Travels of Nannie & Bubba

July 31, 2014 Port au Choix, NF rocky shore

These are some random pictures from our four night stay at Port au Choix. It is a small village with bays on three sides; hence the name: Port of Choice.... The coast is layers of limestone which makes for great beach-walking! Except it's more like rock-climbing.... During our stay here the wind was blowing a steady 20 mph with bigger gusts, so there wasn't much sitting around at picnic tables! But oh my, such beauty! We spotted fossils in the rock called "gastropods". There were lovely tiny flowers. There were fascinating things on the shore. We loved it!

Our campsite, right on the shore.

Fossil.

Wonder what these bones are from?

July 30, 2014 Trout River

Here are a few random pictures from our short visit to Trout River. It's a small fishing town on the coast in Gros Morne National Park.

July 30, 2014 Gros Morne Nat'l. Park, Tablelands Hike

Today our adventure was the Tablelands Hike. How amazing! As I understood it, the Tablelands is an area of exposed magma that was uplifted eons ago when two big tectonic plates came together. The day was hot and sunny but we enjoyed every minute. There is water coming down from the top, making waterfalls here and there. There are even some patches of snow up high. If we were younger and stronger, we could have hiked up to the top, but we were satisfied with hiking into the valley. Quite the "moonscape" out there. As usual, pictures just don't do it justice.

Sorry it is scratched up, but here is a map.

This is a 3-D map we saw in the visitor center.

A patch of small in the far end of the valley.

The barren yellow tablelands rock and the rich green mountains made quite a contrast.

The bottom part of the trail.

Harebells.

Rock covered with lichen.

Serpentine: outer layer caused by magma cooling.

Serpentine.

July 29, 2014 Gros Morne, Nat'l. Park, Berry Head Pond Hike

Our second adventure in Gros Morne National Park was a hike around Berry Head Pond. We saw lots of flowers and I even know the names of some of them.... (thank you, Visitor Center) The skies were threatening and we felt a couple of raindrops, but no hard rain. This is one of those hikes that was short and sweet and we enjoyed just looking around.

The hike begins.

Scent bottle orchid, or bog candle.

Bottle brush, or canadian burnet.

Cottongrass.

Purple fringed orchid.

Winter freeze heaves.

Pitcher plant bloom.

Pitcher plant.

Sheep laurel, or lambkill.

Hmmm, wonder who's been cutting down the trees?

Ah, it's the Beaver family! And here is their house!

July 29, 2014 Gros Morne National Park, Lobster Head Cove

Our first adventure in Gros Morne National Park was a trip to Lobster Head Cove where there is a lighthouse on a rocky coast. The phrase "gros morne" means "large mountain standing alone". As always, we had a wonderful time clambering on the rocks. Plus there were tons of wild strawberries so we picked & ate some. Somehow a picnic lunch just tastes better when you eat it in a such a magnificent place....