Nine Days in Newfoundland- Day 10

Turns out I can’t count, our vacation was actually ten days.

The wifi in our cottage was shitty, despite the appearance of full bars. I didn’t sleep too well but at least I slept for along time, until 10am. I woke up and it was time to get ready to leave. I joked that Blue Jacket would be at the airport on our flight. Because our wifi was so shitty we checked-in late for the flight and we didn’t get seats together, we were one row apart all the way at the back of the plane.

Before heading to the airport, we went to Subway for lunch. I finally got to try the crispy chicken sandwich. It is far and away the most filling option they have. I had been worried that a 6-inch sub would not be enough to hold me over until I got home. I had gotten a muffin with my caramel cold brew (surprisingly good) from Tim Hortons. I wasn’t sure now that I would need that muffin. Thankfully returning the rental car took way less time than checking it out. We headed to the security line, thinking there was a Robin’s Donuts on the other side (I had seen it when we landed). What I didn’t anticipate was it being closed. So much for a farewell pumpkin spice. It turns out that in such a small airport, clearing security an hour and a half early isn’t necessary. Everyone was milling around outside. When we went towards security there was no one there, and staff had to scramble from their office to process us. It was a little odd to be the only two people in the secure passengers area of an entire airport. Granted there was only two flights scheduled. They made an announcement when it was time to start lining up for security. Brent’s row was the last one in zone 3 for boarding, I was the start of zone 4. He made fun of me for that one.

 

Nine Days in Newfoundland- Day 9

I woke up at 8:30ish and I couldn’t sleep any more. I considered getting a coffee at the convenience store, given how unappetizing my first one seemed. The night before at Tim Hortons I got a half coffee, half french vanilla capp so that it didn’t need to be refrigerated. It was alright but I would have preferred a warm coffee given how cold it was. The convenience store didn’t open til 9am, but once we went inside it was an awkward Keurig set up and I didn’t feel like fussing with it. We walked down to the shore and googled what we were looking at. It was Burnt Cape, a unique biome of plants because of the terrain and the altitude.
While Brent checked out at the convenience store, I caved and bought a package of Jam Jams. They were surprisingly good and I had to stop myself from eating too many. We drove to L’Anse Aux Meadows (Lansocks Meadows as the GPS lady called it). We parked near the visitor’s center and went into the museum. It was cool to see artifacts from the Viking settlement c.1000. They also had Indigenous artifacts, even though the two groups supposedly never interacted, but the artifacts were found overlapping in the same areas. We walked along the boardwalk trail and we could see where the settlement buildings had once been. They had also built recreations of some of the buildings. The main big one had a closed door that said something about COVID and we could hear voices inside. The smaller one smelled like goat cheese and feet and I had to get out of there. We did the easy (but muddy, thankfully I wore my hiking shoes) trail back to the parking lot. It was cool to see the sub-Arctic terrain all around. There were beautiful views of the rocky landscape and the water.
We drove to St. Anthony’s for lunch. At Subway I got the chicken teriyaki sub this time (I had to change it up, having had the turkey one twice in the last few days). It was OK, but definitely not as good as the turkey. Only after ordering did I see that they had a breaded chicken sandwich. Dammit! We stopped at the gas station that had a good beer selection. It did not have any ciders though. Across the parking lot there was a Liquor Express. I couldn’t find anything good but, on my way, out I saw that there was a case of Lobster Rocket. I asked the lady if I could take one out. She said they were in the fridge. I had missed them because they were confusingly shelved with the beers.
My hand was so itchy, the skin was cracking in places and I was worried I would have a big ugly scar. The Jam Jams made for a good road snack. And it didn’t feel too indulgent, they had jam! They were soft like lady fingers! We stopped at Robin’s Donuts in Hawkes Bay. It was confusing because only the drive-thru was open. So, I had to walk over to the menu and have a look. There was a small sign taped to it saying they were closed on Mondays until they got more staff. As we pulled up to the window, I saw that they had pumpkin spice cappuccino! OMG YES! It was the best pumpkin spice drink I’ve ever had and I wish I could buy it in bulk.
We tried to stop for a late lunch/early dinner (4pm) at Jackie’s in Rocky Harbour but it was still closed. We drove to our previous hotel and connected to the wifi to search for other dinner options and to get the hotel details for the night. We were staying at the Bonne Bay cottages and there was no food around. We were smack in the middle between Rocky Harbour and Deer Lake, both food options about 20-30 minutes away. There was a tiny chipmunk running around our car as we unpacked. I had the last of my screech punch as a shower drink, I was glad they were gone.
In the evening we drove to the A&W in Deer Lake. This time I remembered to get cheese on my momma burger. I ordered a combo with lemonade (I still had a mini bottle of Newfoundland Distillery Co. seaweed gin) and poutine. It was the saddest poutine I had ever seen. Just chunks of cheese carelessly tossed on top. We watched a newer episode of King of the Hill and it was not good. Jeopardy! was on next. The seaweed gin was weirdly good. It may have been the lemonade though, who can say? I finally connected my iPod to the wifi and I was so far behind on podcasts. I finished reading The Whisper Network. I had 2 chapters left at 10:30pm so I stayed up “late”, I wanted to know how it ended. Sleep be damned.

