August 12, 2011 – The Viking Feast

Last night’s Viking Feast was really something. You enter the earth hut & find the inside of a Viking village. The place seats about 90 but was only about ½ full & we were seated with a more senior than us mother & daughter from Toronto & a couple from North Vancouver. Goodman, our 5 foot nothing Viking server, instructed us on how to behave for the evening, get service (“jist bangs yer spoons on da tables” or “holler me name as loud as ye can”). Then the King of the Vikings came around and said he would be holding court & that each of our “boats” (tables) could accuse anyone of a crime & that they would have to defend themselves to the rest of the boats. Once all the details of the crime were heard all the boats would vote as to whether or not the accused was guilty. But first dinner, & the only utensils on the table were a knife & soup spoon!



First Goodman brought out plates of cod tongue & kapelin as appetizers, & instructed us on how to eat them. Kapelin is a sardine like fish that is salted & dried, about 6” long, complete with heads, eyes & fins. They are to be eaten head first so they know where they’re going! Not something I’d eat on a regular basis, but we decided it was “Newfoundland Jerky” & at least we can say we tried it. Cod tongues are very delicious & we could have made an entire meal of just them. All appetizers were eaten with our fingers.

The rest of dinner was buffet style, so I’ll try to describe it dish by dish, as close as possible.

Jiggs Dinner: Boiled potatoes, carrots, turnips, & cabbage served with salted beef (very much like corned beef).

Roast beef: We passed on this, why eat beef on the sea coast?

Moose Stew: Tender cubes of moose meat, turnip, carrot & potato in a wonderful rich gravy. Very, very good.

Fisherman’s Brewis: A combination of different fish (cod, turbot, shrimp, crab, & whatever else the catch of the day was) the consistency of crab cakes before they are formed into cakes. Also very tasty.

Planked Salmon: Some of the best tasting salmon we’ve ever had.

Turbot Cheeks: Lightly dusted & pan fried, they taste very much like cod tongue, very delicious.

Desert was a partridge berry flatbread (not really a pancake, but not quite a crepe) with bakeapple sauce & a dollop of whipped cream. Partridge berries are something like a blueberry & a bakeapple is like a raspberry only yellow. The desert was fabulous!

After dinner, the King of the Vikings called court to order. He had come around during dinner to get the name of the person accusing someone else of a crime. That person had to stand before the “village”, up on a rock, & tell all those assembled their name & the name of the accused & what the crime was. Before doing this, the King, his wench & the other Vikings (Goodman & the other servers) had a trial to show us what would happen.












When the king came to our table I was the only one who could think of a crime & of course JD was the victim. I stood on the rock & said “I am Susan of Calgary & charge John, who plays a game with a stick & a ball, with sometimes using his foot to move the ball so the ball is in a better place to hit with the stick.” With this, all the villagers in the room started pounding on the tables as hard as they could! The king then called John to the rock to see what he had to say. Using his cane & a severe phony limp, John crossed the room & stood on the rock. “I have never kicked the ball with my foot, can’t you see how much trouble I have just walking never mind kicking something? She only accuses me because I take money from her when we play this game with the stick & the ball.”

Once the room had stopped laughing & banging on the tables, the king decided it was time for everyone to vote. He pointed his spear at John & asked if he was guilty – the room went crazy banging the table & hollering. When the king pointed his spear at me & asked if I was guilty of making a story up about John, only a couple of slaps on the table could be heard. The king found John guilty & as punishment took his shoes, much to the chagrin of the villagers who had called out to have him castrated!!

Next to the “rock” was David of Comox & he charged one of his companions with stealing a pig. When Bill of Port Alberni came to the rock he said it was John from Calgary that stole the pig & he had a witness. Then Chris from Toronto came to the rock & said yes indeed, he had seen John from Calgary steal the pig. The room again went wild & John was again found guilty. This time his punishment was to purchase “dark liquid” for David of Comox. John said he’d meet him at Tim’s in the morning. There were a couple more people accused & tried, but nothing nearly as much fun as perfect strangers picking on John!

