Here's our home for the next three days...the Grenfell hotel. Everything in St. Anthony is Grenfell, named after Dr. Grenfell who was born in England but was sent to Newfoundland as part of a missionary organization which provided medical and spiritual services to north sea fisherman.
We heard there is a nice trail walk near the Grenfell homestead, so we headed over that way. This sign was at the site of the house. In 1892, Grenfell was sent to Newfoundland to investigate the conditions in the Labrador fishery. "We're wonderful to have you," a fisherman said, "we've never had a doctor in these parts before."
The house was built between 1909 and 1910 and became known as "the castle." Although the area was impoverished, no one begrudged Dr. Grenfell and his wife their beautiful house as they were so beloved in the area.
We headed out along the trail. It's a nice walk which they have tried to keep to an 8% incline. If it exceeds that they have put in stairs.
Jim standing next to a tree which is over 100 years old. These trees only grow to a height of 6-10 feet, but the rings on them must be seen with a microscope they are so close together.
These plaques mark the burial site of the ashes of Dr. Grenfell and his wife, Anne, and also other people who played an important part in the start of medical facilities in the northern peninsula.
Dr. Grenfell built a teahouse at the top of the hill above the town, so that the staff had a place to go for tranquility and retreat.
The view from the teahouse then...
And now...
Taken with the self-timer...the next one we tried to take was aborted when the wind blew the camera over. It's always windy here!
At the top of the hill...
Overlooking St. Anthony...
The trail is extremely well maintained and marked...each sign post has an inset of Dr. Grenfell in it...
Anne Grenfell loved lupins...me too!
The house today...it is a museum which you can walk through. It wasn't open when we were there and you pay to go through it at the interpretive centre, so we decided to head over there.
The interpretive centre...are you sensing the green theme? Very distinctive...
Dr. Grenfell's statue...
We went inside, only to find out that the power was out, so much of the centre was in darkness and it wasn't possible to view the movie about their life. The staff told us that a truck had taken down three power poles and they were expecting the power to be out for a while. We decided to come back later....
It turned out to be a huge power outage, as in most of St. Anthony. There was no place to get lunch and you couldn't get out of the town because the power company had the road blocked. So we ate a raisin bread sandwich in our room at the hotel. It was great that we had kitchen facilities...
We headed over to the boat tour facility only to find that they were struggling with the whole power issue as they had no way to take payments. Also, it was incredibly windy! It was hard to believe on such a beautiful day, we might not get out on the tour...
So we waited...
We met a couple from Fredericton. I saw his jacket with the Albert Street School crest on it and wondered if they were from Fredericton. They saw our licence plate and it was like meeting neighbours.
Peggy is a painter and I actually remembered talking to her a few years ago when I worked at Weight Watchers. At the time she was going to Ireland to paint, so I asked her how it went. She was amazed that I remembered. Small world...
The boat tour is a go! We're happy and jump on board...
We're heading out of St. Anthony to find an iceberg that is about 5 miles away...
This is the Lightkeepers restaurant where we had dinner a couple of nights ago.
Can you see that tiny, tiny speck on the horizon? That's the iceberg we are heading towards. The sea is quite rough...
We're getting closer and we can see that it's a beauty!
Stunning! It's about 110 feet high, 220 feet across and about 400 feet long. Our guide, Paul, believes it's grounded because it has been in the same spot for several days. With winds like these, there's no way it would still be here.
We are in awe...these icebergs can take 2-3 years to come from Greenland. They might only get partway before winter sets in and they are frozen in place, to begin their journey again in the spring.
We circle the iceberg to get a view of it from all sides...
Can you imagine how huge this is beneath the water if it is grounded? We are five miles from shore...
Paul was pretty happy with this iceberg. They love to have something spectacular to show the tourists!
I must have taken 25 pictures of it. It was so beautiful you didn't want to miss one angle!
And with that, we've been all the way around...
For some reason, I can't seem to upload videos. So I put them on Youtube with a link to them. To give you a sense of movement!
Notice us hanging on? More than one person ended up on their behind on the deck!
To give some perspective on how close we got...
This video will give an idea of how we were bouncing up and down!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEA-uKYDHNQOn our way back...checking out the birds on the rocks...
These two we will affectionately refer to as "Dumb and Dumber." Oh my god...the questions they asked! "Did the iceberg move? Because it was over there a while ago?" Reply from Paul: "Uh, no, I turned the boat." The final one was when Paul said the iceberg was grounded and one of them asked, "Who grounded it?" For heavens sake! The other people started throwing out suggestions, like the tour operator so that they can take people out to it every day. You do meet all kinds!
The funny thing is that we kept running into them and their wives. They were at the Sugar Hill Inn, they were on the walking tour at L'Anse aux Meadows...we are obviously all on the same wavelength of things to see.