 

Nine Days in Newfoundland- Day 8

Because the water was being shut off at 9am I set an alarm for 8:30am. I had slept poorly, having shitty dreams and I kept waking up. Plus, the room got hot with the door closed. My good sleep streak was over.

As I left the cottage, I realized I should probably check the hours of Sunset Cafe. A 10am open?! For a cafe?! Back to the cottage. I desperately searched for anywhere that was open. Fisherman’s Landing fit the bill. Except it had started raining and I only had a few minutes until 9am. Brent drove me except when we passed Sunset Cafe, I saw that it was open! We turned around in the Fisherman’s Landing parking lot and headed back. They have such good coffee, high quality and fair trade. They didn’t have partridge berry crumble so I got a cinnamon bun which the lady warmed up for me. We didn’t have to leave for the boat tour until 10:30am. Reading + good coffee = what vacation is about. 

As we left the wildlife museum after checking out, I couldn’t believe it, as we pulled away, I saw Blue Jacket get out of his car. Goodbye and good riddance. Along the drive we stopped at a roadside lookout. The sign said it was for the S.S. Ethie shipwreck. I was expecting to see something off shore beneath the water. Instead, it was rusted pieces of a steamship that had washed ashore over the 100 or so years. 

It was a 3km walk to the boat. Not great, I was tired and my arches were hurting. At the canteen there was wifi, I had some catching up to do. There was a line already forming for the boat so we duly joined, we wanted good seats to see the fjords of West Brook Pond. The first thing we learned was that technically they were not fjords, as it was fresh water. One mountain we saw was apparently (though it’s hard to believe) taller than the CN Tower. I joked that I needed a banana for scale (SYSK joke). We had stunning views of the jagged rock faces of the mountains and small waterfalls, they were unique views because we were on a boat in the pond going right between the passes. It was a good thing that in the parking lot I had decided to put my sweatpants on over my leggings and wear my rain shell over my Lululemon jacket. IT WAS DAMN COLD ON THAT BOAT. It was very windy on the way back and I tightened my hood around my head and hunkered down. It wasn’t too bad once my body adjusted but oh man. I was worried about my hand, so I pulled them both into my sleeves. It all made me very tired and in need of a hot chocolate. It was a slow, tired walk back to the car. My knees were so stiff from sitting and the cold. 

It was about a 4-hour drive to Raleigh. We didn’t pass by ANYTHING on the road. We were going north, towards the tip of Newfoundland. An hour and a half in, the GPS and Google Maps both said that there was a Pizza Delight in Hawkes Bay. We saw no such thing (on the way back we figured out that it was inside the hotel). We ended up taking a 20-minute detour to St. Anthony’s (the “big” town up north, based on the amenities). For lunch all we had eaten were Pop Tarts and hot wings Ruffles that were too hot for me. We went to Subway and Tim Hortons. I finally got my hot chocolate fix. I also got a smile cookie and a Reese’s peanut butter cookie instead of getting it from Subway. At our cottage it was so windy, we were right on the water. We saw the sun setting as we drove in. Our TV had what felt like a million channels and a guide channel. (I drew some hearts in my notebook).

 

Nine Days in Newfoundland- Day 7

I was rudely awoken by the sun streaming in at 7:40ish. I had forgotten to close the bedroom door. I closed it and went back to sleep until 10am, a more reasonable hour for waking up. Brent had gone to hike Gros Morne Mountain, he left a time-stamped note for me as requested. As I was getting ready to leave the door opened and an old guy walked in, he was at the wrong cottage. He apologized and left. Somehow it hadn’t even spooked me?

I walked to the Sunset Cafe next door for my morning fix. I did not expect to see the old guy in the blue jacket, but there he was as I was leaving. What the heck? From there I walked to the Rocky Harbour Lookout Point. I had debated walking to the Lobster Head Cove Point lighthouse but on Google streetview the sidewalk ended and I’d be walking along a narrow road. Plus, it was rainy and windy out, I’d rather do the shorter walk. It was so windy, the kind of windy that is irrationally annoying. At least I had some really good coffee keeping me going. At the lookout point it was even windier but the views were incredible. Looking back, I could see all of Rocky Harbour, across the way I could see Green Gardens (I learned this later in the afternoon). I could also see the lighthouse way off in the distance, teeny tiny and making me glad I didn’t walk there. It could be an afternoon activity. I sat on a bench at the lookout and ate my delicious partridge berry crumble. It was so damn good, I’d be getting the same coffee and crumble tomorrow. For sure. It was a thousand times better than pie. 

On the way back to the cottage I stopped at Squid Row Cafe. It was a tiny barely-cafe tucked into the back of a glass gallery. I had been hoping for a hot chocolate to counter the blustery cold wind. Instead, I settled for a Newfoundland spruce and chai tea. I left my DSLR and tea in the cottage, and headed back out, this time to Treasure Box in search of lunch. As I was leaving the cottage, I noticed a spotted leaf that was moving? It was a giant slug! I took a photo with my (non-burned) hand for scale but then it started going towards my hand, why?? It was at least 4 inches long.

