How I Spent My Summer Vacation

by Ben Robicheau ~ brobicheau@cogeco.ca
This past summer we decided to take a trip to Labrador. I have always wanted to visit some of Canada’s more remote parts and this seemed like a good place to start. Labrador has always had a certain appeal to me, possibly because my father spent several months there at the beginning of the Second World War building the airport at Happy Valley-Goose Bay. His stories about life in Labrador at that time made it seem like a wild and remote corner of the world.
I had read stories posted on the Internet by people who had travelled through Quebec and Labrador. Most of them made it seem like things hadn’t changed much since WWII. They warned of rough roads, punctured tires, a scarcity of gas stations and accommodations, miles and miles of nothing but dust and gravel, and most of all, vast clouds of blackflies. For some reason, my wife wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of driving a thousand kilometres on dirt roads through mostly deserted wilderness while facing the possibility of being eaten alive by insects.
While considering whether to do this trip, it was brought to my attention that the 2008 Westports Of the World convention was to be held in Westport, Newfoundland. This clinched it; Randi and I registered for the convention and I began to organise the trip. The plan was to head east from Ontario, follow the north shore of the St. Lawrence River to Baie-Comeau, drive north 600 Km. to Labrador City, then another 520 Km. to Goose Bay. The road isn’t continuous through Labrador so at Goose Bay you have to take a twelve-hour ferry ride to Cartwright to re-connect to the section that lies along the Labrador Straits across from Newfoundland. It’s then 410 Km to Blanc-Sablon where you catch the ferry across the Straits to the island of Newfoundland.
After studying various maps and ferry schedules, we decided that a week should be enough time to make our way through Quebec and Labrador. This would allow us to explore L’Anse Au Meadows and Gros Morne on the west coast of Newfoundland, and make it to Westport in time to register for the conference. After W.O.W. was over, we would take the ferry from Port aux Basques to N.S. and then head back to Ontario.
We had been on the road only a couple of hours when Randi found a major flaw in the plan. I had neglected to make a reservation on the Goose Bay to Cartwright ferry. I told her I doubted we needed one, it was early in the tourist season and with gas prices at an all-time high, the news was full of stories about how no one was travelling this year so getting on the ferry shouldn’t be a problem. Despite my reassurances, and since the whole trip revolved around us being able to get on this ferry, Randi called just to be sure and was informed that the ferry was booked up into the next week. After a brief but spirited discussion about my abilities as a trip planner, we decided to do our trip in reverse; to N.S. first, then to Nfld., then out through Labrador and Quebec.
After confirming reservations on every ferry we would need to take, we had a leisurely drive to Cape Breton, arriving in Sidney the recommended one hour before loading only to be informed that the ferry was delayed. We spent the next few hours sitting in line in the blazing sun listening to the kids in the next vehicle blast Rap music while shouting at their little dog to stop yapping at everyone in sight. We finally departed four hours late, which got us to Nfld. around three-thirty in the morning. We had reserved a motel room in Port aux Basques and would be charged for it anyway, so we, along with a long line of other passengers, checked in. After a short sleep, we checked out again and started for Deer Lake where we met up with Mom, Dad, Joyce, Wally and Ben.
The next morning we parted company. Randi and I were on our way to L’Anse au Meadows and everyone else was off to Gros Morne Park. L’Anse au Meadows, at the end of the Northern Penninsula, is a very small and isolated fishing village that probably wouldn’t be known outside of the province except for the fact that it is the location of a World Heritage Site, the only Viking settlement in North America. The first thing we saw upon our arrival in town was an iceberg in the harbour, it had arrived in January and was still there in July.
The reconstruction of the Viking Village gives you a very good impression of what it must have been like for those early settlers who spent the winter surviving off the land in their sod huts. After an interesting and educational morning, we set off back down the coast to meet up with the family again in Gros Morne Park at an old hospital that had been turned into a hostel. The next morning we drove out to Long Pond, this is the "fjord" that is featured in many advertisements for Gros Morne. It is actually a lake, no longer connected to the sea, although it was at one point back in time. It is a forty-five minute walk in to the lake, then an impressive three hour boat ride between the mountains to the head of the lake and back. I would recommend that anyone who has the opportunity to visit this part of Canada visit both L’Anse au Meadows and Gros Morne, they are well worth the time.
