Port aux Choix, St. Barbe, and Labrador (July 15 and 16)

 From Arches Provincial Park we continued north toward St. Barbe. It was not a long drive, so we took our time and made a stop along the way. Port aux Choix is a Canadian National Historic Site. Indigenous people lived here many years ago. The museum was interesting, but small. The area included a lighthouse and several trails along the shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This lighthouse was one of the few tall ones we have seen on this trip. Yes, it was a cloudy, wet day.

 All Canada National Parks have red adirondack chairs placed where there is a good view. I like to sit in them and take in my surroundings, but these were just too wet!

 As we walked along the trail, we saw many small plants growing in very rocky conditions. The harebells were growing in the rocks everywhere we looked.

 

 My favorites were these white wispy plants, mountain avens. They appear to be little moustaches for Yosemite Sam or miniature wigs for Einstein! This is their seed form, prior to seeding, they look like small very small daisies.

 

 As we continued our hike along the shore, I spotted a Minke whale! It surfaced several times, but neither Bob nor I could get a picture!

From Port aux Choix we continued to St. Barbe. Since we arrived early in the afternoon, we drove around exploring the area. 

We found a trail named White Rocks Trail. True to its name, the area was covered with white rocks!

As we were driving back to the campground, we spotted a light house so we made a detour to get close to it. Unfortunately, it was on an island and we only saw it from afar...Flowers Cove Lighthouse.

The following morning, we left Sol in the campground and drove the car to catch the ferry to Labrador, well, technically, the ferry landed in Quebec...

 

...and THEN we drove north into Labrador.

 

 It was a very foggy day, so we couldn't see much and our time was limited. We drove north to Red Bay National Historic Site. There was a small museum filled with information about early settlers. There was a boat trip to an island with a trail, but the boat only operated on the hour and we didn't have enough time to do that before we had to be back at the ferry.

 And then as we were looking for a geocache, we spotted Connie! She and Larry arrived in Labrador the previous evening and were returning on the same ferry as us. We decided to meet them fora quick lunch before boarding the ferry. Long story short, lunch was not quick., our waitress was very slow....No, it wasn't due to the crowd in the restaurant, we were the only diners for quite a while after we arrived. The clock was ticking and we didn't want to be late for the ferry. After eating, we quickly paid our bill and left. When we arrived, at the ferry we got in the wrong lane.....when we realized our mistake, we changed to the correct lane where we were turned away because we were late...2 minutes! It was back to the office to be put on standby...we were number 58 (Larry and Connie were also late)! Since there were fires near Labrador City everyone there was being evacuated to L'Anse au Clair, Labrador and Sabon Blanc, Quebec, so no hotel rooms were available . Plan B, sleep in the car, hoping to get on the ferry the next morning.. We were told that it could be 4 days before we got on the ferry

~~ SIGH ~~

..Fortunately, after about two hours of waiting, another ferry was added to the schedule for that night! Everyone who was on standby, plus some truckers who waiting for the morning ferry were able to board the ferry back to Newfoundland. What a FIASCO, but one with a happy ending!