As I got closer to Treasure Box, I saw a giant tour bus. NO!! It would take forever for my short order!! Thankfully as I crossed the street it left. I learned that toutons is pronounced towh-tons, not two-tonnes. I had to point at the menu. They didn’t have any screech flavoured coffee which I had intended to bring home as a souvenir. It was a long, slow, windy walk back to the cottage. The whole time I was worried that the molasses (traditional touton topping) would spill and that the toutons would cool down. Neither of which happened. They were surprisingly good for what was essentially fried bread dough. It was a bit denser than I had expected and it’s nothing I will crave in the future but it was good to try them. Sweet Rock ice cream was closed, they had reduced hours and wouldn’t be open until Wednesday. Good thing I had gone in St. John’s. 

Back in my sweatpants, with a berry tea and some online shopping via the spotty wifi and reading my book: I had an awesome afternoon. I was so tempted to eat Brent’s half the partridge berry crumble, reasoning that surely, he is not a fan of crumbles? I managed to resist, only because I had the Oh Henry! peanut butter bites. Brent was back from his hike just after 1pm, much earlier than I had expected (at least 2pm). We drove to Jackie’s for lunch but it was closed until tomorrow. We went back to Earle’s instead. But first we went to the convenience store across the street for victory beers- Brent had climbed a mountain and also confirmed that I would have hated it. Luckily the convenience store also had screech coffee. I got a regular sized pouch for myself and a small one for my mom- except they cost the same. I got ripped off but that’s ok. On my morning walk I had seen a dog at the convenience store, walking around the truck that was doing a delivery. He got bored and went inside the store. In the afternoon he was sleeping under a pickup truck behind the store. 

At Earle’s Brent ordered the moose burger and I had the fishcakes. The moose burger just tasted like beef, of the two moose dishes I preferred the pizza. The fishcakes were perfect, made with onion. After lunch we drove to the Lobster Head Cove lighthouse. We stopped at the cottage for a bathroom break and to leave the beers. While there my cell phone pinged, I had service!! I quickly called back Aritzia to finish the purchase that had dropped during my earlier shopping session. We had nice views of the town and we learned more about the view out past town. It’s where I found out I had been looking at Green Gardens across the water that morning. The drive up confirmed I had made the right choice in not walking, it only got worse as you got closer, with blind turns. I tried to walk down the trail to Yellow Point but it was too muddy so I turned back. This time I was the one wearing the wrong shoes (on our muddy hike Brent had worn his running shoes). As I walked back a guy with a baby stroller asked me how the trail was. When I told him it was muddy, he said no way he was going, his wife would yell at him for getting the stroller wheels muddy.  In the parking lot I saw the old man in the blue jacket. That was the third time today. He said he was “so not following” me. If he wasn’t an old man, it would have been creepier than just mildly creepy. 

Back in the cottage someone tried to open our door. There’s no way! No way it’s the old man again! I imagine he would be extra careful about getting the right door. Thankfully it was the hotel owners, telling us that the town was shutting off the water tomorrow at 9am and giving us water bottles. My first thought was: oh no! Coffee! And I ran to set an alarm. I was excited to get back to my book, plus it was almost 5pm aka cider-o’clock. My second berry tea that I had brewed just before leaving for lunch had gone cold.

Just after 6pm we drove to the Anchor Pub for a light dinner. On the way to the car, I noticed that Blue Jacket was also leaving his cottage. I would lose it if they also were going to Anchor Pub. It was limited pub fare, we got housemade BBQ sauce chicken wings and mozzarella sticks. I ordered an Oceanview (name of the hotel the pub was in, you gotta) sunrise cocktail. It had pineapple and orange juices, which made me feel better about my hand healing (the skin was starting to peel but it was worryingly pink underneath). The mozzarella sticks were subpar. The chicken wings were not sauced. We had to dip them. Why?! Who does that?!  Come on! At the next table over was an alternate universe, male version of myself. Long hair, metal glasses, talking about his distaste for regular milk and love for chocolate milk. Heck yes!

After dinner we walked to the convenience store next door. I was craving something chocolate-y, cake-y, caramel-y. Brent had mentioned that earlier in the day he saw something like that. Turns out it was a lightly caramel flavoured wafer bar. So not what I was craving. Driving back, we missed the turn to the hotel but kept going to the end of the road to where the seafood store (sadly closed) was to see the sunset. I took a few photos with my phone but that wasn’t good enough. I was in desperate need of my DSLR. We drove back so I could get it. I also changed into sweatpants and grabbed my rain shell. It gets cold fast. The sunset was stunning, out over the water with the hills to the left. We couldn’t believe how fast the sun was setting. 

Back at the cottage I finished my No Boats on Sunday peach cider. It was awful. Just terrible. It marred my impressions of NBOS ciders in general. Flipping through the channels but Jeopardy! wasn’t on yet. There was supposed to be a new episode tonight. Eventually it came on, but later than we were used to (damn time zones).

 

Nine Days in Newfoundland- Day 6

I confirmed that breakfast at the hotel was not indeed a buffet. It was a restaurant set up. Back to Timmies! The fruit explosion muffin- though awkward to order- was delicious and it’s one of the best they have. It was so good! It was a 4-hour drive to Gros Morne National Park where we had our final hike: Trout River Pond trail.