After walking back out from Long Pond, we got in the car again for a three-hour trip to the W.O.W. convention. Westport, Nfld. is a lot like Westport, N.S., it’s a small fishing village that has been badly hurt by the downturn in the fishery. It’s not easy to get to, being near the end of a long dead end road. Many of the men in this and other near-by villages regularly travel back and forth to Alberta, earning money there while keeping hope alive that they will be able eventually to return to live on the Island. Several empty houses were pointed out to us where people had given up hope of returning and had moved west permanently.
The convention visitors were all billeted with local people and I was thinking we might get some traditional Newfoundland meals like fish and brewis, or maybe even seal flipper pie. Our host turned out to be a lovely gentleman named John Harrill, a summer resident from North Carolina. Our welcoming meal was a traditional meal all right, just not of this place. John had brought his special herbs and spices with him and we were presented with a big platter of very delicious southern fried chicken. Although not what I was expecting, it was probably the best chicken I’ve ever eaten.
The rest of the week-end in Westport was a lot of fun, there were events every night at the firehall which involved wonderful food, dancing and great local music. During the day we went on walking tours of the town and a bus tour to a neighbouring cove where ladies in period costume made bread and baked beans for us in an outdoor oven. There was a concert at the ball field which involved a mass "screech-in" making all of us honorary Newfoundlanders. Randi and I, Wally, Joyce and Ben even got a personal tour of the surrounding area by the mayor of Westport.
On Sunday morning we had to leave early to catch the ferry to Labrador. According to the rest of the family we missed a very pleasant boat tour of the harbour which included the sighting of several whales; yet another similarity between the two Westports.
Finally, after a two-hour trip across the Strait, we were in Labrador, well, not quite, the ferry docks on the Quebec side of the border, so we had to drive for a few minutes before we saw the big blue "Welcome to Labrador" sign. Our first night in Labrador was spent at a B&B in the tiny community of L’Anse Amour which has only three families and eight residents, all Davises. The next morning we headed out to catch the ferry from Cartwright, an overnight trip up Lake Melville, which isn’t a lake at all but a 120 Km long inlet from the Labrador Sea. Early the next morning we had breakfast in Goose Bay, at a little restaurant that had Mooseburgers and Caribou steak on the menu.
Now we were into the serious driving. Six hours on the dusty gravel road got us to Churchill Falls where we toured the massive hydro power project that is carved into a solid granite mountain. Then another couple of hours to Labrador City where we intended to spend the night, but once again, we neglected to book ahead assuming that it would not be a problem. Little did we know that there was a new mine about to open and there was a housing shortage in the Labrador City area, resulting in most of the hotel and motel rooms being taken by the new miners. The first vacancy we could find was just across the border in Quebec at a town called Fermont. Owned entirely by a mining company, it had a huge development in the centre of town consisting of a mall, a large apartment complex, a hotel and an arena, all attached to each other. A resident could live most of their daily life without ever going outside, beneficial in the winter to avoid the cold and in the summer to avoid the blackflies.
The next morning we embarked on our longest day, the next community of any size was Baie-Comeau, nearly twelve hours away on roads that were gradually getting worse. After a couple of hours on the road, we were admiring the unending view of rolling hills and beautiful lakes when the dirt road suddenly turned to a paved, two lane boulevard with a grassed centre divider. On one side of the street was a sidewalk and on the other were gaps in the concrete curb for driveways, but there was not a house in sight. Gagnon is a ghost town, it was once a thriving mining community, but when the mine closed the company picked up all the buildings and moved them somewhere else. Later that day we reached Manic-5, one of a series of power dams built on the edge of a huge natural reservoir created when a meteorite crashed into the Canadian Shield. We gassed up here and paid $1.66/Liter, the highest price of the whole trip. Finally, just as I had all I could take of dirt roads, we hit pavement again about 100 Km before Baie-Comeau and felt like we were back in civilisation again. After a quick tour of Brian Mulroney’s hometown, we headed for our own home, appreciating paved roads and availability of services like never before.