Tuesday August 1, 2017

Last night we thought we had it made. Carol was able to do laundry for free and we had a nice big freezer to freeze our water bottles as ice for our coolers. Well, we woke up and the power was off so the bottles did not freeze solid and other containers we put in to make ice were barely started. Come to discover from the owner that other guests that came in late last night (and were loud, waking me up) switched off the breakers to the three cabins for some unknown reason. Thank you very much to the people of oriental persuasion who were rudely loud at 1130 at night and robbed us of our power and ice. There is nothing left to do but have pancakes for breakfast. Pancakes and syrup make everything better. Today we have about a three hour drive to St Anthony a town on the northern point of Newfoundland. We were originally going to do a whale watching tour but the weather is calling for a 60% chance of rain so we decided to do it tomorrow instead. Because of this we do not need to drive nonstop.

Watch Out, A Thrombolite

We decide to take a break at the village of Flowers Cove to see the Thrombolites. No, they are not some Newfoundland rock group. They were the only known forms of life from 3.5 billion to 630 million years ago. They were bun shaped unicellular creatures and are extremely rare with the only other known discovery located in Australia. I am still not 100% sure what exactly they are but maybe I have piqued your curiosity to find out more. We make the walk back to the RAV at a brisk pace as it is downright cold now. Cloudy, windy and dreary looking.

Where We Are

Back in our sheltered vehicle, we drive ever further north. We hit a few areas of drizzly rain and come to the turn off for L’anse Aux Meadows Historic Site. We had planned to do this tomorrow but have reversed things due to the weather. It is not raining at the moment so we head on in. This site is the only known Viking settlement in North America. It was not discovered until the 1960s by a Norwegian archeologist who had studied and researched the Viking sagas. It proved the theory that the Vikings had been the first Europeans to discover North America. It also to archeologists was the event that started the meeting of the two groups of humans that started migrating from Africa 100,000 years ago. The merging of the two migrations, one of the native aboriginal tribes and one of the European tribes happened in North America in 1000 A.D.

Original Dig Site

Our ranger guide grew up in the nearby tiny community and remembers playing here and they called it the Indian camps because they thought the strange mounds were of Native American origin. The archeological digs made in the 1960s proved that Vikings were here and it is believed that this was a base camp for forays and explorations further south into Canada. The Vikings came here for wood to use back home in Greenland. We were told that even though there are no trees here now, that 1000 years ago the temperature here was 3-5 degrees Celsius warmer which allowed forests to grow along the shores. So take that global warming people, it was warmer here 1000 years ago and there were no fossil fuels. Now I can neither confirm nor deny that I am for or against the global warming theories but it does give one cause to ponder. We visit the original dig site which has been restored to its original discovery state with the sod being laid back on the mounds and depressions as it was found.

Playing Kubb

We then visit some recreated buildings of the camp based on the findings here. There are people playing parts of the Vikings that may have lived here. We play a game called Kubb that is still played in Scandinavia today and Carol and I kick some Norseman butt. We visit different structures and get to watch how they made nails from iron extracted from rocks in the area. It is amazing to be standing in a spot where North America was discovered by non-aboriginal people. We brave the cold back to our vehicle and drive three miles up the road to our home for the night. The owners of our room invite us in to their home for a latte and we have some nice conversations with Wayne and his wife about the area and also tell them about our home in St. George. Two very different environments.

Brewis and Scrunchions

After we get checked in we go out to eat at a nearby restaurant. We start with an appetizer of local mussels and they are incredibly good. It is crazy how they do not even taste fishy when they are this fresh. They provide us with garlic butter to dip them in. For our entrees, we decide to share fish and chips (cod again) and try Brewis. This is a local traditional food made with salted cod, hard tack bread that is soaked and mixed with the cod and then topped with scrunchions, crispy delights made with pork fat. The Brewis is very tasty and we wash it down the some Newfoundland Vidi Quidi 1892 Ale. After dinner, we return to our room and elax. Carol is reading and I catch up on the last few days journal. Our view is incredible as we can watch the changing weather from the warmth of our room. Tomorrow we hope for a bit more sun.

Expenses                                                                                                                                  Dinner at Northern Delights 55 CAD                                                                                     Cape Bauld BNB 105 CAD                                                                                                         2.5 Miles Walked