Calling it an early evening and stopping in the River of Ponds campground the previous night was the right choice. I packed my things up in the morning and stopped by the camp office to grab a coffee and work on the blog for a bit. The owner, a lady named Daisy, greeted me as we began a wonderful conversation sharing stories with one another. She asked if I’d had breakfast and when I told her I hadn’t she proceeded to make me a sandwich free of charge! It was delicious and I appreciated the kindness. Being in quite the cheerful mood I said my goodbyes and took to the roads.
The skies above were cloudy but dim patches of blue began appearing, giving me hope for a day of sunshine and no rain. The further I drove south the clearer the skies became, the landscape becoming increasingly vibrant as the suns beams shone down upon it.
What an incredible drive south it turned out to be! Much of the road hugged the coast giving me a stunning view of the Atlantic Ocean. I found myself stopping constantly to get a closer peek at something or to simply just stand there and take in the scenery.
At last I saw the sign of the place I’d been aiming for, Gros Morne National Park. Now one of the nice things about this park is while you can’t fly a drone in a national park, you can fly a drone beside one, and Gros Morne had patchy spots along the highway where towns weren’t part of the park. Because of this I was able to take to the skies and get some pictures of the jaw dropping views without actually flying my drone into the park where it isn’t allowed. I took full advantage and had some fun seeing things from a higher perspective.
I did my first hike in the park shortly after arriving. Taking to the trail felt good as I was continually amazed at the vast beauty of the land around me. Winnie had a blast, bouncing about and trying to greet everyone and everything she came across. The walk took me to a river at the end with a narrow fjord in the distance. I took a little time admiring the stunning view then set about retracing my steps as I ventured back to the car.
Continuing to drive deeper into the park I found I was growing increasingly hungry. A local had hyped up a restaurant called Parsons and I took them up on their suggestion. Oh, what meal they had in store! Upon walking through the door and finding a seat I was soon greeted by a friendly waiter who handed me a menu. Being in Newfoundland I felt some kind of fish was the right choice and grabbed the Halibut. With a tasty soup to warm me up, the main entree soon arrived and I proceeded to chow down. They finished off by serving me a partridge berry pudding with a rum sauce for desert. It was all so delicious. There is a certain feeling you get once you’ve had a good meal, it’s like a high, elevating your mood to a cheerful place and that’s how I returned to my car, happy and fulfilled.
With the last light of the day disappearing over the watery horizon I found a campsite and called it a day.
