It was only a 4 hour drive north to our campsite in Gros Morne National Park, so we took our time getting packed up in the morning. It was still really hot out, which the ranger told us was highly unusual until recent years. He said that has made the mosquitos worse too, which we can attest to!
The road to Gros Morne was breathtaking! The mountains have kind of flat tops, but they are all covered in trees with rock peeking out in spots. The Gulf of St. Lawrence was on the left, all blue and sparkly. As we got closer, we turned off the Trans-Canada Highway and the road became twisty and a lot more bumpy, but the scenery was even more beautiful.
We arrived at Green Point Campground and got set up. The view from the campsite overlooked the ocean and we could hear the waves crashing on shore. Jeff and I went down to the beach to watch the sunset.
When the sign says bumps, they mean it! Lots of potholes on the island.Countdown on a stop light instead of a flagperson. Stairs from our campsite loop to the rock beach.So many different kinds of rocks!It was still hot and humid when we got there. low tideJeff’s view from the campsite
We stayed at the campground for two nights. During our day in the park, we relaxed in the morning, then explored Port aux Basques and surrounding area. We stopped at a grocery store to get more food and jugs of water. Everyone was so nice. We noticed that all the houses had wooden containers at the end of the driveways, painted all different colors. We couldn’t figure out what they were for, perhaps Amazon deliveries? The slats on one of them was wide enough for us to see garbage bags on the inside and it dawned on us that these were their garbage cans. They look a lot better than the ugly plastic ones we have. They must not have to worry as much about raccoons and bears getting into them.
There are lots of beautiful views of the water and mountains in the distance. We stopped at one place and took lots of photos. When we got back to the campground, we drove the road that continued on to the beach and found a huge sandy beach with huge waves coming in to shore. After walking around and soaking in the sun a bit, we relaxed at the campsite the rest of the night. Carson and I also explored the campground a bit and found the waterfall and also the building with the wifi, LOL.
View from the small bridge in the park. Canadian burnetFireweed This little guy was a continuous visitor to our campsite.A small waterfall in the park. Cute little birdUnfortunately we were not near enough to walk to the beach in the time we had there.A bigger waterfall farther up the creek. Lesser Purple Fringed Orchid (Bog Orchid)We explored the town and stopped at an overlook to go down to the ocean. Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus)Grass-like Starwort (Chickweed)An example of the garbage bins at the end of every driveway.Waves were huge at the beach near the campground. Not too worried about bears. Each campsite had a recycle bin and garbage without lids. When near the ocean, one must try fishy things. There is still lots of room left in the back of the truck. Here is our organizing bins.
We crossed into Canada at Port Huron/Sarnia. This bridge is called the Blue Water Bridge.
The Border Patrol guy took his job very seriously. No smiles or words of welcome, just asked us to declare specific items if we had them.
We didn’t pass right away because we didn’t have the app filled out, so had to go park uner the roof in the distance to get the ArriveCAN app downloaded and the COVID info entered.
Most of the driving in the morning looked like this.
Carson loves, loves, loves Tim Hortons, so we had to stop so he could get his donuts. He has been waiting for Tim Hortons since our last trip to Canada in 2019.
We couldn’t find a parking spot, so at first, this was the only view we thought we would get.
This is the view if you turn your back on the Falls near the American falls end of the block.
We walked to the bus as it pulled up and let some workers off. The driver waved us back to where we were standing, even though no one else was around. Awkward!
The falls is gorgeous and the color of the water amazing.
Carson’s friends wanted him to send a selfie, so here ya go Destination Imagination kids!
We didn’t take the time to take the boat tour, or walk behind the falls. There were long lines for everything here.
Is it Wall Drug? No! Just racks and racks of magnets and keychains with all the names on them.
From inside the main building, which is mostly restaurants and lines for all the paid activities that were available.
The American Falls. Not nearly as impressive compared to Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side.
A cool speckled gull at our bus stop.
Back to the eerily empy parking lot to make some sandwiches for lunch.
Can’t you just see a zombie apocolypse moview being made here? Parking lot after parking lot with just a car in random spots. No people and nothing else a park would normally have available. So creepy!
Heading back into the US-much faster than leaving it.
The boys may not be little anymore, but they still made up a game with the jelly packets while we waited for our food.
We finally found parking at the very last bus stop on this route.
Family selfie!
After the hotel breakfast, we were on our way. Our first adventure of the day was getting into Canada. After the usualy questions about firearms and fruit (we didn’t have either), the very serious border agent wanted to scan the app with all of our COVID vaccine info on it. There is an app? Apparently it is called ArriveCAN and it is required in order to enter Canada. We had all our vaccine cards but had no idea there was an app that we had to upload all of that info to, so the guy had us park to the side after we got over the bridge, download the app and then fill out all of the info it wanted for each one of us. It took forever, until we realized the reason that our phone signals were not strong enough was because they had us park under a huge metal roof. Once I got out of the truck and walked about 10 ft from the roof, things uploaded much faster, and we received the barcode that the border agents scanned and then we were finally on our way.
Our next adventure was Niagara Falls. It took a while to find a place to park because we were pulling the camper and normal parking spots aren’t long enough. We finally found a place in Parking Lot C (in case you needed to know), which looked like an abandoned park full of empty parking lots. Seriously, it would make a great backdrop for an apocolyse movie! But, the shuttle bus did come and pick us up and take us to the Table Rock stop, where we walked around amongst the hordes of people, took some photos of the Falls, and some selfies. Then we took the shuttle bus back to the truck, made some sandwiches, and headed back into the US.
We continued to drive to Utica, NY where we stopped for the night. Tomorrow we are heading through the Green Mountains in Vermont, stopping at the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream factory, and then into the White Mountains in New Hampshire for a few nights of camping. We are looking forward to less roads and people, and more nature in the coming days!
Kline Road Trips 