Gros Morne

Hip Hip Hooray, the temperature got to 62 degrees today!!!  We began our travels west on the Trans-Canada highway.  Our destination was Gros Morne National Park on the west coast of Newfoundland, a 275 mile drive.  Gros Morne is a bit like Rocky Mountain National Park, but on the ocean, actually the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  When we arrived the sun was out, so we took a short hike to the water to see the sea and embrace the sun. 

We are staying in a small village called Rocky Harbor.  As we have traveled across Newfoundland, we have learned that everyone lives on the water in a village nestled into a cove.  The only settlements not on the water are located on the Trans-Canada highway.  In the history of Newfoundland, the English arrived first and got the "good spots", the coves.  When the Irish came, they got the land that was left above the harbors.  It was not very good land for farming, as much of Newfoundland is either rocks or bogs.  Maybe that is why some many Irishmen left.

However, half of the island has some Irish heritage and you can hear it in their speech.  They have a lilt that I am sure is traced to their Irish roots.  Newfoundland is the only province that has its own dictionary, and many of the coves have different dialects.  The people speak very quickly and you have to pay attention so that you can understand.  Yesterday there were two tourists from Italy on our boat and although they could speak some English, I am not sure how they managed to understand the boat guide as I had a hard time doing so myself.

Our hotel has a hot tub, so after dinner we sat outside in it and enjoyed that fact that it wasn't raining!  There was the opportunity to hear more local music tonight, but we felt we had heard the Ode to Newfoundland enough and decided to call it a night.

Diane