SkyscraperPage Forum - View Single Post - Staycation 2020 - Beaches, Fjords, Vikings, and Hideous Towns

SignalHillHiker · #1 Posted **Jul 26, 2020, 2:31 PM**

It's still almost impossible to visit or leave Newfoundland and Labrador, so the government has declared Stay Home Year 2020, encouraging all of us to vacation at home.

We took up the call last week. Had a grand time.

This is generally where we are...

And this is specifically where we went...

Come along.

• Video Link

We left the capital, St. John's, on Friday, July 17. It was after a chilly week with a couple of sunny breaks...

Of course, it was raining when we left - until about an hour outside the city, when it suddenly became beautiful (as usual).

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Our first stop was the town of Eastport, just outside Terra Nova National Park. It, along with much of the northeast coast, has beautiful sandy beaches with painfully cold water.

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

When we arrived at our rental, it was maggoty with youngsters - I didn't want to get out of the car lol

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

One of our fellow travelers was a vegetarian and Eastport was our first glimpse of how difficult that was going to be in rural Newfoundland. Poor guy would’ve starved to death if not for poutine. One place couldn’t even give him a drop of gravy because it already had ground beef in it lol

And one waitress seemed absolutely confused by his not wanting meat in a breakfast sandwich.

“So you want ham and egg with no bacon?”
“No ham either. No meat.”
“So a ham and egg sandwich with no bacon and no ham?”
“...Sure.”

And there wasn't much in the way of fresh groceries to cook at our unit.

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

But Jackie don't play.

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

But the beaches though...

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Near to Eastport is Salvage, pronounced in the most pretentious way (Salve-Age). It's one of the still-functioning fishing villages on the island.

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

From there we drove west to Grand Falls-Windsor, a cute little company town in the middle of nowhere (even moreso than the rest of us lol). Most towns of 20,000 or fewer residents here tend to be a single coastal road with 1980s bungalows on either side and a corner store somewhere in between. If they're a regional service centre, then the highway around it also has a big box store area. It's hideous. The only exceptions seem to be exceptionally old towns, towns along the coast instead of the interior highway across the island, and company towns like Grand Falls-Windsor. There's lots hideous about it, but it has an exceptionally good core by Newfoundland standards.

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

We went to a salmon interpretation centre. The Exploits River is one of the main ones in Central Newfoundland and falls near its mouth used to prevent salmon from fully penetrating the system. The government built salmon ladders and the like to open up the entire watershed to salmon and their number so far has increased from about 1,700 in the 90s to 40,000+ today.

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

We ate at the sketchiest cafe ever.

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Next step was Gros Morne National Park, one of our five UNESCO sites. This one was selected because of the Tablelands, exposed mantle rock that is among the oldest rock on the surface of the planet. It played a key role in formalizing the theory of plate tectonics. It's also an exceptionally beautiful region of the island.

The hills here (Long Range Mountains) are part of the same chain that is now the Appalachians in America, Little Atlas in Morocco, and the Scottish Highlands.

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

The view from our rental. Best part was no kids lol

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

We stayed in the town of Rocky Harbour, which was unfortunately a foreshadowing of the quility of the built form from Gros Morne north to the tip of the Greatern Northern Peninsula. Missing siding, ruined cars on back lawns, gravel driveways, cheap commercial architecture, on and on. And comically rude servers, which is odd as this region is supposed to be one of our tourist hotspots. My buddies are millenial tippers - 20%, no questions asked - but even they didn't tip at all a couple of times they were so surprised by how disinterested and short-tempered the waitresses were lol

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

We hiked in the rain to a waterfall.

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Poor kids did a 5K hike in flip flops and swimclothes lol

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

We hiked to the top of the Tablelands.

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

When we got up early to drive up the desolate Great Northern Peninsula to L'anse aux Meadows, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's the only authenticated Norse (Viking) settlement in North America (excluding Greenland, of course) - and marks the point at which human beings "completed the circle" or settling the world, where Indigenous North Americans and Europeans first met each other 500 years before Columbus.

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

The site has reconstructions of the Norse sod buildings that were discovered.

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

And then we spent two days crawling back to St. John's, which despite having nice weather the entire time we were gone, was back to its typical shit

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Staycation 2020 by R C, on Flickr

Luckily, we only had to wait until last night for some nice weather... (these three by jeddy1989):