We did meet the people from Comox & Port Alberni earlier in the day on our iceberg tour & since they were golfers too, they just picked up on “pick on John”. Needless to say a good time was had by all!

AUGUST 13, 2011 – LABRADOR – THE BIG LAND

We drove from St. Anthony back to St. Barbe in time for the 1:15 ferry to Labrador. You actually land in Blanc Sablon, Quebec then travel the 5 km. into Labrador. It wasn’t the bright sunny day we had hoped for, but it was about +13 & not raining. Again, we are in awe of what lays before us. I’m not sure what I expected the landscape to look like, but it literally takes your breath away. The Trans Labrador Hiway stretches along the shoreline of the Strait of Belle Isle & turns inland much farther up the coast than we planned to drive.





We drove through L’Anse au Clair (population 241) with it’s nice sandy beach & many walking trails. Next, the town of Forteau (much bigger at 477) where we took a stroll along a high cliff overlooking the town & bay. There was even a big fat ground hog lying on the rocks enjoying a little sun. Next on our stop in along a windy dirt road at the waters edge at L’Anse Amour (population 9) where the earliest known funeral monument in North America sits. It is an archeological site which dates back 7500 years. Just beyond the Cove of Love, still on the dirt road, we come to our final destination in Labrador, Point Amour & the sight of the largest working lighthouse in the Martimes. There was also a walking trail to the wreck site of two British ships from the early 1900’s & foundation of a Marconi station.

The lighthouse was built in 1858 & contains 131 steps from bottom to top. The stone walls are 6 feet thick at the bottom, tapering to 4 feet thick at the top, & the lighthouse is perfectly round. The guide told us that some days the wind can blow up to 200 km/hr at Point Amour but there is absolutely no sway in the lighthouse. This time it’s John who has to drag me up! But we both made it all the way to the top (which is glass enclosed) & had the most amazing view of the Straits of Belle Isle & the landscape of Labrador. Of course, once you climb UP the 131 steps, you have to come DOWN, but the view from the top was so worth it! The museum in the lighthouse keeper’s house was also very interesting & if you can imagine, the longest keeper worked at the lighthouse for 44 years & climbed the stairs each day for each of those 44 years. That’s 262 steps x 365 days x 44 years. You do the math!! And some days, he climbed to the top more than once. Apparently he was a tall man, but very slim!!

It’s time to wind our way back to the ferry for our 8 pm sail back to St. Barbe. As we drive back, right at the “Welcome to the Town of Forteau” sign the odometer reads 10,000 kilometers – day 62 of our adventure. As the crow flies, we are 4384 kilometers from home, but we’ve made a few side trips. We’re on our way home from here, but so glad we decided to take the time to come to “The Big Land”.

AUGUST 13, 2011 – NEXT STOP ROCKY HARBOR

It’s my turn to drive as we head south to Rocky Harbor. We’ve driven this road before but it was in a rush to get to St. Anthony so today it’s very leisurely, with time to stop & smell the roses.











The road side is a mass of color with various wildflowers. Colors range from deep purple, to neon fuchsia, light pink, white & yellow. And every once in awhile you see a scarecrow in the ditch! Our iceberg tour guide did mention that because of the very short growing season in the northern part of Newfoundland, whenever someone can find a piece of ground that has some good soil (not just rock) where it gets the sun (whenever it might shine) they plant gardens. They grow potatoes, turnips, carrots, & cabbage (which they call “greens”). The gardens are usually fenced with various materials (fish buoys on rope, snow fence or lumber & sticks) & often have scarecrows dressed in a yellow rain slicker & hat. I guess that’s why Newfoundlanders are so hardy & hard working, they have to be just to survive!

Also along the side of the road are rows & rows of lobster traps, 1,000’s of them. In some places they are piled 6 or 8 high & go into the bush for 30 yards or more. We stopped at one spot to take some pictures & found a scattering of little fishing shacks along the beach where the fishermen stay when it’s lobster season.

