Trout River, Newfoundland

EASTERN CANADA ROAD TRIP 2019

During our first leg at Gros Morne National Park (we hit it again on the way back down the coast) we stayed at Elephants Head RV Park. This was just one of the lovely sunsets we enjoyed from the campground. It was a great location, walking distance from the town of Trout River, where we had the best meal of our entire trip. If you ever find yourself here, you MUST go to the Seaside Restaurant, a beautiful place to eat local seafood while watching the waves lap the shore. We ordered mussels as an appetizer and they were so good we ordered more! We were also excited to try capelin, a small fish that plays a big part in the story of western Newfoundland. We ate so much that we were glad we had a walk back to the camper to help it digest.

Gros Morne National Park - The Tablelands

EASTERN CANADA ROAD TRIP 2019

We were so excited to go see The Tablelands at Gros Morne National Park. This is an interesting place in geological terms - one of the few places where the Earth’s mantle protrudes above the crust. There is little vegetation, and glaciers carved beautiful curves into the landscape. It makes for a very unique sight when you can see green hills in every other direction.

There is a path that ends in a boardwalk at Winter Park Brook Canyon. You are allowed to hike, however, off the trail here, which we would have done had we more time. On the way back, we examined the pitcher plants that are easy to pick out of the landscape. My daughter had been given an eye dropper as part of her National Parks booklet, so that she could pull the liquid out of a pitcher plant, examine its contents, and then return the liquid to the plant. It was really neat to see the half-digested bug parts.

Bonne Bay

EASTERN CANADA ROAD TRIP 2019

We worked our way up the western coast of Newfoundland, stopping both on our way up and on our way down to spend several days at Gros Morne National Park. It was spectacular from from top to bottom. This is beautiful Bonne Bay.

Newfoundland Insectarium

EASTERN CANADA ROAD TRIP 2019

The Newfoundland Insectarium is one of those things you find in a guidebook and you think, “That sounds neat.”  Well, what an understatement.  This place is so much larger on the inside than we imagined, hosting 8,000 square feet of insects on display, both live and mounted.  We spent hours here and honestly, I could have spent even longer.

The vibrant beetles were my favorite.  My daughter most loved the live honeybee exhibit.  It was sandwiched between two plates of glass, so you could see the bees inside the hive.  The best part was that they could fly outside via a little tunnel.  One of the docents answered my daughter’s numerous questions and told me lots of things I didn’t know, too.

Another docent let my daughter hold this huge stickbug. 

There was even an enclosed garden where hundreds of butterflies were floating among the tropical plants.  This is the Great Yellow Mormon of the Philippines.  The Newfoundland Insectarium is only open seasonally, so check their website before you go.

A Newfoundland Welcome

EASTERN CANADA ROAD TRIP 2019

From Nova Scotia we took an overnight ferry to Newfoundland. That alone was an interesting experience. The ferry we had booked had been canceled, and so we were booked on the next one, but without the cabin. As we boarded, we found a row of seats to sit in, and tried to get comfortable enough to sleep. It was tough - they reclined but there was no footrest and it felt awkward. Somehow less comfortable than a plane, but I am not sure how, haha. But we got lucky and they called us up to the desk - we were given a cabin that fit all four of us. It was tight but clean, and we were so thankful that we all dropped off to sleep right away, as it was after midnight. I don’t normally sleep well in unfamiliar places, but not that night. I slept like a log.

We woke the next morning in time to get breakfast in the restaurant and watch our approach to Port aux Basques. We were happy to go down to our camper and find that Lyle had done just fine overnight. We gave him some medication to ease his separation anxiety so we were not too worried. But that was our first time leaving our pup alone in the camper so long. We drove off the ferry and stopped at a nearby rest stop to let him potty. This - the image above - was the view. It pretty much summed it up: ‘Welcome to Newfoundland. It’s spectacularly gorgeous here.’