Back at St. Anthony's...Paul sounded quite relieved that we were back in the harbour again. We didn't see any whales, but no one was complaining!
Back at the dock...do you see the colour of the building? Yup, it's something Grenfell. We're behind the interpretive centre.
Having only had our raisin bread and enjoying all that fresh air, we were hungry!! They were still repairing the power lines in town, so there was still no power. On the advice of the hotel staff, we headed to Gunners Cove about 30 km away.
Northern Delight... a VERY popular local restaurant. When we went in. there were about 4 cars in the parking lot. This was the scene when we came out. And we were definitely the "from away" people. Everyone that came in stopped to chat at every table, and the talk was all about the big power outage. We had yummy cod, and called it a day!
Tomorrow we're off to Trout River as we work our way back down to Port aux Basques towards the ferry...
This time we were on the new ferry called the Vision. It was very nice with a really good restaurant.
Went to my appointment with the surgeon today and they asked if I would be ready to have surgery in two days as they have a cancellation. Gack!! Couldn't see any reason why not, so surgery on Friday it is! I think that is Plan E for this crazy mixed-up, but great, vacation...
Lots of little boats near the shore catching lobster...
We made our way back to Ben's Studio in Port aux Choix and this time he was in. We spent a wonderful hour as he told us story upon story of the ideas behind his pieces. We finally settled on Lukey's Boat, which we had seen at the Anchor restaurant. We went back to the restaurant, had lunch and told the waitress we were taking Lukey's Boat. She said "Oh sure...just take it off the wall." We love Newfoundlanders. We could have been putting it in the car and taking off.
And then we headed off again...the road is winding around the hills. Such beautiful scenery...
The clouds settling over the hills...
Getting close to our destination...
Killdevil...gotta love it!
The clouds were really rolling in now. We had every kind of weather on the drive...sun, rain, fog, and one area where steam was rising from the peat bogs and covering the road. Weird!
OK...not quite as much fun now. Keeping our eyes out for moose...we'll be glad to get to our destination...
And here we are at the Red Mantle Lodge...a beautiful setting...
The view of Woody Point from the restaurant and from our room. The restaurant was very good. As we were sitting there admiring the view, we decided to heck with Corner Brook, let's stay here for two nights!
We headed off the next morning towards Trout Brook and the Discovery Centre, which is the Parks Canada tourist information place. You can see it sitting on the hill looking over the harbour.
The beautiful view of the Tablelands from a lookout point near the Centre...
It doesn't get any prettier than this! Once again we say....Canada is a beautiful country!
We did a quick tour of Woody Point before heading to the Discovery Centre. Woody Point has a population of 400. Here is Pete's One Stop...
The Tablelands from Woody Point...
Main Street in Woody Point...roof repairs going on...
This trawler was hauling up a boat, which is probably used for spreading nets...
This Catholic Church was moved from one end of town to the other. They cut it into three pieces and moved it on the ice in the winter and then reassembled it. Wow!
Here we are arriving at the Discovery Centre. This was a beautiful facility!
They had these unique displays to represent all the people who contribute or contributed to the area. This is Captain Cook with one sailer rowing and one sleeping!
Biologist looking for wildlife while the bear is hiding...
A meteorologist (maybe?) leaning into a big wind!
A marine biologist comes face to face with a cute fish!
A caribou silhouetted against the beautiful backdrop of Gros Morne national park...
The Bowl...it looks like someone punched a fist in bread dough...
Avalanches frequently occur in the Bowl...
You stick the camera on a garbage can, click the self-timer and run like crazy to get into the picture!
The Tablelands look more like Arizona than the forested hills of Newfoundland. They were formed from the earth's mantle and were forced up from the depths during a plate collision several hundred million years ago. The geology of the park illustrates plate tectonics, one of the most important ideas in modern science. For this reason, and for the beautiful scenery of the park, it has been named a world heritage site.
There is a relatively easy 4 km return trail which we decided to take...
One of the many streams coming down from the hills...
It's amazing how barren it is on this side of the road, and on the other side of the road are lush green forested hills.
Getting closer to the valley at the end of the trail...
Look at how clear and pure the water is...we didn't see one speck of garbage during the whole walk.
The valley...
Look at the beautiful clouds...
Lots of little bridges over all the brooks and streams...
The peaks at the top are surprisingly jagged considering how flat it looks...
Two people sitting in chairs...one is painting, the other is reading...
After that walk, we headed to Trout River for lunch...
The community of Trout River...
This boardwalk runs through the town, but we figured we had put in our walk for the day, so we headed into the restaurant...
I am making it my mission to find the best seafood chowder. So far the Anchor restaurant in Port aux Choix is winning. The Seaside Restaurant gets excellent reviews and it was good, but it doesn't match the Anchor!
This is part of Main Street in Trout River, population about 600...
We headed back to Woody Point to check out the Hunky Dory craft shop. The owner of the lodge we're staying at suggested we drop in to see different local artists...
