We have been in Newfoundland now for 3 days and it is truly a beautiful area, but we have had lots of surprises. We arrived at 2 AM at the Grand Codroy RV Park and after a quick electric plug in we jumped in to bed and crashed. When we checked in later in the morning they didn't charge us for that night since we got in so late, but we stayed an extra two days to explore that area so it was a good deal all in all. VERY nice park. They also cater to RV Tours so fill up quickly and empty quickly as the tours come and go. Most of the RV's that were there when we were are from the USA (about 15 rigs on this tour) and they are the BIG rigs. It's quite a tour that lasts for 39 days. Not our cup of tea (besides we'd be the small fish in a very big pond!), but the group seemed to be having a great time.
On the 13th, once we got up and running, we did a drive along the SW coast to the Rose Blanche light house. I bet we didn't pass 6 cars the whole 3 hours we drove along that road. We went through about 4 small villages. What we have found fascinating is that all the homes we have seen so far look to have been built since the late 60's to early 70's and ALL have vinyl siding. We are not seeing any little old wooden houses at all. The terrain in this particular area was very rocky and looked like a volcano had erupted hugs rocks and over time they got covered with moss. It's very green, very few trees of any height and tons of small ponds and lakes. Truly gorgeous and rugged countryside. NO markets....don't know how far they have to drive to buy groceries, but not a single store in any of the villages. No farming or dairy either. And, not a whole of fishing fleets that we could see. We only saw one restaurant in that whole coast area. VERY un-touristy and that was a surprise. The lighthouse was AWESOME. I have lots of pictures, but such lousy wifi I can't upload yet.
On the 14th we had a rainy day, but took off to tour a little north on the SW coast. Again, hardly any cars...even on the main Canadian Hwy which is the ONLY way to get from point A to point B in the whole country!!! We checked out a couple more lighthouses and a beautiful old church. The groundskeeper happened to be there and invited to go in and have a look. He gave us a little of the history. He was a young man in his 20's named Zach. He couldn't wait to "get the Hell out of Dodge", but was currently spending time with his Gran. Nice kid and nice to hear his perspective on things. They were working on the old church and covering it with VINYL! Also getting rid of those beautiful old windows with new ones and throwing the old ones off the cliff!! It really upset him that they were making the changes, even though he did not even belong to the church. It is sad the way they are destroying the historical value of those old buildings, but the congregation is old and keeping up the old building was too much I guess. The terrain was quite different here with rolling hills and mountains, bigger pine trees and again every shade of green you can imagine. We only saw 2 fishing fleet areas and one very large farm, but again no markets or restaurants. They do have Variety Stores in some of the Villages that carry a little of this and that, but you would be hard pressed to fill your frig! Again, no cars on the highway and maybe 4 or 5 on the side roads we were on. This is the middle of July so should be tourist season or summer vacation time we would think. One other thing of note is that with all the big lakes and all you see VERY FEW pleasure boats or any boats at all for that matter, but we see RV's and trailers alongside about every 3rd house.
The topping on the cake this day was that we were invited to watch a SCREECH IN! It's a Newfoundland tradition that our friend George had told us about. What a HOOT! The Campground owners at Codroy put these on for the bus tours. They bring in this great local band (2 guitars and an accordion) that honestly made me think we were in Ireland. The music, very much so, but even the lilt to the speech when they talked. Mostly stories about Newfoundland life or folks and it got your feet stomping and your hands clapping. Screech is a Newfoundland Rum that when you drink it makes you want to screech! No kidding...it burns all the way down. However, before they give you the Screech you have to go through an "initiation" which included eating like a Newfoundlander (a small chunk of baloney), talking like a Newfoundlander (repeating several of the Newfy slang), dancing like one by doing a quick jig and finally....kissing a live Cod! Immediately followed by downing a shot of Screech. After all that the owner (Alice) anointed each of the participants by tapping them on the shoulder with a large empty bottle of Screetch and bestowing on them the honor of being a TRUE Newfoundlander. Certificate and all. It really was a fun evening.
Today we drove up to Rocky Harbor which is more of a tourist area AND a fishing village. Several restaurants, but again, no markets, just smaller variety stores! We went to the local fishing wharf and bought fresh fish for dinner tonight. We are in the Gros Morne National Park so hope tomorrow to explore the area. We did a short drive up to Lobster Cove to see the lighthouse there and explored the main drag and a couple of craft stores. It was raining most of the day and quite windy so didn't get to enjoy as much of the view coming in as we'd have liked. We will probably backtrack tomorrow so we can see some of the beautiful areas we passed. We've made arrangements to stay here for a week. On Monday we will leave the motor home here and drive up to St. Anthony for about 4 days. Thought we'd give staying in a B&B a whirl. So much cheaper to drive the car than the RV and it's about 400 miles up there. That's where we should see the ice bergs and the whales. Excited about that!
Looking forward to being able to upload photos. If I wake up early or manage to stay awake late I might try to do it while here. Have to do it when all the other campers are asleep! WIFI has been a big disappointment and we are without phone service quite a bit so even texting can be spotty. NO TV so no news or weather reports which is very frustrating. Definitely feeling a little cut off from the world so really, really appreciate the emails we get from time to time.
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