Hey – Rover here... I told Denise that we needed to share playing with words today. So anytime you see slanted writing, that's me!Ah, that extra sleep felt good. It was an oatmeal kind of morning, a warm start on a still-drizzly day. The skies were gray and there was water in the air. I decided to stick to my plans to drive the Port au Port Peninsula, a triangular shaped piece of land juttng into George's Bay. What I saw of it was beautiful. I stopped for a few photos, drove a bit further, and then... the fog rolled in as I was heading up a rather steep hill. I have to admit I'm glad that I was driving today and not pedaling a Denise-powered cycle. If it wasn't for the lines on the road I don't think I could have seen it at all (at that point). I could still see white lines on either side of the pavement, and a yellow line in the center, leading me forward. I drove just a bit further, hoping that the fog would lift. It didn't, and I found a good place to reverse directions. It was time to head back to the highway, to continue my drive to Gros Morne.
After Denise woke up in the middle of the night to listen to the rain, I reset her alarm clock to give her a little extra sleep. I thought that would be good for her. Oh! good for me too – I didn't mind more sleep, as long as we still had plenty of wandering time, and we did. We slept until almost 8 o'clock. That's really, really late for Denise. See, I knew she was tired.
My camera and I stopped for a chat with some alpacas who lived along the road. They have such expressive faces.
I had to help with directions when we got back to TransCanadaHighway 1. Denise was a bit confused by our choice of heading either east or west, knowing that we were heading north. I told her to follow the signs for the eastbound side of the road. TCH 1 runs across Canada, from the west to the east, and this section of the road runs from Port aux Basques to St. John's (in the east). It does snake around a bit, and we followed it to the northeast until we hopped off of that road in Deer Lake.After turning off of TCH1 in Deer Lake I just had to stop at the Newfoundland Insectarium butterfly house. I wandered through the bug part of the exhibit first, marveling at the size (and fuzzy legs) of some tarantulas. I must have spent a full hour wondering at the beauty of the butterflies. According to one of the staff there, the butterflies were quiet because of the cool temperatures. Quiet was fine with me as I tried to capture their images. It's a good thing that my macro lens jumped into my bag!
Time to head for Gros Morne National Park. The light rain stopped, the beauty continued. There were many tempting views. And yes, I did stop at a few, usually at a handy roadside turnout.
Rocky Harbour beckoned, and I arrived at my home for the next five nights, Wildflowers Country Inn. When I walked into my room I was sure there was a mistake. I expected a single room, but it's more than that. One small room with a king-sized bed. Next to it, a room with a sink that is more of a sitting room than a part of a bathroom, a room with two comfortable chairs and a table. Toilet and shower tucked away in another room. Nice!
Fingers crossed for decent weather... I have at least four days of hikes and wanderings in my head – including a boat ride up a fiord. One of the hikes is quite long; I'll try to pick the best weather day for that one.
