Saturday July 30, 2016 Botwood, Newfoundland, Canada

I had the alarm set for 6:30, that’s AM.  Our wagon masters wanted us to leave the park by 8:30. Our group was scheduled for a tour of the Insectarium in Deer Lake, about 60 miles away.  We needed to be there so parking could be directed and make sure we all had room without unhooking cars.  We made our coffee and started to get ready to travel.

I got the power and water unhooked and the Jeep hooked up ready to travel.  It had rained quite heavily during the night and we had to operate the large slide in and out 3 times to get all the water off the awning so it would roll up correctly.  The route was a backtrack on Highway 430 toward Corner Brook.  The road was actually better going south.  Much of the repaving had been completed and there were no active construction zones on a Saturday morning.

At the Insectarium we were given a short talk about butterflies and the operation of the Insectarium.  The facility itself was a large dairy barn similar to those in Pennsylvania and other dairy areas.  It had been remodeled and a hot house added for the butterflies.  Of course it had a gift shop.  The butterflies were moderately active and there were many beautiful ones flying around.  The hothouse wasn’t good to picture taking.  The camera lens kept fogging up and most of the specimen were flitting around.  For some reason this wasn't a problem for Gerri's phone. Next we gathered in an auditorium for a talk about the lives of honey bees and their activities in the hive.  There was an active hive on display on the second floor.  It had a small tunnel to the outside for the workers to enter and exit for nectar gathering.  The 2^nd floor also had an extensive display of mounted butterfly and insects.  There was a partial 3rd floor dedicated to spiders.

This guy was about a foot long

Some could be held

Taken with the camera

A bee freeway

When our drive to Botwood resumed, we entered Trans-Canada Highway 1.  We were on that road for the next 130 miles and then exited toward Botwood and some other small coastal towns.  The Shawnadidhit RV Park is quite large.  We did have water hookup, and 30 amp electrical service but no sewer connections.  Our group was parked around the edges of a large clearing.  The sites are large with plenty of separation between sites.  Our site backs up on a quick flowing brook.  There is no Wi-Fi at this park and our Verizon, so far, is very slow.

After getting set up we drove into town.  Botwood isn’t very large but once was an important terminal for float planes and early transatlantic flights.  A Float Plane Festival starts this weekend but we only saw two during our drive around town.  One was a static display of a PBY water bomber and another privately owned small airplane with float landing gear.  Most of the activity schedule for the festival is in the late evening. The activities listed are a boat parade, fireworks and music, with an arts and craft show on Monday.

We stopped at a grocery store for a few needed items and then returned to the RV park.  We sat out at an impromptu gathering of many of our group, visited and had snacks.  Gerri prepared some salmon steaks we had bought in Rocky Harbour and served them with stir fried vegetables and the rice left over from out mussel dinner on Thursday.

We read for a while and called it an early night.  Tomorrow we are pretty much on our own.  The festival brochure listed ecumenical church service at 6 PM with local talent, whatever that means.  

Friday July 29, 2016 Rocky Harbour, Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada

This was a down day with no activities planned until dinner followed by a show.
We slept in.  The other caravan group was mostly gone before I made our coffee.
The park internet was off, so I had to use our Jet Pack to post yesterday's blog.

We decided to drive up the coast and see the site of the S.S. Ethie's beaching and then go on to the lighthouse at Cow's Head.

After the Ethie was beached she was stripped of everything the company could save.  The wreckage on the beach looked nothing like a steamship.  All that remains are some large steel parts of machinery. We did find a cache nearby.  But it was up a mud bank and we couldn't reach the container.  I took a picture and claimed the find.

Not the SS Ethie but just as wrecked

Not the typical house in Cow's Head,
this one is much cuter

We drove on to Cow's Head.  We had moose burgers at the Back Cove Cafe.  We drove toward the lighthouse but the sign at the trail head said it was a 50 minute walk.  We started back to Rocky Harbour.  We did find a cache in Cow's Head.  The container was cracked and everything was wet inside.  I put a pill bottle and new log in the old container.  It may keep the log dry until the owner can replace the larger container.

Our last stop on the way back was at a view point where there were two red Adirondack chairs.  The park service put out 14 pairs of the chairs at various lookout points around the park.  There was a contest to see who sat in all 14 first.  The winner got, you guessed it, a pair of red chairs.
















