While TD Book Week might be over, I was still in Cartwright this morning and nowhere near home. Cartwright does have a small airport but flights are few and far between. So instead of waiting around we hit the road on the way back to L'Anse au Clair, where I had stayed before I did the coast leg of my trip.
The morning was young and sunny. The smell of wood stoves filtered through the nippy air. Gulls cried and crows cawed. We hit the road at 7:30 in the morning heading towards Port Hope Simpson where the Alexis Hotel was located. We stopped to see the sights on the way and ate a few bananas in the van for breakfast.
The morning was young and sunny. The smell of wood stoves filtered through the nippy air. Gulls cried and crows cawed. We hit the road at 7:30 in the morning heading towards Port Hope Simpson where the Alexis Hotel was located. We stopped to see the sights on the way and ate a few bananas in the van for breakfast.
They were just setting up for a banquet at the Alexis Hotel, but they had no problem serving us lunch in the mean time. I was getting pretty hungry by then. We had been on the road for a couple of hours. It is all dirt road out here and much of it is full of potholes. We did see the scraper taking care of that issue, but there is a lot of road to cover and they hadn't got to all of it yet.
The Alexis Hotel was really pretty on the inside. The dinning room had a great view of the port. The food was really good too. Sandy met a waiter who had just moved to Labrador from Nepal. Sandy used to live in Nepal setting up libraries and translating books. The waiter was really surprised when Sandy started speaking his language. They had a discussion about poetry. I was asked if I wrote poetry. The answer to that question is no - unless you count really bad poetry. I'm still a super newbie when it comes to writing in that form. Right now scripts and novels (and the occasional short story) are my only domain.
The Alexis Hotel was really pretty on the inside. The dinning room had a great view of the port. The food was really good too. Sandy met a waiter who had just moved to Labrador from Nepal. Sandy used to live in Nepal setting up libraries and translating books. The waiter was really surprised when Sandy started speaking his language. They had a discussion about poetry. I was asked if I wrote poetry. The answer to that question is no - unless you count really bad poetry. I'm still a super newbie when it comes to writing in that form. Right now scripts and novels (and the occasional short story) are my only domain.
We headed out on the road once more. We stopped at Mary's Harbour for a stretch then drove on to Red Bay. Like I said in one of my previous blogs, Red Bay used to be a whaling town inhabited by the Basque. The Basque are indigenous people from north-central Spain and south-western France. They were known as the cleverest fishermen around. Wrecks from Basque ships have been found in Red Bay and they are a big part of the history of the area.
In Red Bay we stopped a at gift shop. I had very little room left in my luggage so I bought a puffin necklace and a magnet. I've bought other things back in Goose Bay, but I put them in the mail so I didn't have to pack them.
In Red Bay we stopped a at gift shop. I had very little room left in my luggage so I bought a puffin necklace and a magnet. I've bought other things back in Goose Bay, but I put them in the mail so I didn't have to pack them.
After that we drove over the Pinware river. It's a really powerful river. It even has a provincial park around part of it called Pinware provincial park.
The Pinware River
We traveled on to L'Anse-au-Loup. I saw some icebergs on the way. They have this amazing blue colour under the water. It's hard to tell in the photographs, but trust me, it's really pretty. In L'Anse-au-Loup we looked for a store with bananas and Tylenol. We did find the Tylenol but no luck on the bananas.
We traveled on to Point Amour to see a native burial site from 7500 years ago. It belonged to a child who was buried with a bone whistle among other things. It is the oldest known burial site in the world.
After that we traveled a rather dodgy road - Sandy has some mad driving skills - to the Point Amour lighthouse. It is one of the few lighthouses left with the the light keeper's residence still intact. It's a working light house. The light was even on when we got there. It has a twin across the straight - though we couldn't see it in the fog. In the tourist season you can go to the top of the lighthouse, but tourist season hasn't started yet so we just wandered around the outside.
The wind was bitterly cold by this point and it was starting to snow and rain at the same time. Still we looked over the waters at the icebergs and saw the gulls. It's a really beautiful place.