We stopped at the same Timmies in Deer Lake for lunch and bathrooms. The grilled cheese with bacon was just what I needed to fuel me for the hike. My hand was starting to feel a bit stiff, I was in need of vitamin C for some new collagen. 

The Gros Morne ticket booth was closed for lunch so we got our tickets from the info centre, fine by me, another chance for a bathroom break is always welcome. The Trout River Pond trail was way less popular than the others, maybe because of the obscure location, kind of sort of on the outskirts of a mini town? We passed only one couple who were heading back. They could have warned us how muddy it was. Even with my waterproof shoes it was tough. A few times I stepped and my foot just sank past the ankle. It’s a wonder I didn’t lose a shoe. I had given up trying them as they were kind of tight and hurting the bone spur on the top of my foot. This hike held the record for most wildlife seen: a squirrel, a toad and some birds. There was a sign at the start warning that there was a bear in the area but thankfully we didn’t see it. We did see some large dog paw prints that gave us pause. We also saw some ungulate tracks that we thought maybe could be moose? They seemed kind of big for deer. When we googled it later it turned out to be deer. On the hike we had beautiful views of the Tablelands on one side, and lush hills on the other side of the lake. Actually, it was two lakes meeting at a little narrow spot. It was very pretty and worth the 5km hike through all that mud. We turned around rather than finishing the last 2km because we got the gist of it. (All that we missed at the end were some red Muskoka chairs, not worth having to rush back as the sun is setting).

On the way back, a bird flew out from under one of the board bridges and scared the bejeesus out of me. That was the hardest my heart beat during the entire hike. And I would have proof, this time I thought ahead and not only wore my FitBit but I also set it to track our hike. My legs were so tired, turns out hiking is a good leg workout. 

It was an hour drive to our hotel in Rocky Harbour. We picked up our key and check-in instructions from a mailbox outside a wildlife museum. We stopped at the liquor store and I got a 6-pack of Screech Punch and a grilled pineapple vodka soda. We were staying in a little cottage. As we settled in, we Googled restaurants in town. The wifi connection was spotty and the cell reception was non-existent. I was pretty familiar with the town of Rocky Harbour, I had spent too much time looking stuff up to do ahead of Brent’s solo hike up Gros Morne Mountain. We decided on Earle’s Video & Convenience, which has since converted over to being a restaurant with the convenience store moving across the street. We got there 45 minutes before closing but they didn’t seem to mind. 

We split an order of bacon-wrapped scallops because Brent’s dad had recommended a place in Qidi Vidi that actually closed in 2016, so this was the closest approximation we could find. We also ordered fried cod and chips and a moose meat pizza. Once again, we traded bites and almost immediately traded back. The moose meat pizza was some of the best pizza I’ve had in a long time, so cheesy and just covered in meat, on the verge of too much but not quite. Turns out moose meat is tasty. Even still, a whole pizza, even size small, is too much for me and Brent had to help. The bacon-wrapped scallops were delicious, this coming from someone who doesn’t really like scallops or bacon. I ordered a slice of cloudberry pie to go and then we went to the gift shop/dairy bar adjacent to the restaurant. There was a banner outside touting 24 flavours of soft serve. I had to see this for myself. Turns out they have flavours they can add to basic chocolate or vanilla soft serve. I had the chocolate with butter pecan flavour. It was alright, but the soft serve was kind of crappy and not as creamy as I’d prefer.  The butter pecan was subtle. 

We only had 10 TV channels and the TV was on the wall perpendicular to the couch. I was half watching America’s Funniest Home Videos but I quickly gave up. The grilled pineapple vodka soda was pretty good, the grilled flavour actually came through. The Screech Punch left much to be desired. One sip and I could taste the impending hangover, I would have to space these out. It was also kind of too sweet. My hand was stiff and itchy and now it was starting to peel. It looked awful. The cloudberry pie was flat-out awful. All I could taste was bland shortbread/pie crust. Not even a good crust. It was awful all around and it did not qualify as a pie. I had no idea it would be a pseudo-pie. I ordered it because people said Earle’s had good pie. It didn’t even have a proper pie crust! The top was a solid layer of crust with fork holes. WHO DOES THAT??? It was grease flavoured dough with a narrow strip of filling you could barely taste.

It was only 9:30pm but I was so tired and fighting the urge to go to sleep. Reading The Whisper Network actually did help me stay awake, I kept wanting to know what happens next. 

 

Nine Days in Newfoundland- Day 5

I woke up around 9ish and it felt so good to have been sleeping so well and for so long- multiple nights in a row! Breakfast in the hotel was confusing. There was a register and menus on the tables? It was supposed to be a buffet. Where was the coffee right as you walked in?? Timmie’s was across the street. I was tempted by the baked goods but I resisted. At the gas station next door, I got diet 7Up for my rum, an ice cream cone (hello freezer!) and peanut butter Oh Henry bites. During the commercials I switched from Corner Gas to Animaniacs but it was the new reboot and I just couldn’t watch it. It wasn’t as good, they had a joke about Faux News and somehow it just didn’t feel right. It made me also wonder how many jokes I missed in the original series I watched as a kid? After only 2 hours or so I started thinking about my ice cream cone. Was that mini freezer really so cold it could hold ice cream? It had only done an OK job chilling my rum and Cherry Coke. Good thing I checked on it, otherwise by the afternoon it would have been a soupy mess. I had to eat that cone NOW. It made for a nice late breakfast. 

