28. St. Anthony, Newfoundland

July 25, 2011. Travel day, Rocky Point to St. Anthony Newfoundland

 ……….”Huston, we got a problem…………….. Well, it’s not as bad as Apollo 13, but it’s a pretty big deal to me. We were enjoying a beautiful ride along the Gulf of St. Laurence coast admiring the rocky coast line and the little villages when a little beyond the half way point a dog ran out in front of me. I hit the brakes as fast and as hard as I could but the dog hit the grill. We thought for sure the dog was dead but to our surprise we saw him on the other side of the road barking at us. We got out and found some broken and cracked fiberglass and fortunately, no damage to the radiator or oil cooler. The owner was there, he said it was his fault and we exchanged names and addresses. He had no insurance, in fact it looked liked he had very little of anything, so I’ll just have to do the repair on my dime. When we got to the camp ground we first had to do some sightseeing then we (me and several of the guys in the caravan) temporarily put things together with plastic ties and duck tape. It doesn’t look too bad but there are fairings behind the exterior surface that broke and broke loose. It will be a bugger to get access and fix these fairings.

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Now for the sight seeing part. We were told there were some ice bergs in a place called Goose Cove we were off to see them. These were much larger than the ones we saw at Twillingate. IN fact a local told us the story that “all the bergs come to St. Anthony first and when we’re done with then we send on to Twillingate” Sounds like there is a bit of rivalry going on.

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There was one ice berg that was really long. One guy estimated it at a half mile long/. It did look like it had two objects on it. From a distance the one on the right looked like a house and the one on the left, like a barn. Up close it was just ice.

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July 26. The next day we went to L’Anse aux Meadows which is the location of a settlement of Norsemen that predates Columbus by about 500 years.

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The site was discovered after years of research and exploring by Anne and Helge Ingstad. There is nothing left of the original buildings other than mounds of soil that outline where the walls stood. They did find evidence of an ironworks where they made nails that were used to repair their ships.

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 There was replica of the type of building the Norse built. The walls were about 6 feet thick, the roof was wood frame covered with sod. There was a fire pit inside with a chimney/vent to let the smoke out.

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There are people dressed in the clothes of the day. I was impressed by the way they explained the site and their ability to tell stories. The guy at this site was really good. He pulled you into the story and kept me there until it was time to go.

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The next stop was a Viking village replica. The buildings were of similar construction and they were staffed with Canada Parks employees. There was one building where a woman was demonstrating how the fried bread. No samples though………………

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After lunch it was back t Goose Cove to see the ice bergs. They are constantly changing shape and orientation as pieces break off and the ice melts. There was one ice berg that appeared to have big cracks. Some one said that what appeared to be a crack was clear ice. I took some close ups but after looking at them I think they look like cracks to me.

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Our final stop for the day was the “Grenfell Experience”.  Dr. Grenfell began hi work int his area as a physician-preacher in 1889. He spent his life working to improve the lives of the fishermen and their families. Tending to their medical needs, he was given an auxiliary steam yacht named the Strathcona. It served as a floating dispensary, ambulance, hospital, magistrate’s court, freighter and passenger vessel. After serving for 24 years, she sank in a gale off Cape Bonavista.

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 Shortly after we returned to the campground everyone’s attention was drawn to a moose that was within 15–20 feet of the RV’s. At first everyone tip-toed to get a look  and take pictures but it became apparent that the moose was totally unfazed by us standing and watching him munching on leaves and plants. It was quite an experience to be so near an animal like that.

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In the evening we went to dinner at a Viking Long House restaurant. It was a buffet but with Cod Tongue and salted Capelin appetizers, with foods like a Jiggs dinner consisting of salt beef, cabbage, potatoes, turnips, carrots.  Brewis, which is hard bread, salt cod boiled together with salt pork, a roast beef and stew.

After dinner mock trials were held. It was an impromptu affair where a person at a table was accused of a crime by his companions and witnesses were called and a judgement made by the group. Guilt or innocence was determined by how loud the noise, made by banging on the tables, was. Great fun. The light was very low, picture not too good but you can get the idea.

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There are more pictures at: http://summer2011jb.shutterfly.com/pictures/3020