At 8 we attended a performance by Anchors Aweigh.  They are a local band that have appeared at the Oceanview Hotel for 20 years and they played traditional and modern Newfoundland music.  Modern in that some of the songs were fairly recently written.  The band was very lively and had a lot of audience participation.  The show ended at 11.

Thursday July 28, 2016 Rocky Harbour, Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada

We didn't make it to the wagon master's breakfast.  Today was an optional boat trip in Bonne Bay, Bon B'y.  Ben got me on because I didn't go on the Western Brook Pond trip boat yesterday.

Shag Cliff

I rode to Norris Point with Alec and Shelia.  It was foggy on the way but cleared some for the boat tour.  Bonne Bay is actually two Fjords, One is 16 miles long and the other 13.  We saw at least 6 bald eagles.  I never saw them but some porpoises were spotted.  They aren't as social as species found in other place and don't play around boat wakes.

Bonne Bay Niagara Falls

The Tablelands

The Au Rigore lighthouse, at Norris Point

Looking out to St. Lawrence Bay

After the boat ride I rode back with Moe and Pat.  We found one cache along the way in Norris Point.

View from a cache

Back at the RV park we had lunch.  After lunch Moe and I went out geocaching.  Many of the caches nearby have a higher terrain rating than I can try for. and others were too far away.  We did manage to find 2, DNF one and gather the information for an earth cache.

An abandoned sawmill near another cache.

Gerri cooked the mussels that we bought a couple of days ago and served them with rice and peas.
We sat out for awhile with some other members of the group.

Wednesday July 27, 2016 Rocky Harbour, Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada

We were up at 7 and having our coffee.  Ben came around and let me know that it was doubtful if I could get a ride from the parking lot to the boat at Western Brook Ponds for today's tour.  I decided  to stay at the coach as opposed to waiting tn the parking lot at the Pond.  Ben said he could get me on the boat tour of Bonne Bay on Thursday and there was no walking involved.

Gerri decided to go on the tour today and rode with Moe and Pat.  I stayed at the coach and read most of the time.  I was able to make some phone calls and take care of some business involving insurance.

Tin Man, can you see him?

Moose sighting

After Gerri and the group that went to Western Brook Pond came back. We rested for our evening outing at the theater in Cow's Head.  Cow's Head is a town quite a drive north of Rocky Harbour.   We rode to Cow's Head with Bob and Mary from Massachusetts. There we saw a fanciful play about the wreck of the SS Effie.  The SS Effie was a steam ship that was beached in a storm south of Cow's Head.  It carried mail cargo and passengers along the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.  It was a dinner show. one act was put on while orders were take and then there was a break while dinner was served and consumed.

Headed back to Rocky Harbor the clouds were lowering and it was twilight.  We got back around 9 and read for awhile before calling it a night.

Tuesday July 26, 2016 Rocky Harbour, Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada

Today was an on your own day, until the wagon master's dinner.  We slept in for awhile and enjoyed our coffee.  It was sunny until later in the morning.  Rain forecast for tomorrow.

We decided to drive around the south end of the park after stopping at the visitors center.  The national park is named Gros Morne, which from French translate as "big isolated hill" or "big gloomy."  With the weather today the second translation is appropriate. Until we exited the park on 430 and turned on 431, we had driven this way on the way north.  The highway went along Bonne Bay.  The park literature said that sometimes a smaller species of whales are seen in the bay.  Although it was a beautiful drive, we saw no whales.




The turn on to Highway 431 took us back into the southern part of the park  The trees in the southern part of the park are taller than most we had seen in the rest of the park.  We drove to Woody Point.  A small fishing area by the bay.  There were a few boats on the water and a lot of B&Bs on shore.  We saw at least 3 churches.

Snow still around here

We drove to an area called the Tablelands.  One of the mountains from one angle looked like a large southwestern mesa.  We drove as far as a popular trailhead.  We saw Moe and Pat there.  We had seen others from our group along the way.  Moe and I found a cache near the parking lot.

We headed back to the RV park the day had been cloudy but otherwise the scenery was beautiful.  By the time we gassed up the Jeep and got back to the park it was nearly dinner time.  The rain that was forecast for tomorrow started just before dinner and lasted into the night.

Gros Morne Mt., namesake of the park

Tomorrow is a boat tour of Western Brook Pond.  Pond in this case is a rather large lake.  There is a 40 minute walk to the boat dock.  Ben is going to see if there is a way to have me and Deanna, who also can't walk very far, a ride from the parking lot.  If not we won't be going on the boat tour.