We want to visit the Newfies

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Hello Everyone, We are planning to drive as far North on the East coast as we can next summer and that is looking like L' Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. I was hoping some of you that have been to Newfoundland before might share your experiences. Hoping some might offer up some advice of where to go and where to avoid. I here that the Newfies like to "gravel pit" camp along the sea shore. Any insight into this would be welcomed too.

[Happycampers]

Hello.... You will meet the friendliest people there... wonderful scenery also... was there in the mid 70's and going to go back again in the next year or two.

[VIKING]

Sorry Frank, The last time someone from my family camped there was in the year 1000. From the story they left it sounds very nice, though. Have you read the Saga Of The Greenlanders or Saga Of Erik The Red?

Rich the Viking

[HowieE]

Hi Frank

I can not convey all that I think you should know from my trip to Newfoundland so I will wet the whistle with this picture of the monument, ship and whale, at L'Anse aux Meadows.

You should try for Battle Harbor in Labrador.

If you want the longer dissertation PM me your phone number and I will give you a call.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Originally Posted by VIKING

Sorry Frank, The last time someone from my family camped there was in the year 1000. From the story they left it sounds very nice, though. Have you read the Saga Of The Greenlanders or Saga Of Erik The Red?

Rich the Viking

Actually it was my people too. And the very Sagas you mentioned is why we are headed there...

[Ahab]

A while ago we lived in Salisbury, Md and made that same trip. Did not have any problems and always found a campground or a place to park. Bay of Fundy was awesome as was Nova Scotia, NF was OK. Sure got my fill of lobster.

[VIKING]

Originally Posted by 62overlander

Actually it was my people too. And the very Sagas you mentioned is why we are headed there...

At the end of the Saga of The Greenlanders there's a couple of paragraphs about the decendants of the main characters. They mention Snorri, the son of Karlsefni and Gudrid, who was born in Vinland. Apparently the first person of european descent to be born in the west.
Snorri Sturlusson, the Icelandic writer from the 1100-1200's was said to be descended from him, and I am descended from Snorri Sturlusson, as well as Ingolfur Arnarsson, and Egil Skallagrimsson, a couple of very colorful characters from early Icelandic history.
What's your connection Frank? Yensan sounds Swedish or Danish to me.

Rich the Viking

[Gene]

Frank,

Neewfoundland is a wonderful place to visit. We went in 2004, but it was too early because the tourist season is 3 months long and a lot of things weren't open. L'Anse aux Meadows was mostly covered with snow in late April. Nonetheless the trip was great and I wish we had had more time. The people are the friendliest in the US and Canada, but some speak so fast you can't understand them (just tell them to slow down).

Newfoundland is also bigger than you may realize. From Post au Basque to St. John's is about 500 miles, and with all the peninsulas, you can do a lot of driving. Most people live along the coasts and every part of the province is worth seeing.

You can take a ferry from St. Barbe on the Northern Peninsula (you go thru there on the way to L'Anse aux Meadows) to the eastern edge of Quebec and go east to Labrador. I think the road around Labrador's coast was finished this year and you can drive all the way to Goose Bay and then back around into Quebec. It's not paved and may be rough. In fact, a lot of the paved roads in Newfoundland are not too good.

Contact the province's tourism dep't—they have good tourist info which we found very useful and was much better quality than the usual stuff you get from provinces and states.

We also took the time to visit Halifax (Nova Scotia's road aren't too good either), PEI, drive around Gaspé, visit Québec City, Montreal, Ottawa and drive all the way around Lake Superior on the Ontario side. We did it in 5 weeks without a trailer.

We only had 10 days, and next time I hope we can spend about 3 weeks there. Don't know about the Labrador part though.

Gene

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Originally Posted by VIKING

At the end of the Saga of The Greenlanders there's a couple of paragraphs about the decendants of the main characters. They mention Snorri, the son of Karlsefni and Gudrid, who was born in Vinland. Apparently the first person of european descent to be born in the west.
Snorri Sturlusson, the Icelandic writer from the 1100-1200's was said to be descended from him, and I am descended from Snorri Sturlusson, as well as Ingolfur Arnarsson, and Egil Skallagrimsson, a couple of very colorful characters from early Icelandic history.
What's your connection Frank? Yensan sounds Swedish or Danish to me.

Rich the Viking

My people come from just west of Stockholme and were iron workers in the very early days of it there. No famous people in the tree.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Frank,

Neewfoundland is a wonderful place to visit. We went in 2004, but it was too early because the tourist season is 3 months long and a lot of things weren't open. L'Anse aux Meadows was mostly covered with snow in late April. Nonetheless the trip was great and I wish we had had more time. The people are the friendliest in the US and Canada, but some speak so fast you can't understand them (just tell them to slow down).

