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The photography blog of Victoria Bennett Beyer, featuring travel photographs from road trips across America and botanical photography of plants, flowers and leaves.
Filtering by Tag: canada
I’ve been digging through some old files, so get ready for some throwbacks. This one is from Red Bay, Labrador in Canada. Three years ago we took an epic RV trip through eastern Canada, and this was the northernmost point we reached. It was beautiful, and covered in gulls. I can’t believe I got a shot where there was only one!
It felt a little strange to be walking right through this colorful collection of houses at Green Point, on our way back to the parking lot. Some are clearly still used, though perhaps just for the summer season.
Another stop in Gros Morne National Park was Green Point. After just a short walk from the parking lot and down some stairs, we came to what is a very geologically significant area, adjacent to the ocean.
As you can see, the layers of rock stand vertically, but originally they formed flat as sediment settled to the ocean floor. Later, tectonic forces pushed them upright, so now, the oldest layers appear to the right and the younger layers to the left.
After her talk, the park ranger encouraged us to clamber up on the rocks and look for fossils of ocean creatures. Even Lyle was allowed, and he scrambled right up like a mountain goat, much to my surprise.
And we even found some remains of organisms that lived in the ocean hundreds of millions of years ago! We of course left our finds at the park and enjoyed showing them to other visitors who were on the hunt as well. I loved the sort of communal spirit that we all shared in our common quest after the lecture. That seems pretty far off as we enter year two of Covid-19 and socially distancing, but perhaps that is why I remember it so fondly.
After our stay in Labrador, we headed back to Newfoundland on the ferry, and then drove back down the coast, the same way we came up. We would have loved to have circled the island, but three weeks was just not enough time to explore as much as wanted. However, we were delighted to return to Gros Morne National Park, and see some areas we had missed on the way up. Western Brook Pond was a real highlight.
We took the Western Brook Pond boat tour through this land-locked fjord, and it was a great way to experience it. The tour guides were great, and there was even traditional music by a live performer on the way back. The kids were encouraged to join in and my daughter had a blast playing tambourine.
The scenery was stunning, from cliffs to waterfalls to verdant forests We didn’t see any wildlife, but apparently moose and bear can sometimes be seen.
The tour goes all the way to the far end of the ‘pond,’ though I’d definitely categorize this as a lake. You can see the dock in the above photo. Another way to experience this area is to take the boat to the dock and then begin hiking. They offer a guided hike as well, though it remains to be seen if it will return in 2021. It’s more strenuous than we wanted to do with an 8-year-old, but we have our eye on this for the next time we return to Newfoundland. The views from the cliffs look amazing.
We drove north along the coast of Labrador to Red Bay, a National Historic Site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was one of the most picturesque places we visited during our whole trip. The modern village is just like you would imagine - a mix of white and colorful houses, many with their own docks, nestled right up against the waters. We started the day at the museum, which chronicles the history of the area, which was a large whaling station in the mid 1500’s, drawing hundreds of Basque fishermen each season. There are many sunken ships and boats in the area, which have offered up a wealth of artifacts that tell the story of these times. In the basement is the best gift shop we encountered our entire trip - funny it was the furthest point north. We had seen knit sweaters and mittens at every roadside stop up Newfoundland’s coast, but this one really took the cake. Everything here was such high quality and handmade locally. I bought several pairs of mittens for Christmas presents.
We also took the 5 minute boat ride over to Saddle Island (Lyle included! I can’t say enough how great Canada is for dogs!). It’s a small island where you can see the clay tiles from the roof where the Basques rendered whale oil, making the vital supply that lit the oil lamps of Europe. The trail is lovely, giving you beautiful views of the bay and the town. The seagulls were roosting, perhaps? Hundreds of them filled the sky as we made our way around the island.
This was, as I mentioned before, our furthest point north on our trip, and this was also where we turned around and made our way back south for our return trip home. We ended up here on a lark, and I am so glad we changed our plans. This was a beautiful place to visit and this little village is one of the things I picture most often in my head when I think of our Canada journeys from 2019.
We camped at the beautiful Pinware River Provincial Park in Labrador. Right over this dune was a long, narrow sandy beach. Wyle and I had fun walking up and down the beach all day, collecting sea glass and watching seals feeding in the surf. There was a constant breeze, which was good, because the bugs we encountered here were worse than any I have ever encountered before. They were on you the second you climbed out of the camper. We raced up and over the dune and back, seeking either the relief of the beach breezes or the camper. But even in the camper we weren’t safe. It was perfect weather to leave the windows open, but the tiny little flies were coming in through the screens!!! We had to seal the camper up tight. Still, I remember this stop fondly.
Labrador was worth the ferry ride! Just look how gorgeous it was as we were driving up the highway.
We camped at Pinware River Provincial Park. The site was lovely - we had a view of dunes covered with crackerberries, and up and over the top was where the river met the ocean. There was a long but narrow sandy beach, where my daughter and I spent hours walking, looking for sea glass and shells. It was so quiet and we hardly saw anyone else. It was idyllic, except for the bugs! They were not so bad on the beach, where there was a consistent breeze, but the quickly little jaunt back to the camper was always a mad dash, ending with a flurry of action trying to get in the camper as quickly as possible to keep the bugs out. But even with effort, we could not keep them out, because they were so small they fit through our screened windows! We had to close all the windows and button the camper up, which was a real shame because the weather was so nice.