Our day was wide open as it was originally supposed to be spent in St. John’s. There wasn’t much to do in Gander. We drove down the road to the top attraction: the airplane museum. I learned a surprising amount about the history of aviation and Newfoundland’s role in the early days. It never occurred to me that planes on trans-Atlantic flights would have to stop and refuel. We managed to spend an hour and a half in the small museum. For lunch we had Subway. They had a new option for getting your sandwich grilled, it said so right on the menu. Except when Brent asked for it grilled the lady said it wouldn’t work and it would be too messy. Why advertise it???

Corner Gas was still on so I picked up where I left off. Lounging and watching, now with a cup of orange pekoe tea as well. I placed an online order to Timmie’s for an apple cinnamon tea and a box of Triple Berry tea. Except the tea was an epic disappointment. It was more like a Triple NOT Berry with lemongrass, chicory and other non-berry stuff. In tea. What? Why?

The great day of TV got even better: Friends marathon to watch during commercials of the Say Yes To The Dress marathon! With a new episode premiering that evening! I’d say yes to that! A mother said to her daughter, in the thickest southern accent I’ve ever heard: you look like a chicken. Best. Show. Ever.

We placed an online order for pickup from Peter Pizza. Why? Because they advertised themselves as being “behind the McDonald’s”. Which is actually misleading as they are not. We had one regular crust and one stuffed crust. They were pretty good but one was missing bacon. The stuffed crust was one of the best I’ve ever had. On the way back into the hotel we ran into Ms. Ellie, Paul’s mom. Brent was walking over to a lady with purple and pink hair and awesome glasses and I was like oh, no! is he going to talk to her because we match style-wise?? (I had purple hair). Nope. Turns out they know each other and she was in town for 9/11 services. It was kind of awkward because she thought Brent was one of the Dungavell boys and there was no moment to jump in and correct her. 

In all that time, I had barely missed any of the episode of SYTTD (thank you commercials!) and I resumed my spot. And there were two more episodes coming up! Pizza + SYTTD + 7Up with rum= heaven. Plus, Friends was on my backup channel! Bliss. The only thing wrong was that my hand was unbelievably itchy as the burn healed. The third episode of SYTTD was a recap of the past season and an intro to the new COVID-era season. I didn’t want any spoilers, as I had just been watching reruns of the past season. Over to Corner Gas instead! After that it was back to SYTTD, which during COVID-times was a bit odd but I settled in easily. I stayed up late as there was ONE MORE episode after that. Thankfully that was the last one, lest I end up awake all night unable to stop. It was the new episode, an hour and a half later than was advertised in the bottom corner of the screen. Damn time zone difference. 

 

Nine Days in Newfoundland- Day 4

The threat of a hurricane that evening scared us. No one around us seemed to care but we planned to leave by early afternoon, the sooner the better. We had seen just about everything there was to see in St. John’s. All we had left was Signal Hill which was our activity for the morning.

I woke up just before 9am, having gone to bed early. I found a cafe around the corner from the hotel that was actually open. It was very popular with lots of people milling around. The vanilla latte was perfect, one of the best I’ve ever had. The lemon blueberry muffin, my only option, left much to be desired. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Terry Fox memorial statue.

We drove to the base of Signal Hill and parked across from the Geo centre. It was a long slow walk up the hill. I was told this was part of the experience. I was told there were probably no parking spots up there. Wrong. So many parking spots! We had beautiful views of the ocean and rocky cliffs- but no whales and no icebergs. There was a small boat that tricked us momentarily. There were some really long stairs leading down a trail along the shoreline below the hill but my legs were too tired and we still had a lot to see on top of the hill. Plus, we wanted to get out of St. John’s before the traffic got too crazy. Surely the traffic would be bad? People suddenly being like oh crap! hurricane! And leaving? And the views from the top were way better than would have been from down below. We didn’t go inside Cabot Tower because it was unclear whether or not it was actually open. There were partridge berries growing everywhere, so we tried some. It was hard and sour and I spit it out. Probably not the smartest move to be picking wild berries with no experience.

We walked down a small trail to the Queen’s Battery. You could really see why they had set up the cannons there atop the inlet, it was perfect for protecting the harbour. We could see all of St. John’s- including the legislative building therefore it counts even if we didn’t drive right up to it. On the way back down we stopped in at the Visitors Centre for a bathroom break. We tried to go into the exhibit on Marconi but were stopped and told that there was an admission fee. No time for that! I thought it was just gonna be a few panels, not a whole museum. Up next was the Johnson Geo Centre to learn all about the geology of the area. The building was even built into the side of the hill. I learned a surprising amount about geology.