We traveled on to Point Amour to see a native burial site from 7500 years ago. It belonged to a child who was buried with a bone whistle among other things. It is the oldest known burial site in the world.
After that we traveled a rather dodgy road - Sandy has some mad driving skills - to the Point Amour lighthouse. It is one of the few lighthouses left with the the light keeper's residence still intact. It's a working light house. The light was even on when we got there. It has a twin across the straight - though we couldn't see it in the fog. In the tourist season you can go to the top of the lighthouse, but tourist season hasn't started yet so we just wandered around the outside.
The wind was bitterly cold by this point and it was starting to snow and rain at the same time. Still we looked over the waters at the icebergs and saw the gulls. It's a really beautiful place.
Then it was time for the last leg of our journey to L'Anse-au-Clair where the Northern Light Inn resides. Sandy went to the local grocery store and found his bananas. I had to go to get some milk for my tea, Coffee Mate just doesn't cut it. They had worms for sale - I passed on those. I'm assuming they're for fishing and not human consumption.
The weather had gone from bad to worse. Wet snow blown by a sharp wind was trying to rip off my ears. We settled in to our rooms then went to supper. I ordered the Kaptains Platter (their spelling, not mine). It came in a bucket. This is a Labrador thing too. They take a bunch of stuff and throw it into a bucket, each restaurant is different - so what you get at one place you might not get at another. I was going to try cod tongues but they are super expensive. Though if I do get the chance before I leave I might give it a go anyway.
In my bucket I had scallops, shrimp (probably from the shrimp farms around here), fish, calamari, three kinds of fries, three carrot sticks, and three celery sticks. With the price of fruit and veg here - you never get much vegetation with your dinner.
Then it was back up to my room for some anime and the blog writing. Tomorrow I have to work on my TD Book Week reports and get my expenses sorted out. Once that's wrapped up, and if it's not too horrible out, I'm going to go for a wander and see what I can find. I fly out Monday at 1:45 Quebec time (the airport is just over the boarder in Blanc Sablon). Then I hop over to St. John's, then to Toronto, and on to Calgary arriving at 1:30 in the morning. It sounds exhausting. I'm glad I get a rest day before I go - even if I do miss my family like crazy. I'm even missing Mother's day. I kind of forgot that was happening. Ooops! I guess we'll have to celebrate it when I get home if we feel so inclined.
Oh, I almost forgot, I learned what a tickle is. A tickle is the water between the mainland and an island in a river or river mouth. Often both sides are called something different. They really do have their own language out here!
Until tomorrow's adventures - have a great night!
The weather had gone from bad to worse. Wet snow blown by a sharp wind was trying to rip off my ears. We settled in to our rooms then went to supper. I ordered the Kaptains Platter (their spelling, not mine). It came in a bucket. This is a Labrador thing too. They take a bunch of stuff and throw it into a bucket, each restaurant is different - so what you get at one place you might not get at another. I was going to try cod tongues but they are super expensive. Though if I do get the chance before I leave I might give it a go anyway.
In my bucket I had scallops, shrimp (probably from the shrimp farms around here), fish, calamari, three kinds of fries, three carrot sticks, and three celery sticks. With the price of fruit and veg here - you never get much vegetation with your dinner.
Then it was back up to my room for some anime and the blog writing. Tomorrow I have to work on my TD Book Week reports and get my expenses sorted out. Once that's wrapped up, and if it's not too horrible out, I'm going to go for a wander and see what I can find. I fly out Monday at 1:45 Quebec time (the airport is just over the boarder in Blanc Sablon). Then I hop over to St. John's, then to Toronto, and on to Calgary arriving at 1:30 in the morning. It sounds exhausting. I'm glad I get a rest day before I go - even if I do miss my family like crazy. I'm even missing Mother's day. I kind of forgot that was happening. Ooops! I guess we'll have to celebrate it when I get home if we feel so inclined.
Oh, I almost forgot, I learned what a tickle is. A tickle is the water between the mainland and an island in a river or river mouth. Often both sides are called something different. They really do have their own language out here!
Until tomorrow's adventures - have a great night!
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