Newfoundland is also bigger than you may realize. From Post au Basque to St. John's is about 500 miles, and with all the peninsulas, you can do a lot of driving. Most people live along the coasts and every part of the province is worth seeing.

You can take a ferry from St. Barbe on the Northern Peninsula (you go thru there on the way to L'Anse aux Meadows) to the eastern edge of Quebec and go east to Labrador. I think the road around Labrador's coast was finished this year and you can drive all the way to Goose Bay and then back around into Quebec. It's not paved and may be rough. In fact, a lot of the paved roads in Newfoundland are not too good.

Contact the province's tourism dep't—they have good tourist info which we found very useful and was much better quality than the usual stuff you get from provinces and states.

We also took the time to visit Halifax (Nova Scotia's road aren't too good either), PEI, drive around Gaspé, visit Québec City, Montreal, Ottawa and drive all the way around Lake Superior on the Ontario side. We did it in 5 weeks without a trailer.

We only had 10 days, and next time I hope we can spend about 3 weeks there. Don't know about the Labrador part though.

Gene

We are planning a generous working mans vacation of two weeks. I am sure it will be a whirl wind tour.

[mutcth]

Originally Posted by Ahab

Bay of Fundy was awesome as was Nova Scotia, NF was OK. Sure got my fill of lobster.

Apologies for the (ever so slight) thread diversion. Anything in particular to see/places to camp in Nova Scotia? We're heading to Nova Scotia and PEI this summer - only have 2 weeks so not heading up to NF. We're hauling the sea kayaks and the bikes and the Minuet....

Tom

[pmclemore]

Just a caution, Frank: If you have a two-week vacation, you will be working a good bit of it while driving in Newfoundland. Figuring that you will spend a week getting there and back you'll have your hands full deciding how to spend the days remaining - as Gene said, it is a larger area than it appears.

In any event, have a wonderful trip - we just got back from a six-week trip that included longish visits to Quebec, Gaspe', PEI and Nova Scotia. We thought about going up to NF, but decided it was just too far and needed more time than we could give it. Remains on the to-do list, though.

Pat

[DaveFL]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Frank,

Neewfoundland is a wonderful place to visit. We went in 2004, but it was too early because the tourist season is 3 months long and a lot of things weren't open. L'Anse aux Meadows was mostly covered with snow in late April.

We did the prime season we were in RedBay July 5, watched parade, I was the only one watching, DW said it was too cold to stand around. Still snow in the shadows on side of road and iceburgs. We were late coming back in mid Sept. Frost and freezing temps in Maine without a heater. That's when we decided to move up to a better unit. We will go back to do the rest of NS, but Newfoundland as nice as it was and how nice the people are, is like the guy said bigger than it looks on the map. And the ferry trip with small van cost was like a car, now we would have to pay truck rates and the fuel would be much higher with the devalued dollar.
We got to see everything, moose, elk, iceburgs, friendly people, museums but couldn't have done it in a couple of weeks. Almost like saying we'll see the US in a month

[Gene]

Newfoundland can certainly have lousy weather. We saw a lot of icebergs too and that tells you something. It can be cold, blowing and wet. The weather was pretty good when we were there, although there was blizzard in the east when we were in the west. The gov't employees were on strike and the managers had to plow the snow, a job they weren't very good at, but most snow had melted by the time we got east.

Be prepared to see a lot of trees, bogs, rivers, bogs and more trees. There are more moose than people and hitting as moose is a disaster for vehicle and passengers. With such long legs, the body comes through the windshield and death is likely. Moose are not native and have no natural enemies (except cars and trucks)—wolves and bear keep the moose population down on the mainland.

There's no place there we wouldn't go back to, and will. It was a delight. How to go in 2 weeks seems impossible to enjoy your trip. After Maine, no 4 lane highways, then crossing New Brunswick, part of Nova Scotia to the tip of Cape Breton Is., the ferry takes a day each way, 2 days to get to where the Vikings landed—that's 6 days driving pretty fast. 2 national parks on the way too. Even taking a few extra days more than 2 weeks will make it a much more enjoyable trip.

Gene

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Two weeks is what we have and two weeks it will be. People go to Europe for a week. Do they expect to see it all in a week? We will make the best of it. It is 19 hours drive from me to the ferry. The ferry is six to eight hours. It will be what it will be. I actually do not need to hear that we do not have enough time. We are not retired, we work and we are going to make the most of what we have. I do not expect to see the whole Island or take in every site. Perhaps we will just sit on one beach the entire time and never see anything but that sunrise and the sun set.
How about instead of trying to dissuade me you tell me about the coolest thing you did see. How about telling me about the one thing you would go see again.

Howie was nice enough to call me today and run down a full list of places he recommends.

[Gene]

I'm not trying to dissuade you from going. I actually would like for you to have a good trip and believe more time would greatly enhance your trip. Two other posters said the same thing about the time allotted. I cannot pick one thing since there were so many. Newfoundland is a unique place.

