Month: July 2016

We started the morning at the Norstead Viking Site. It is a non-profit that teaches about the vikings as well. We saw a cool ship, the Snorrie, that was built in Maine and then sailed from Greenland to L’anse aux Meadows. The trip took 87 days! It was a near perfect replica of a viking ship.

We visited the trading post and exchanged some of our pressed metal for some cool viking tokens. Mom tried to trade Emmerson for a small bellows but the deal was not taken.

We tried to throw an axe but non of us were very good.

Emmerson and Mom played another game called Nine Man Milles. Emmerson is really good at the game and already has a near unbeatable strategy.

We learned how to play a game called Kubb (pronounce KOO). You throw sticks at wooden pegs. The rules were simple and the game was really fun. I foresee making a set for travels or to play at home with friends at the park.

We visited Tora’s house (the viking we met yesterday) and bought wool hats and jams from her daughter Emily! We LOVE our hats and the jam!

We went back to the National Park and celebrated Parks Day. It was the 131st anniversary of Parks Canada. We had hotdogs, punch and marshmallows.

We drove into St. Anthony and hunted for Pokemon. We also hiked an awesome trail around Fishing Point. Dad, Emmerson and Breighton hiked Daredevil Trail up nearly 500 steps to the top of a cliff. Mom stayed at the bottom and was sitting taking photos and a mama and two baby foxes walked right up to her. They hung around and were still near Mom when we got back down. The mom has only three legs and is apparently al local legend.

 

We stopped at Tim Hortons for the local Iceberg Donut. It is the only Tim Hortons that sells it and only for a month a year! We had two!

In the evening we came back again for a program called Sagas and Shadows. We heard some of the sagas and tales of Eric the Red and Leif Ericson. It was a fun evening in the sod longhouse with the vikings.

 

Dad dropped us off at L’anse aux Meadows for the day while he went to town to find wifi and cell phone signal. We explored the viking trade site interpretive displays and learned about the vikings that lived here around the year 1000ad.

In the 1960s this site was first excavated and a yarn spindle was found by a young boy helping his grandfather with part of the dig. The spindle proved that the Norsemen were here and that the vikings were in this land.

They have reconstructed a trade village near the archeological site. It is staffed with people dressed as vikings who were very knowledgeable and entertaining.

We met Ragnar, the blacksmith, and learned how to trade our energy to run the bellows in exchange for a nail that was made. It was cool to see the nails made and know that the work we did helped make them. We each got to keep the nail that we helped make.

We had fun dressing in Norsemen clothing and chatting with Tora and the other vikings.

We climbed to the top of the little hill near the visitors center and found cell phone coverage. Mom was laughing so hard at Emmerson trying to find cell signal and jumping for joy at 3 bars of LTE service!

MOM I HAVE 3 BARS LTE!

 

 

 

Today we drove towards St. Anthony, Newfoundland. We stopped at Port au Choix on the way. Port au Choix is a site that has been land to many paleoarchiac indians. The paleoeskimos passed through the land in their nomadic lifestyle hunting for whales and seals. The dorset culture was after and set up larger group sites. Their housing was quite large and well built. They also hunter whales and seals and found these animals sacred. The orca or killer whale was their highest praised whale.

We worked on our Xplorer book and earned our dog tags. We had to hop on one foot like an owl and crawl like a seal. These movements were training for children learning to hunt.

We also tried partridgeberry jam. It was bitter like a cranberry yet sweet.

We saw an example of the Dorset buildings.

We explored a few trails and dodged lots of raindrops and chilly wind.

I was fascinated by the orca sculptures. It is even their logo on the entrance.

We later arrived at the Pistolet Bay Provincial Park and set up the motorhome. No hookups for the next few days and no cell signal at all or wifi!

We drove over to L’anse aux Meadows and saw our first moose of the trip (mom and baby) and then we checked out the town on St. Anthony in the evening.

 

 

This morning we were up early by choice and asking to go out to a few Poke Stops before our morning program we were heading to. Mom allowed this only because we got up and going willingly without a battle.

We wandered around town and then headed back into the park. We found a PokeStop on a trail we hadn’t hiked yet. We enjoyed a hike along the coast and a reward of a few Pokeballs. Anyway, we arrived at Green Point an hour before the program so we walked along the upper cliffs and checked out the red chairs.

We then hiked down the cliff and to see if we could find fossils before the tour started. We had no luck but passed the time making our initials out of the rocks and telling stories of how the rocks arrived.

The interpretive ranger, Cedric, arrived and delighted us with his unique way of conveying information. He was the alien from the program the other night. We learned that the rocks were 492 million years old and that the first life called the Iapetognathus Fluctivegus (flew to vegas), a worm like creature, lived here.

This area was once a tropical area. The guide played down and pretended to be sunning himself on his tropical getaway.

This site has UNESCO significance because it shows a clear boundary from the Cambrian to the Ordovician eras. This is the global stratotype for the boundary between the systems.

We explored the Ordovician layers of shale and search of Graptolites. The guide did a great job teaching through song and comedy about why we shouldn’t take the rocks or damage the site. A lot of the fossils are in situ. We were able to dig through the loose shale and quickly found many fossils of the graptolites, Ouh! AH! Graptolite!

This morning we drove to Norris Point to go to the Bonne Bay Marine Station. It is an educational research station located along the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We explored the touch tank and some of the exhibits while we waited for our tour.

We got to see a cool starfish without bumpy skin. He felt like a sponge.

The lion’s mane jellyfish was just amazing. We stood and watched it for a long time.

We learned more about echinoderms and how sea cucumbers can throw up their intestines and regenerate them.

There is a lot of coralline algae in the area and it is amazing how it can coat objects. They had an entire tank full of bottles and other knick knacks that were covered.

We saw a few other rhodoliths (coralline seaweeds). They were very cool.

Snow crab is another important critter in the fishing industry here. The main animals are lobster, snow crab and green sea urchin. They also catch halibut. We got to see some really big snow crabs.

One of our favorite fish was called a wolffish. It was mean looking and can bite your finger off.

They also had a large collection of unique colored lobsters. Our favorites were the blue and the green.

We explored the back docks and saw crab traps and learned how the crabs would get caught in them.

We spent part of the afternoon doing laundry. There are six machines in the town laundromat and a LOT of people wanting to use them. We had to wait a while and deal with a backup. The washers took 30-35 minutes and the dryers took 45 minutes. This created an obvious issue!

In the evening we met back up at the playground with out new friend. She leaves tomorrow to head home. We scoured the beach for treasures. We found beach glass, sand dollars and a few bones. I found what I THINK is a femur bone of a moose. Sadly, we had to leave the bone behind because we were not able to verify what the laws were to bring in back into the US.

We said our goodbyes and maybe we will meet again someday!

We have downloaded the Pokemon Go game and are enjoying playing. We can’t wait to see what it looks like in areas with actual populations!!!