.

Here are a few pictures taken so far.

Crossing Lake Champlain via ferry

We had all of Daisy's papers with us but Canadian Customs saw her on the dash with her tags and never ask any questions about her. We crossed the boarder into Canada in Maine.

The next few are entering and on Nova Scotia.

 

[LenS]

The next series were taken on Nova Scotia and at the ferry from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland which is a 5-6 hour trip.

Joanne on the beach at Louisbourg, NS. The recreated French city/fort of Louisbourg is behind her. Louisbourg was one of the last major French cities to fall in North America to the English and end the French domination of northern North America.

Louisbourg as seen across the bay.

Very early in the 2010 season. We were the only campers in this campground at the now fishing villiage of Louisbourg.

Local scenery

Ferry dock. Waiting to load on Newfoundland ferry.

One of the lounges

Unloading from ferry

 

[LenS]

A few early pictures from Newfoundland. Night time temperature here can vary from 32F to 40F and the daytime from 45F to 55F. Hope to get some pictures of icebergs in the next few days.

First night on island

Again campground is almost completely empty.

Local shore line roads. Great for a 'B' type of RV.

 

[billwilson-THOR]

Very Very cool
thank you for sharing

Hey, do you think Wilson is too tall for the ferrys? Looks like he will fit...

 

[bitburger]

Nice Len!

Keep up the trip report, I'm tired of the Death Valley reports
and it's good to see someplace new.
:a2:




I lied. I like all the trip reports. :b5:

 

[Aldercrest]

Thanks for posting. We would love to make it to that area of the world someday. Can't wait to see the rest!

 

[Ed in Montana]

What the...

I'm tired of the Death Valley reports
and it's good to see someplace new.

Jage, could you ban this guy? :a1:

 

[LenS]

While driving across western Newfoundland we got lost and ended up on ROUTE 66!!!

We did Route 66 in 2003 and had a front license plate from that trip. I donated
it to his collection. When I ask if he would like it, it took him no more than
2 microseconds to grab his screw driver and start removing it.

 

[LenS]

We had breakfast in a small harbor restaurant while camping just outside of Rocky Harbour, NL.
This was the view while eating caribou sausage with our eggs.

The waitress said Labrador caribou tastes better then Newfoundland caribou and our sausage was made from Labrador caribou.

Jo working on her trip log.

Newfoundland has a 80,000 moose population. They are not native to the island. A pair was brought over in the 1890's and two more pairs in the 1900's. Now there are over 80.000!!
On the other hand caribou are native and there are only 8,000 of those on the island.

This day was say 7 moose along the road. It is NOT recommended to drive above the posted speed on this island.

A view from the road

A beach flower

Actual size of the flower

Lunch stop along the road. Like to put the top up to stretch our legs
while preparing lunch.

 

[saabman]

Don't let that bottle of Grand Marnier fall off the cabinets LOL :a2:

 

[LenS]

We had our first really sunny day today. We also got up to the tip of Newfoundlands Northern Peninsula. I was hoping the sun would be out when we hopefully got to see some icebergs.

Yes, more moose today. Saw a total of 16....I think

The closer we got to the tip of the peninsula (L'Anse aux Meadows) the bigger the icebergs got.

Looking north into the Atlantic at L'Anse aux Meadows.

Looking west...

Even a fox likes the look of a Sportsmobile

The sun is out....The sun is out...

The Vikings landed here in about 1000 A.D. Leif Eiriksson used the L'Anse aux Meadows camp on and off for about 20 years. The recreated buildings represent about 1/3 of the original.

They brought a few women along to ask directions in case they got lost.

This site is of the largest longhouse and Jo is standing where the common room would have been. Leif would have been in here 1000 years ago.

It is to cold outside even for a want-a-be Viking woman. Of course her Viking husband dried the dishes.

It is 45F and breezy out. We are camped by a rushing stream and have wifi. Life is good. We start heading south tomorrow and then towards St. John's the province capital.

 

[Ed in Montana]

Great trip report, even though it doesn't involve someplace warm like Death Valley!

I have always wanted to do a far northeastern loop tirp up into the Maritimes. Over on Expedition Portal, there was a similar trip report from a few years back, where a guy from new England drove his restored Ford Travelall (?) up to Labrador, via several ferry rides and back across the Trans Labrador Highway then south through Quebec. It sounded like an amazingly remote road trip for eastern North America.

I would thank you for the the iceberg photos, but that's just too dang cold for a Memorial Day weekend!

 

[Ford_6L_E350]

Lens,

If you get a chance I would highly reccomend a day trip to the French islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon. You will have to exchange some money for euros on the island, but it is worth it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Pierre_and_Miquelon

You take ferry from Fortune on the west side of the sothern peninsula of Newfoundland. They have a secure parking lot for your van.

