Gandering in Gander – July 14 (part 2)

(For those reading this for the first time, you might want to look at “About” before continuing)

L’Anse aux Meadows

Hi there – 

Today we drove 6 miles (10 km) to L’Anse aux Meadows which is the site of the first Viking habitation in North America. A beautiful site with an interpretation center built right into the side of a hill.

L’Anse aux Meadows

In Norse sagas there had been references about discovering Vinland but researchers didn’t know where that was though they suspected it was somewhere in North America. Dr. Helge Ingstad and his wife, Dr. Anne Stine Ingstad, had spent years studying the Norse in Iceland and Greenland and concluded that it only made sense that the Vikings would have sailed west to discover North America.  In 1960, the Ingstads sailed up and down the east coast trying to pinpoint where a good possible settlement site would be. They landed on L’Anse Aux Meadow which at the time was a very small fishing village that was only accessible by sea. As usual they asked the local inhabitants if they had seen any ruins and the village leader, George Decker, said yes and took them to the site of some unusual grassy mounds. The Ingstads were certain that this was a Viking settlement and twelve years of archaeological research proved them right. The grassy mounds turned out to be the remnants of eight 11th century Norse buildings. They went so far as discovering remains of early iron production and woodworking. The site became a National Historic Site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Today you can see the remains of the original buildings and right beside it are four reconstructed sod buildings of the same design. Staff are dressed in the period and act the role of the era, all very informative and fascinating.

The Vikings arrived in the 11th century but only stayed a few years then hostilities arose between them and local natives and they departed. It is felt that this site was only a way station and that somewhere in the south a larger site exists where they lived. They think only 70 to 90 people lived in this site.

Norstead

About half a mile from the park site is Norstead, a living history site. It’s a village reconstructed with modern day Vikings demonstrating the Norse style of a thousand years ago, sharing their crafts and knowledge with the visitors. The Lady learned how to knit a hat with one needle. One of the highlights was seeing a full sized replica of the “Snorri” Viking ship. It had actually been sailed from Norway to this site. Beautiful craftsmanship and lines. It was all very well done and the staff were knowledgeable and friendly. A great experience especially after seeing a blessèd sheep sleeping in a Viking sheep pen.

The Grenfell House

After having a great lunch, we headed to St. Anthony to the Dr. Wilfred Grenfell Centre. Dr. Grenfell, a medical missionary, arrived from England to Northern Newfoundland in 1892 where he began giving medical attention on the Labrador coast and Northern Newfoundland. At the time Labrador had a population of 30,000 people with no medical care. Grenfell was appalled at the living conditions, barely subsistent fishing families living all together in small one-roomed houses in extremely unhealthy conditions. He was very impressed with the spirit of the people though and devoted his life to improving their physical and spiritual well-being. Over the years he introduced medical centers, schools, small home industries, orphanages and co-operatives. Up to that time the fishermen would buy all their supplies on credit from the fish plant owners. At the end of the season they paid their debt with their fish. If it was a bad season they got more into debt. Grenfell tried to end this system though it did continue on until the 1930’s. St. Anthony itself has a large hospital and the lovely Grenfell home which we toured. Quite an inspiring man who said, “If you’re given two choices, always choose the most adventurous.”

St. Anthony

St. Anthony

A full and fascinating day. The Man and Lady have discussed going to Labrador but have decided against it as there is only 50 miles (80 km) of road on the other side of the ferry, four towns and we hear lots and lots of black flies. We can see Labrador from here and realize it isn’t probably going to be that much different from what we are seeing here so we’ll carry on south tomorrow and then east towards St. Johns.

July 14 – Well, we did our own epic trek today south and then east. We needed to backtrack from the northern peninsula south to the Trans Canada and then east, a drive of 270 miles (430 km). We had planned to stay at Deer Lake but arrived there about 3 p.m. The Man and Lady didn’t like it because it was ‘too big city’ – it had a Tim Hortons and a KFC so they decided to drive a bit further. The Man and Lady have become confirmed rural-ites and are doing anything to avoid towns with more than two highway exits. This meant heading further east and we had been warned by the Newfoundlanders that it was a long drive and ‘nothing much there.’ We headed out for our first town and kept waiting for the nothingness. I guess there are degrees of nothingness – the nothingness we encountered was like saying there is nothing to see in the Rockies but mountains, lakes, wildflowers and beautiful forest. The scenery was awesome. We keep telling the Newfoundlanders how beautiful their province is but they kind of shrug and don’t seem to see it. We reached our first town after 70 miles (110 km) – booked up, so we pressed on another 43 miles (70 km) to Badger – all booked up, another 12.5 miles (20 km) to Grand Falls and they were having a music festival so were all booked up – finally another 56 miles (90 km) to Gander and we found a place to stay!