For lunch we drove to Chinched Deli, it was listed as one of the top places to eat in St. John’s. They weren’t open for lunch and it would take 20 minutes for a charcuterie board so I just ordered some sliced bologna (what they’re known for) even though we’d already had it at Mallard Cottage. Brent came in and added jerky to the order so we could try something else the deli has as well. In my defense: they’re known for the bologna, I read nothing else about them. Our final stop before abandoning St. John’s before Hurricane Larry hit was Ches’s Fish & Chips. They lose a point for having a stupid menu of rotating slides on a TV screen. We looked at the menu online, which caused confusion when ordering because the shrimp & chips wasn’t available. I was SOL. I settled for just having poutine, there was no point in ordering two plates of the same thing and I had planned on upgrading my fries to poutine anyways. The small size was actually small and it was well packed, they knew what they were doing. We were barely out of St. John’s and already I had devoured most of it. The road was not busy at all. Was no one leaving??? We hadn’t seen anyone boarding stuff up. Was category one just not that big a deal??? We didn’t want to risk sticking around to find out. Back to Gander!

The plan was to stop at the Joey lookout and finish our lunch. It had been a lookout point we had passed on the way and it felt like it was halfway? It was not. It was about 20 minutes outside of Gander- of a 3hr drive. There was a nice view of the little town below with lots of little ponds. We drove to the grocery store. I was on the hunt for Jam Jams cookies ever since I saw it offered as a flavour of ice cream at Sweet Rock. I had completely forgotten that they were a Newfoundland thing and therefore I had to eat them. Only back in the hotel room did I realize I should’ve gotten two, as I planned to give this one to Camilla as a thank you for watching over Rudy and the house. Dammit. At least we had other snacks to tide me over. The pineapple Crush (which is apparently also a Newfoundland thing) paired well with my screech rum. Our TV finally had a channel guide! (I drew a heart in my notebook- that’s how great this was). We had a long day ahead of us tomorrow of lounging and doing nothing, it was imperative we had a good set up. Our room even had a mini fridge complete with a teeny tiny freezer. It had just enough space for my bottle of Cherry Coke and my rum.

We drove to the A&W down the street because Apple Maps said it was a 10-minute walk. There’s no way. It would have been 5 at most. I could see it from the hotel parking lot. I forgot that the mama burger doesn’t come with cheese and it was too late to change my order. The pineapple Crush was tooth shatteringly sweet. No wonder it’s not a regular product. It made me feel like a wasp, drinking it. But it was damn good. We were watching reruns of Parks & Rec and 30 Rock but then those episodes started repeating. I tried watching 90 Day Fiancé but it was so cringey and uncomfortable. Baseball was on, so I read my book instead.

 

Nine Days in Newfoundland- Day 3

Thurs. Sept 9, 2021- Gander to St. John’s, NL:

I woke up to the sound of concrete being scraped??? What time was it??? I figured it had to be after 7am but I was not happy. It was 7:40am. I shuffled to the bathroom and immediately went back to sleep. I somehow managed to sleep for a nice 10 hours? I could get used to this. 

The Timmies just down the road was surprisingly well-stocked (something I had come to notice was true across the board in Newfoundland). As per usual it was busy with drive-thru orders. I got a coconut cream donut as those are a rarity. It was a 3.5 hour drive to St. John’s but we had SYSK talking about the Magna Carta to keep us company. Yesterday it had been a short stuff on chameleons.

We drove to Middle Cove Beach just north of St. John’s. The original plan had been to drive to Flat Rock in the same area, because it was known for whale and iceberg watching. But I had failed to note an exact location and Google was turning up nothing. Instead, I found the beach on the map and internet confirmed that people go there to whale and iceberg watch. There were beautiful views of cliffs and pristine waters. We hiked a little bit along the East Coast Trail for more views. But we didn’t see any whales or icebergs. There were also no bathrooms.

We had lunch in Qidi Vidi, a small village/neighbourhood of St. John’s. The internet said that Mallard Cottage was one of the oldest wooden structures in North America. This dictated my lunch choice. Luckily Mallard Cottage was also known for having good food. The codfish cakes were spot on, so much so that Brent only had a few bites and we traded back. He claimed they were too salty. It’s salt cod! The chinched bologna sandwich was good but I preferred the cod cakes. We didn’t order apps or desserts because we still had dinner plans in St. John’s (which were now all the more important if we’d be leaving early). Our server asked us where we were from. When we said Toronto, he asked if it was Toronto or somewhere like Kitchener? I said Toronto proper, but that I give Brent heck for being from Newmarket. Turns out our server was also from Newmarket. I was outnumbered. After lunch we (awkwardly, narrow roads) walked to the Qidi Vidi Brewery. We had overheard from the table next door that it was nearby. It was just up the road. 

We tried to check in at the hotel but were told that our room wasn’t ready yet. Brent asked what time check-in was, the lady said 3pm. She then checked her watch, saw that it was after 3pm and still told us we had to come back. She should have at least compensated us with bonus cookies or a room upgrade. We crammed our stuff into the trunk and headed out to “downtown” St. John’s. George St. was where it was at apparently so we went there. It was dead. Barely anyone, just a road of empty bars. We stopped at Green Sleeves because it seemed like the most typical kind of bar, fake Irish and cheap. I ordered a cherry sour and it was dangerously good: gin was buried by sweet cherry liqueur and 7up. I noted it down to make it at home again. 

We tried to find the mile zero marker where the Trans Canada Highway begins but it was nowhere to be found. We found the start of the Trans Canada trail but that’s not what we came for. Turns out I should have read more closely, it has since been trashed because the start of the highway got moved further east. Another source said it had been moved outside of City Hall, which conveniently was back the way we came. We did find one of those circles that tells you how far other places are from where you’re standing, eh it was close enough. 

