Day 48 Fleur de Lys

This morning it is raining and we are being lazy. We waited till 11:30 to leave the campground. The destination was to be Subway in Baie Verte, mainly to get access to their free WiFi.

On the drive to Fleur de Lys we passed this hugh open pit mine. Later we found out it was and asbestos mine. It opened in 1983 and closed some time in the late 1990s. To us this seem very recent for asbestos to be actively mined.

Fleur de Lys was the target for the day. It turned out that it was a civic holiday and a funeral in town and it appeared that was where everyone was. The chief attraction is the Dorset Soapstoe Quarry Site and Museum. The Museum was closed but we could hike the trail out back. The quarry is the only known soapstone outcrop in the northern hemisphere that preserves evidence of Paloeskimo vessel-quarring. You can see in the photos the shapes where the carving had been done. The trail also went up to a good vantage point to view the area.

The rain relented in the afternoon, so everything worked out.

Photos

Day 47 La Scie

Sue insisted that we make one last attempt at seeing the Salmon in the Indian River Falls. As you will see she was right. We did see the salmon but at some distance and I only had my iPhone. Good luck viewing the video.

After a short drive we ended up at Flatwater Pond Park for two nights. We are then off to see  La Scie, another little fishing village with a beautiful setting. A hike up to the top of a hill outside of town gave us a view of town in 360 degrees. At this late date we were still able to see two icebergs off in the distance (you my have to look close).

Since we had the afternoon to explore we check out Shoe Cove, Tilt Cove, Brent's Cove, and Harbor Round. Tilt Cove was an old mining town and had lots of interesting rocks. Not much to say about the others however.

Last stop was to get pictures of Baie Verte waterfall over 200 feet tall.

Photos

Day 46 Springdale

Glander Aeronautical Museum was the first stop this morning. The museum portrays Glander's place in aviation history. It was originally supply stop for trans Atlantic flights. Later it became the refueling stop Russian flights to Cuba. Bacause of this stop it became a favorite place to defect from Russia. It modern claim to fame was on 911. When US airspace was closed it recieved 42 flights from all over the world. These planes carried 6700 passengers and crew which the town hosted for four days before the flights could resume. The display brought back memories of that day. All sorts of letters were on display that thanked the people of Glander.

Next stop was the Glassy beach in Springdale. The beach is littered with glass that has been tumbled by the sea and left on the beach.

The third stop was a craft shop which had some very nice wooden cutting boards. I had to take some pictures to give me some ideas for the future.

Last stop was the Indian River, right here in our campground.

Enjoy the pictures.

Day 45 Propane FiX?

It was a long drive today to Gander. We thought we would take in the 911 Museum here but got side tracked. There were no opening at the RV park. We did however run across an RV dealer and decided to see if we could do something about our propane leak. Bought a bottle of leak detector and actually found a small leak. We are no longer smelling propane outside the trailer. The leak was in one of the supply lines connections. Tighting the fitting appears to have fixed the problem. However the regulator is still not working correctly. All the appliances seem to work fine, so we will see how it goes from here.

Moose update, we have seen 13 of which one was dead along the road.

Staying at Walmart tonight and the Museum will be in the morning.

No photos.

Day 44 France here we come

Today is the day we have been expecting the whole trip. We get to take the 1 hour ferry to France. Actually we are going the St Pierre and island that belongs to France. I can honestly say this is not like going to Canada. It is all french all day. The language barrier made it difficult for us. We elected to take a bus tour of the island which was narrated in a sort of English. Our tour was at 11:15 am and lasted 1 1/2 hours. This meant straight off the ferry onto the bus, no lunch. We learned that nearly everything closes from 12:00 to 2:00 here for lunch, (translates to a late lunch for us). Since this island does not seem to produce any product and everything is imported it is expensive. Additionally we were told that the major employer was France Government, it is essentially a welfare state of  France,(my opinion). We had a nice time but were a little disappointed at the same time.

Picture album

Day 43 Burin Peninsula Boot Drive

Arrives at Frenchman's Cove Provincial Park just afternoon. With the afternoon available we decided to drive around the Burin Peninsula Boot. The drive would take us to Fortune where we would catch the ferry to France in the morning. It was a good thing we made the stop an got all the details about the ferry, like parking, tickets, and customs proceedures. Turned out the ferry was full but we had made our reservations a couple of days ago. Next stop turned out to be a craft shop in St Lawrence. The shop offers employment for people with mental disabilities by teaching them to make jewelry. I also turned out to be a museum of the history of the area. Of Sue had to contribute by buying one of their necklaces.

The US ships ran aground here during the war years. Over a hundred men died but the towns people rescued around 200. One of the ships was carrying heavy oil and there for the men rescued were covered in oil. In particular one sailor was a black man. And because these people had never seen a black man before they kept trying to scrub him clean. This man has returned to the community many time as it change his life for ever. He even wrote a book about the incident and has done many lectures. He had never been treated so kindly by whites.

In the photo album I have include a clip and some pictures of the drive.

Day 42 A day for the Birds

Today we explore Cape St Mary's Ecological Reserve. The number of Northern Gannet pairs has increase to over 22,000.  They are literally  everywhere you look along the shore line. It a hike out to view bird point of around 3 km. The trail is up and down a tundra like landscape. When you get to the viewing point you are only around 60 feet from bird rock. I think this picture will give you an idea of how it got its name.

 The most notable birds are the Northern Gannet.

We could also identify Common Murre and Black-Legged Kittiwakes. Not being real birders the other here were just birds to us. There is a short video in the album that will give you some idea of the sights and sounds. What you will not get to enjoy is the Smell!

On our way back we toured one of the bunkers from when the Navy Base was here. There are quite a number of these around here and even one which was a hospital. Bob next door was stationed here when it was a base and has provided a lot of details.

Addition Pictures