We’ve been told there are more moose & seals in Newfoundland than there are people. Every other mile on the hiway are signs with a crumpled up car & a large moose standing in front of it. Well, today we got to see why! People are very good about flashing their lights here – and it’s not because there’s a radar trap – it’s for the moose. We saw one in the ditch, then a few miles later, a half dozen cars were stopped by the side of the road. I pulled over & sure enough, there was a cow & three calves. Not sure where the other “moms” were but they didn’t pay much attention to us & just kept grazing on the side of the road.

When we arrived in Rocky Harbor the bay was socked in with a heavy fog. It didn’t take long to warm up & burn off, so we went from our lodgings to “town” to see what was happening. Since we were only 80 kilometers from Pasedena (no not the one in California) we decided to go back to take in some of the sights we missed when we passed through. We went to a place that cut & polished rocks from around Newfoundland. They make crib boards, coasters, clocks, wine racks, & Xmas ornaments.
We also stopped at a number of view points that we didn’t stop at before.

Once we got back to Rocky Harbor it didn’t take long to check out the local restaurant menus & decide where we would have dinner. We then followed some music to a little pub on Main Street, found a spot on the patio, & ordered a local beer – Iceberg Beer. The local talent was really pretty good & even had a few different CD’s for sale. I heard one of the locals on the deck say “dat by plays dem good steppin’ tunes” . JD couldn’t resist, so we’ve added Peter Jacobs to our CD collection!





Early to bed tonight, but not before the TV falls off the stand in our room. John was sitting on the bed & I was standing by the bathroom & the TV just dropped to the floor. We picked it up but not before noticing it was attached to the stand with double sided tape!! We have been going non stop since getting to Newfoundland so we’ve decided to take a couple of days off to relax. Tomorrow we drive to Terra Nova, a golf resort near Gander where we’ll stay for a few days to play some golf & relax before seeing the rest of the Rock.


AUGUST 14, 2011 – TERRA NOVA HERE WE COME

We really weren’t sure what to expect of the TCH #1 from Deer Lake to Gander, but whatever it was we were greatly surprised. It is the best stretch of hiway we’ve had since leaving home!!! Now we know why so many Newfies are in Alberta, this piece of road looks just like the one from Edmonton to Fort McMurray. We each did 3 hour shifts & reached Gander in time for lunch & a visit to the Atlantic Air Museum. It was very interesting & contained a special section about the 6,500 people who were forced to land in Gander on 9-11. Since the population of Gander was only 9,500 at the time, people were housed up to 90 kilometers away at private homes & cottages.

We arrived at Terra Nova about 3pm & it was time for me to get the laundry done. Luckily, the laundry room & the bar were on the same floor, so we could sit & watch the golf, have a drink & do the laundry all at the same time!! We have a Tee-time for 9:50 Monday & 8:15 on Tuesday. Dinner was wonderful & the first time we’ve had something other than fish since we arrived in the Maritimes. The resort is hosting the Canadian Seniors Championship next week, so we are anxious to play the course.

AUGUST 15, 2011 – FIRST GAME OF GOLF SINCE JULY 29!!

Luckily we were paired with a lovely couple who where members of Terra Nova & they were very helpful with the lay of the land. We had a power cart but Peggy & David walked. To give you some idea of what the walk was like, in order to get to the first tee a cart & trailer load up your clubs & carts & you ride to the first tee box. For any one who has played at the Desert Princess, it’s about 1/2 as far as to the first tee Cielo!! Our playing partners where our age & I don’t think I know anyone at Cottonwood who could walk this golf course! You can’t imagine the scenery!! Some of the holes run along the Salmon River & parts of Clode Sound. From the bridges you can see waterfalls & rapids on the river & the salmon jumping. Truly some of the most incredible scenery we’ve seen. And just to prove how small this country really is, Peggy & David have a son who lives in Calgary & they spend every January & February at his vacation property in Panorama skiing. Only Newfoundlanders would winter in Calgary!!! And good luck to those seniors, this is one tough course!!