We walked back to bar row and tried to go into Trapper John’s but it was closed. Walking to St. John’s Fisherman’s Exchange for an early dinner, I searched and found out that the bar doesn’t open until 5pm, which is perfect for after dinner drinks! Brent ordered the Newfoundlander dinner. It was nice because we got to try: cod tongue, crab cakes and brewis. I ordered the lobster and shrimp pappardelle. I had no idea that cherry tomatoes were so delicious!! It was impossible to eat around them, there were so many. Had I been wrong all these years or was it the sauce?? Who can say. In the end it was too much food and I had to pack it up to go. With dinner I had a mojito because it came with the option to add fresh fruit syrup and I had a sneaking suspicion that they might have partridgeberry syrup. They did! It was delicious! After dinner we stopped in at the Dildo Brewing Co. storefront for more beer. You gotta. 

Trapper John’s was empty. Which was kind of good because I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to watch a screeching-in ceremony. It sounded cringey. You could tell that the pandemic had hit hard. The bar didn’t have any kegs, just bottles of beer. I ordered a screech & coke and the guy opened a 2L of Pepsi. He joked, asking if I wanted it shaken or stirred. It was a strong drink but good. It was actually kind of nice to just sit in this bar and chat. There was only one other guy and he seemed like a local. The bartender was watching a movie. 

I insisted we stop at Sweet Rock ice cream, even though there was one in Rocky Harbour and it was my plan in a few days. I couldn’t risk that one being closed for the season. I was also really craving ice cream. I got the s’mores ice cream because it had a chocolate base and Brent had the cookies and cream vanilla base. It was so good, it had Oreo pieces AND cookie dough. You don’t see that ever.  

During our walk we passed by the brightly coloured (and cutely named) jellybean houses. On the way back we passed a cat cafe and I made note of it for my morning coffee the next day. That is- until I looked it up. What kind of cafe doesn’t open until 11am??? People need coffee upon waking!! Also, the $10 admission fee for someone who only wants a coffee was a secondary deal breaker.

We were finally able to check-in, a solid three hours later than the stated check-in time but that’s Doubletree for you. At least we got cookies. There was nothing (it’s all caps and underlined in my notebook) on TV. We didn’t have any of the good channels (Much, CMT, TBS) and we had no channel guide so I had to stop on every channel, wait out the commercial and write it down on a piece of paper. I left that cheat sheet in the hotel binder for the next guests. 

 

Nine Days in Newfoundland- Day 2

Wed. Sept 8, 2021- Glenburnie to Gander, NL:

I slept for a solid 11 hours and it felt great. THIS was vacation living. There was no milk for in-room coffee and the office for checking out did not open until 10 so we sat around in the cottage, I was engrossed in my book. We stopped at the convenience store but the coffee was very confusing. It was Keurig pods but you had to purchase it from a tiny vending machine? Forget this. Sadly, they didn’t have iced coffee either. I did get some chocolate fudge Pop-Tarts for our hikes though.

The plan had originally been to drive to the Trout River Pond trailhead but on the way we passed signs for Green Gardens, which was supposed to be one of our hikes later in the trip. Except the weather was perfect and it was the more scenic of the two hikes. Plan change! The sign at the trailhead said it was of moderate difficulty and 9.5km in length total. At first it was an easy hike but after we crested the hill and started descending in the valley it got steeper. Not helping matters was the fact that the terrain was still a bit wet. It was the slowest I’ve ever hiked and one of the rare times that my quads were aching long before my calves as I inched my way down. My thighs were quivering. I was not looking forward to the return. It was cool to see how the foliage changed once we had crested, it went from barren to very lush – and suddenly we could see why there had been a sign warning of bears on the trail. The bushes were full of berries, it was perfect for bears!

The views at Green Gardens were stunning and absolutely worth the hike. We took the world’s worst stairs down to the beach. It was literally small planks of wood suspended between wooden stakes in the ground and held with wire. I hated every moment of it. It was high tide so we couldn’t go to the cave. We sat on the beach and ate Doritos and the croissant I had saved from the plane. Back in the Green Gardens meadow we saw a cute dog that had his own little trail backpack and I wondered what was in it. A couple asked us how the extension of the trail was and we said this is as far as we had gotten. They reworded the question. Brent pointed down and said this is literally as far as we had been. On the way back the terrain had dried up and I was hoofing it. The inclines were gradual and not at all troublesome. My butt and thighs were still hurting though. We did the 3-4 hour hike in 3.5 hours. On the way back I was motivated: heated seats and the promise of lunch.

We stopped at the DQ in Deer Lake and got burgers and Blizzards. The mini salted caramel fudge Blizzard was perfect. I had left my mask in the car but in Newfoundland masks were optional. It felt so weird. While Brent waited for our food I ran back to the car to grab my mask and headed to the Tim Hortons. The line was not moving at all, everyone seemed to be working on drive-thru orders. I went to the bathroom, came back and the line had not moved at all. I went back to the car, I had left a melting ice cream there. The burger was kind of bland and unimpressive, I remembered DQ burgers being better? After lunch I went back to the Tim Hortons, it was a little better now. I got a beloved french vanilla capp and some Timbits. When I received my food, a guy waiting nearby huffily asked if he could have his apple fritter NOW?! 