Some things that I recall offhand—watching orcas cavort in the harbor at Port aux Basque, an old majestic hotel in Corner Brook, Rocky Harbour, the national park just north of there (forgot the name), all the small towns along the coasts, St. John's: a cosmopolitan city, looking at the harbor from Signal Hill (where Marconi send the first transatlantic radio message) and watching icebergs on the Atlantic Ocean side; driving down the coast south of St. Johns to see the point in N. America closest to Europe, visiting a nature preserve (called St. Mary's I think) to watch the thousands of birds on cliffs over the Atlantic, talking to the people anywhere, buying Newfoundland sweaters (cheap there, incredibly warm and well made), taking the ferry through ice flows (in April), seeing icebergs from the Northern Penninsula, finding the small town where most of The Shipping News was filmed. And, of course, L' Anse aux Meadows. It's a lot, sort of like seeing NY and Pa in size. Read The Shipping News and see the movie—they give a good idea of the flavor of the island.

Having 2 weeks makes it difficult. That's all anyone is saying. I've done long trips in 2 weeks too. You make the best you can of it.

Gene

[air19]

One of the very best aspects of Newfoundland is the people. Another thought would be that instead of making a whirlwind trip from one end to the other, perhaps pick the west side or the east side and spend time to meet the locals. You can get a ferry to either side.

My wife and I went to Newfoundland as part of the Great Newfoundland Dog Trek in 1997. We had a caravan of 60 RVs (including five Airstreams), that contained 130 Newfoundland dogs (the average weight of a Newf is about 140 lbs)! Try to imagine what we looked like when we pulled into a campground.

Our trek did move from the west coast to the east coast. I remember the east coast more, mostly because of the people we met. Our key destination was Bonavista where we stayed at the Paradise Farm Trailer Park a couple miles south of town. This was the port that they sailed a replica of the Mathews ship into and we were part of a great festival around it.

Like many parts of Canada they always have fun festivals during the summer months. Perhaps there would be one based around a hobby or interest of yours that you could use as a focal point for the trip. We have a great friend in St. Johns and every year they have many musical festivals that are worthy of building a trip around.

Regarding the people, I remember a couple of times when we had to ask for directions. Both times the person who we asked stopped working and said follow me. They jumped in their car and lead us safely to our destination. Then we chatted for a while and in one case we were invited that evening over to their house for dinner.

You will enjoy a couple of days or a couple of weeks there. I am very envious and I hope to hear about your trip.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

The only firm plans are going to be the ferry on and ferry off. We are hoping to kind of just see where the road takes us. That was Wally's goal was it not? I wish I had a couple of months to explore the entire maritime provinces, but we will make the best of what time we have. If for some reason we do not feel for filled by the amount of time we have, then it will give us a reason to go back again. I guess this is why we keep flying out to New Mexico and renting a car for a long weekend (done that six times in two years) or this is why we go to Mexico every winter for a week. I can understand only scratching the surface. But for people far from retirement, two weeks is a long vacation. It takes a lot to dedicate that amount of time to a vacation.

Hearing the highlights of all of your visits is a very good thing. I have been reading an excellent book called Theatre of Fish by John Gimlette. It gives a very interesting dual history of the Island through his own eyes and the journals of his great Great Grandfather, Grenfield who half the islands municiple buildings and public places are named after.

Shipping News is a fantastic book. I think the book far exceeds the movie, but the movie was very good too. Anne Proiux is a fantastic writer and I love all her books. I just finished her latest Bad Dirt.

[Gene]

Thanks for the tip about Theater of Fish, sounds like a good book. I agree Shipping News is better as a book, a lot of which I read on the ferry. I don't know how many times we've watched the movie. Sounds like you're doing your homework.

Gene

[DaveFL]

Originally Posted by 62overlander

The only firm plans are going to be the ferry on and ferry off. We are hoping to kind of just see where the road takes us. That was Wally's goal was it not? I wish I had a couple of months to explore the entire maritime provinces, but we will make the best of what time we have. If for some reason we do not feel for filled by the amount of time we have, then it will give us a reason to go back again.

.

Sorry about negative timeline, but 10 yrs retired screws up thought process of time.
We did East coast first, was going to loop back seeing all of NF but half way up had a flat, couldn't find a simple tire{vw vanagon) started back found tire a hundred miles south and decided to see more on a return visit.
Did the west coast and included Labrador.
Two weeks I would pick the east coast, pick a couple of coves and enjoy.
The long ferry ride is enough time to rest, by the way reservations not required but highly recommended in prime season. You can boondock at Ferry docks until an opening is available.
Can't do too much research, NF travel site will send out all the maps and info.
Enjoy the time you have, it is a great destination, but the getting there is also fun.