We remember Newfoundland well, THE FRIENDLIEST PEOPLE ON EARTH.

Have fun,

Mike

 

[LenS]

It has been a week but we have wifi again.

We are now only about 1 hour outside of St. John, NL.

We will spend 1-2 days more in this area and then start heading west again and pick up the ferry back to Nova Scotia in another 2-3 days. Jo wants to stop at the L.L. Bean outlet store in Maine on our way home.

Here are some van shots.

How to watch the birds when the black flies are really bad.

Daily trip planning

One of the sunny days.

Breakfast time

Daisy gets the penthouse to herself when the bed is stowed when parked. She also has a sky light.
Going down the road though the space is to tight even for a cat.

Cape St. Mary Ecological Reserve. Jo did some birding

In Hearts Content NL we had the best cod that we have EVER had. Heart Content is also the western end of the transatlantic cable. The first cable was run in about 1865 and the last in the 1890's. The facility stayed open and operational into the 1960's. Impressive technology for over 100 years ago.

If you make this trip have cod or fish and chips at Legge's Restaurant and Motel. Your heart will be contented.

 

[LenS]

We have gone as far east on Newfoundland as anyone can go and have started west again to the Nova Scotia ferry.

The St. Johns 'Jelly Bean Houses'

Yes, we ARE AS FAR EAST as anyone standing on land in North America can be. When this self portrait was taken EVERYONE on the North American continent was to the west.

A party to commemorate the turning around point in our trip. We are now homeward bound.

Signal Hill in St. Johns. This is were the first wireless signals were sent over to Europe

An hour to get out of the muck. Looked firm before we drove on it. Dang

A nice looking house.

Stopped at the Gander Museum. Most of the aircraft flown over to Europe in WWII started their flight from Gander. Newfoundland is as close to Europe as you can get in North America.

 

[kmessinger]

Thanks for a great report! Looks like if we ever get there, I'll never be out of ice for my martini's (unlike Death Valley).

Regards,

Keith

 

[saabman]

An hour to get out of the muck. Looked firm before we drove on it. Dang

Shows the limits of the 2WD I guess... This is what I worry about when out in the wilderness...
Nice to see people give a hand :b5: with that Pick-up...
Real bad luck to get stuck on such a nice looking patch of grass :b7:

You're trip looks great! not always warm though :a1: even shows in the photos :a1:

 

[LenS]

We did take this trip "early". Summer in Newfoundland does not really start till the end of June. July and August is about it. We have had daytime temps from low 50's to high 50's with a few warmer. ONE day it got up to 76F. The temp is not that bad but the Atlantic winds are strong (windy to us....breezy to them) and that combining with the temperature makes it cold. We did bring lots of warm clothes and wind shells. Has not been bad enough though for us to break out the wind pants.

It is a very rugged and beautiful province though. Most of the people in the fishing villages are very independent and self reliant. Fix their own vehicles, can do their own carpentry, electrical, plumbing, etc. They have a code about helping each other. The two guys who pulled my rig out of the mud came over from the next town over (a local wife called her husband) where they were working and spent an hour getting me out. Only thing they would take was a 'thank you'. That is very typical for Newfoundland. We have been very impressed with everyone we have talked to.

 

[LenS]

Well we are now on our way home. We left Newfoundland yesterday and are now almost out of Nova Scotia. The last thing on our things to do list is watch the 48 foot tide come in or out on the Bay of Fundy.

We had a super ferry ride form Newfoundland to Nova Scotia.

The last day in Codroy NL was again a low hanging cloud day and 50ish weather. No real rain though so it did not stop us from getting out and about.

This is the WV Atlantic Vision ferry that we took going back to Nova Scotia. The ferry has four garage decks for vehicles, a lounge and dinning room deck, one complete deck dedicated to cabins and several other decks with 50% of the space dedicated to cabins. In total it has 11 decks.

The deck below us was dedicated to commercial trucks, mainly 18 wheelers. This deck was about half full of 18 wheelers and rest of the space with cars and such. Made use feel kind of small.

They also had a kennel available. We left Daisy in the van for the 6.5 hour trip

This is a view of part of the lounge area.

We took a walk in part of the cabin deck

We had the dinner buffet. It past an hour, was all you can eat, and only cost $15 a person.

Linen table clothes in the un-crowded dinning rooms.

After that it was find a place to park and wait out the ride.

Not bad for $215 and an 6.5 hour passage. Our van with the bike rack on the back is 22 feet in length. So our charge was for two adults (seniors) and a 21-30 foot vehicle. We would have had to have been 20 feet or under for the next lower rate. No height issues ($$).

 

[EMrider]

Looks like a wonderful area to explore, thanks for posting the pics and report.
R