It was a 3-hour drive to Gander. Along the way we saw multiple people with small, hand-made signs. They were selling partridge berries out of buckets from their cars. If the signs had been placed further out, maybe they’d have more luck? If they were selling smaller amounts than a bucket I would have been tempted to stop. We tried to drive to a liquor store near our hotel but the GPS took us to a cul-de-sac behind the plaza where the liquor store was. I used my phone instead to guide us. I finally found a small 375mL bottle of screech rum, and they also had No Boats on Sunday peach cider. There was a local version of a Smirnoff drink, Blue Lobster that was blue raspberry, cherry and lemonade. Yes please!  It didn’t say soda anywhere on the can therefore it must be good! (It was better than the Smirnoff one). At the register I noticed that they had tiny 100mL bottles of gin from a Newfoundland Distillery. Perfect!

We watched newish episodes of The Simpsons but they were so bad. There was nothing else on. I was surprisingly sort of hungry even though I had only eaten a few hours ago. And the snacks we had weren’t really satisfying. I ordered a turkey sub online from the Subway next door. In less than 5 minutes I was back with my sub. I only figured out why it had been so fast after: they hadn’t toasted it. Watching Just For Laughs: Gags, it was odd that these were new episodes filmed during pandemic times. I was watching TV to escape! But the gag with the food vendor keeping 6ft of distance and tossing trays of food to customers was uniquely funny. Between that and Friends and Seinfeld reruns our TV watching had been rescued. 

Checking the weather, there was a category 1 hurricane heading for St. John’s, making landfall on our last day there. Crap. 

 

Nine Days in Newfoundland- Day 1

Tues. Sept 7, 2021- Toronto, ON to Deer Lake, NL:

Our original plan had been to fly into St. John’s but there were no rental cars available so we had to switch to flying into Deer Lake instead, where there were in fact rental cars available. It was the same price to change our tickets to business class as it was to coach: why not? Heck yes!

I did not enjoy the stupid early 5am wakeup after a bad night’s sleep. Adding to my frustration, the Weston GO station was confusing and we missed the first UP train. Thankfully our flight had been delayed so it all worked out. It was a bad commute all around: having to take the TTC to a GO train station, why wasn’t it easier to get to the airport?? Our new house is closer! It makes no sense.

There was a huge line at the Starbucks at the airport but we actually had over an hour and a half before our flight. Turns out that flying domestic is much faster. As I stood there, desperate for caffeine, a nice pilot told the people behind me that further down towards the other end of the terminal there’s another, much less busy, Starbucks. I bolted. I could kiss that pilot! Not only was there a Starbucks but also an A&W. I mistakenly thought they would have burgers and I was in no mood for their breakfast sandwiches. As luck would have it, there was also a Tim Hortons! Breakfast was saved with a buttered cheese bagel.

Business class meant we got to board first. It’s a short flight, only about two hours. I had no idea breakfast would be served with our ticket. Why did I eat that bagel??? I was reading Bones by Roy Meals. As per usual: I ended up falling asleep. 

It was a really long wait at the Hertz rental car place. The guy blamed his slow computer system. He ended up having to manually charge the credit card using the phone. In those 45 minutes it went from dark and rainy to bright and sunny- TWICE. We had a choice of car and I insisted on the Toyota Corolla because it’s the closest option to a Toyota Camry.

It was about an hour’s drive to Gros Morne National Park. We bought a visitor’s pass for two days. We stopped at the info centre, both for the info but also for the toilets. We learned all about the geology of the area and I was once again reminded just how little I know of geology. We drove just up the road to the Tablelands trail. It was really amazing terrain and unique. It was unlike anything we had ever seen as it was the mantle of the earth and usually only seen on ocean floors. Except here where plate tectonics shifted it up. On one side was the barren mantle and across the way it was lush and green. It was like an actual dividing line. It was so nutrient poor that there were pitcher plants growing and not much else. It was also very windy. Annoyingly so. My hood kept whipping up and hitting me in the back of the head. The landscape was made all the more beautiful by all the little streams dotting the landscape. On the way back we even saw a rainbow. It was worth having to be out and about in the slight drizzle. 

On the way to the cottage, we were staying in, we stopped at a liquor/convenience store but they didn’t have any screech. We debated if it was rum (me) or whiskey (Brent). Instead, I got No Boats on Sunday watermelon raspberry. Only after we settled in did I realize it was a vodka soda drink. The tiny can size should have been my tip off that it wasn’t a cider. We also realized that there was no food nearby our cottage and all we had were snacks. Back to the convenience store! Our cottage had a stove so we cooked a frozen Delissio four cheese pizza. It was surprisingly good.  We were watching old reruns of Seinfeld but then it switched over to new-ish episodes of The Simpsons. They were not good. The Reese’s cups with potato chips were inconsistent and not that good. The vodka soda was surprisingly not that bad. My burnt hand from the previous weekend was still hurting, I kept rubbing Burt’s Bees ointment on it but it was rubbing off on my sleeves. We switched to watching Modern Family, it was moderately better.