When we walked in, the owner, Charlie, was playing his accordian. Free entertainment! We spent about an hour talking to him about the local artists, the community then and now, and then bought a few items to take home as souvenirs. Again...one of the highlights is talking to the locals! They have such wonderful stories...
And with that wonderful day, we headed back to the lodge for a rest and another great meal at the restaurant. Tomorrow it's back to Port aux Basques to take the ferry the next day...
We heard there is a nice trail walk near the Grenfell homestead, so we headed over that way. This sign was at the site of the house. In 1892, Grenfell was sent to Newfoundland to investigate the conditions in the Labrador fishery. "We're wonderful to have you," a fisherman said, "we've never had a doctor in these parts before."
The house was built between 1909 and 1910 and became known as "the castle." Although the area was impoverished, no one begrudged Dr. Grenfell and his wife their beautiful house as they were so beloved in the area.
We headed out along the trail. It's a nice walk which they have tried to keep to an 8% incline. If it exceeds that they have put in stairs.
Jim standing next to a tree which is over 100 years old. These trees only grow to a height of 6-10 feet, but the rings on them must be seen with a microscope they are so close together.
These plaques mark the burial site of the ashes of Dr. Grenfell and his wife, Anne, and also other people who played an important part in the start of medical facilities in the northern peninsula.
Dr. Grenfell built a teahouse at the top of the hill above the town, so that the staff had a place to go for tranquility and retreat.
The view from the teahouse then...
And now...
Taken with the self-timer...the next one we tried to take was aborted when the wind blew the camera over. It's always windy here!
Overlooking St. Anthony...
The trail is extremely well maintained and marked...each sign post has an inset of Dr. Grenfell in it...
Anne Grenfell loved lupins...me too!
The house today...it is a museum which you can walk through. It wasn't open when we were there and you pay to go through it at the interpretive centre, so we decided to head over there.
The interpretive centre...are you sensing the green theme? Very distinctive...
Dr. Grenfell's statue...
We went inside, only to find out that the power was out, so much of the centre was in darkness and it wasn't possible to view the movie about their life. The staff told us that a truck had taken down three power poles and they were expecting the power to be out for a while. We decided to come back later....
We met a couple from Fredericton. I saw his jacket with the Albert Street School crest on it and wondered if they were from Fredericton. They saw our licence plate and it was like meeting neighbours.
The boat tour is a go! We're happy and jump on board...
We're heading out of St. Anthony to find an iceberg that is about 5 miles away...
This is the Lightkeepers restaurant where we had dinner a couple of nights ago.
Can you see that tiny, tiny speck on the horizon? That's the iceberg we are heading towards. The sea is quite rough...
We're getting closer and we can see that it's a beauty!
Stunning! It's about 110 feet high, 220 feet across and about 400 feet long. Our guide, Paul, believes it's grounded because it has been in the same spot for several days. With winds like these, there's no way it would still be here.
We are in awe...these icebergs can take 2-3 years to come from Greenland. They might only get partway before winter sets in and they are frozen in place, to begin their journey again in the spring.
We circle the iceberg to get a view of it from all sides...
Can you imagine how huge this is beneath the water if it is grounded? We are five miles from shore...
Paul was pretty happy with this iceberg. They love to have something spectacular to show the tourists!
I must have taken 25 pictures of it. It was so beautiful you didn't want to miss one angle!
And with that, we've been all the way around...
For some reason, I can't seem to upload videos. So I put them on Youtube with a link to them. To give you a sense of movement!
To give some perspective on how close we got...
This video will give an idea of how we were bouncing up and down!
These two we will affectionately refer to as "Dumb and Dumber." Oh my god...the questions they asked! "Did the iceberg move? Because it was over there a while ago?" Reply from Paul: "Uh, no, I turned the boat." The final one was when Paul said the iceberg was grounded and one of them asked, "Who grounded it?" For heavens sake! The other people started throwing out suggestions, like the tour operator so that they can take people out to it every day. You do meet all kinds!
Back at St. Anthony's...Paul sounded quite relieved that we were back in the harbour again. We didn't see any whales, but no one was complaining!
Back at the dock...do you see the colour of the building? Yup, it's something Grenfell. We're behind the interpretive centre.
Having only had our raisin bread and enjoying all that fresh air, we were hungry!! They were still repairing the power lines in town, so there was still no power. On the advice of the hotel staff, we headed to Gunners Cove about 30 km away.
Northern Delight... a VERY popular local restaurant. When we went in. there were about 4 cars in the parking lot. This was the scene when we came out. And we were definitely the "from away" people. Everyone that came in stopped to chat at every table, and the talk was all about the big power outage. We had yummy cod, and called it a day!
Tomorrow we're off to Trout River as we work our way back down to Port aux Basques towards the ferry...