Tomorrow we continue east to Terra Nova National Park and Bonavista and then some exploring of the Avalon Peninsula.

 Well, a long day and I’m ready to count blessèd sheep!

Till later,

Miss Ewe

Gandering in Gander – July 14 (part 1)

(For those reading this for the first time, you might want to look at “About” before continuing)

July 13

Well . . . that’s it, I’m eating in the car from now on. First the Man and Lady ordered COD TONGUES as an appetizer tonight and then the Man, realizing that the only way he’ll have a close encounter with a moose, ordered Peppered Moose for dinner. He’s one sick person. When they got back in the car all they could talk about was the cod tongues. Apparently they aren’t the actual tongues but the muscley part underneath. The Man said they tasted alright but that they are quite chewy except for the glob of jelly like stuff in the middle. I think I’ll stick to grass!

Speaking of moose, our Newfoundland moose spotting count is up to fifteen not counting the dead one on the Man’s plate. By the way, I forgot to tell you about our chat with another couple in another viewpoint the other day. Just say ‘moose’ to a Newfie and they’re ready to pull out their treasure trove of moose stories. This couple was telling us that the moose was not native to Newfoundland but a pair were brought over from New Brunswick. Apparently they didn’t get along so they had to bring in another pair who liked each other a lot. And now there are 110,000 moose in Newfoundland. The caribou, who are native here, are down to 500. I think the moose are eating the caribou. It was quite embarrassing because the Man was itching to tell HIS great moose stories and I had to bite his ankles to stop him from bringing out his pack of moose butt photos!

Wednesday it started out really rainy as we drove up the Viking Trail north. We thought it was going to be a day of driving and not much adventure. By early afternoon it had cleared up and we were treated to some more incredible Newfoundland beauty. We decided to stop off at Port au Choix which is the first of two archaeological sites that the Man thought we would like to see. They had a great interpretive center explaining the arrival of the four different cultures to that particular point covered with plants and berries that were beneficial to their survival along with the sea life.

Port au Choix

The archaeologists could tell the four distinct groups by the design of arrowheads found in the area. Theses groups lived in the area from about 3500 BC to the present. It was all very interesting and there were dig sites that weren’t accessible to us.

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Phillip’s Garden

Then we went to an area called Phillip’s Garden which is a flat limestone ‘shelf’ to the shoreline eroded into pockets filled with peat. Because of the high lime content the plants are stubby and alkaline loving types. Lots of wild berries and unusual wild flowers cover most of the rock in thick layers. The natives used it for medicinal and food sources. It was very beautiful, blue Atlantic waves on eroded cliffs.

Point Riche

From there we continued to head north when we noticed something strange on the sides of the road. Small fenced off areas about 32′ x 32′ (10 metres x 10 metres) with cultivated rows of potatoes growing in them – every kilometre or so. We couldn’t figure it out until we picked up a book on the local lore and it told us that after the highway was built in the 1960’s people found pockets of good soil to grow things in which was a novelty so they drove many kilometres to claim these small areas to garden. Another thing we see are many huge piles of cut firewood along the side of the road. Often there is a snow mobile sled beside the piles. Apparently locals have wood lots and cut their wood early and in the winter haul it back to their houses by snow mobile. There is an extensive snow mobile trail throughout Newfoundland. We’ve seen lots of trails and bridges built for them. The people here on the coast seem to be very resourceful and don’t waste anything. It’s very beautiful now but you can see where winter would be very difficult with high snow and by the look of the windswept vegetation, cold and windy. In some places there are no trees around the houses for protection, just the wind blowing right off the Atlantic. Makes me thankful for my woollies.

The Man had a talk with a local Newfoundlander today but didn’t know what they talked about because he couldn’t understand a word he said. The Man just kept nodding his head apparently at the wrong places because the Newfie said, “I guess I’m talking too fast, little hard to understand.” But it seemed a pleasant enough exchange.

St. Lunaire

St. Lunaire

Last night we ended up in St. Lunaire which is almost as far north as you can go in Newfoundland. Another quiet fishing village with incredibly beautiful small natural harbour. Everywhere you look there are beautiful sights to see and the Man’s neck is getting sore from whipping around to find the next shot. You can’t go more than ten minutes without finding another new and beautiful vista to gaze at and it’s amazing how the beauty just goes on and on. People have been wonderful. Very good food – well actually the grass tastes just the same as everywhere else, but the Man and Lady talk about their meals ad nauseum.