Day 31 St. Paul to Port Aux Chois

 

Arches Provincial Park

June 19, 2013
I got woken up last night by wind accompanied by rain…gusty, vibrate-the-camper kind of wind.  That kept me awake for a few hours.  It is pretty foggy this morning and the wind seems to be going away.  Cannot see any views this a.m.





 

 



Harbor in Port Aux Chois

We had breakfast out in the place next to the Gros Morne Dinner Theatre and quite honestly, I should have just eaten granola with fresh fruit that is in our motorhome.  We paid $34. (with tip and tax) for:







 



Harbor in Port Aux Chois

 

Homefries courtesy of their freezer with nothing else added, French toast with no imagination, mushroom omlette with toast that I could have squeezed the butter out of (the eggs were a little weird also making me wonder if they were powdered or something else), and two mugs of hot chocolate.  It was very disappointing and the service was equally negligent (and I don’t require a lot in the way of service, but at least ask me how it is before I’ve finished or if I need anything else).  Overpriced for what it was.

 



Sculpture in Port Aux Chois

We drove in fog to Arches Provincial Park…a small park with no camping but a nice rocky beach with arches that have been worn by the sea.  It was pretty cold at this point…52 degrees with wind coming off the ocean and it felt more like 32.  We continued on not knowing just where we would end up.

 






Sculpture in Port Aux Chois

Somewhere between Arches Provincial Park and Port Aux Chois, there is a bakery that you simply must patronize if you are in Newfoundland.  It is on the left hand side and the sign is not very prominent but the sign for the Dollar store is.  Both are in an old institutional looking school building.  I forget what the name is but she had great muffins, breads, bagels, etc.  You can take it to go our eat there…we did both.  If you are not going to Labrador and Quebec, you can stop twice!

 



Phillips' Garden Trail

 The day was very foggy all day long with no hint that the even a sun existed.  The day’s travel ended in Port Au Choix.  We took some pictures of the harbor and set off to explore.  The hikes we did were Phillip’s Garden trail and a cove on the opposite side of the water whose name escapes me at this point.  Some archeology students from Memorial University were working there so they told us what they were doing…Dorset Paleoeskimo Research.  Didn’t see any moose but saw moose scat and other unknown scat that I need to I.D. to see what other big game is here (bear? Caribou?)  Our walks took up much of the day.

 

Lichen Rocks near Phillip's Garden hike

On the way into Port Aux Choix we selected possible overnight spots.  There was also a campground right on the water called Ocean View Rv Camping but we really didn’t need anything from them.  We are in view of that campground because it is all very open. We have ocean front accommodations and parked right down the road from the campground where there are three rv’s parked.  There are no signs saying we cannot camp/overnight/park here.




Lobstering

Port Aux Choix is a nice little town to visit with a picturesque harbor, walking trails and some necessary kind of shops (grocery).  It even has a visitor’s center that is open.  Many of the smaller regional visitor’s centers have been closed while we are here and I am not sure if that is permanent closure or not.

 



Lady Slipper...takes up to 16 years to bloom

 

After dinner we went for a walk on the beach. Woah…talk about beaches needing a clean up…see photos.  I would have brought a bag and begun clean up but the scale of this mostly-plastic garbage was way beyond what I could make a dent in.  It was like they dumped their plastic garbage somewhere out in the ocean and it has come back to haunt. PLEASE recycle or don’t buy plastic stuff.  I did pick up some nice sea glass; I will select the best piece and set it in sterling as a memento of our travels.  Inaddition to all the plastic on the beach (and driftwood) we saw a lot of decomposing seals (lost count at 10).



Port Aux Choix beach view

Limestone barrens is what this is considered.

Did you know?  Almost all towns in Newfoundland (or so it seems) have a Chinese food restaurant!   So if nothing else you can eat Chinese!


David has decided to add an additional fresh water tank to our motorhome and will do before our trip to the Wild West 2013.