L'Anse aux Meadows

Hundreds of years ago, long before the Spanish explorers, Vikings settled on the northern tip of Newfoundland at a place called L'Anse aux Meadows. The long day exploring this place started in Labrador with plans to take the 8 AM ferry from Labrador back to Newfoundland. I got up really early (5 AM) so that I could drive back to the ferry – a 45 minute drive – and get there 2 hours before the ferry left, hopefully securing a spot on that crossing. But I had misread the ferry schedule – the 8 AM ferry left from Newfoundland to go to Labrador, and the one going my way left at 6 AM.  It was pretty much loaded by the time I got there, but luck was with me and there was one spot left for a vehicle my size. No waiting this time!

The view of the site from the visitor center

By the time I got to L'Anse aux Meadows the rain had stopped, although the sun had not come out, and it was pretty windy. It was a fascinating place to explore – there was a reconstructed long house plus 3 other buildings. They were constructed of bricks of sod, whose closely interwoven root system kept the logs together.  I couldn't tell how thick the walls were, but they seemed to be at least 18" thick, maybe more. The long house had 3 rooms, and there was a fire going in each one (and it was most welcome, too!). Costumed interpreters lounged on the benches along the walls, and they really looked the part!

One of three doors

Front of long house

Those benches seemed to be the place where people sat, where they stored things, where they slept, and where they did their work.  They were more like boxes, about 2 feet off the ground, built in to the walls, and although I couldn't see it, I'm sure the tops lifted up to provide storage inside the boxes. The roofs were narrow-diameter branches leading up to a roof beam, and on top of all that was dirt and more sod.  There were rafters going across the building, and there was stuff stored across the rafters in some places. There were even some little cubby holes that looked like sleeping cabinets (not sure what else to call them, they were so small). It wasn't smoky inside, although I had expected it to be. Perhaps that was because they were burning dry wood (not sure where they got it, there didn't seem to be forests anywhere near).

Interpreter

This man really looked the part!

Inside the long house -- sod walls

Driving into the site I encountered the most amazing views of the ocean and cliffs and islands around them.  There are no pulloffs, no places where you can safely go to the side of the road to take a photo, so these were taken

Beautiful roadside view

through my windshield (I had stopped in the middle of the road – no cars were coming!).

On the road coming in to L'Anse aux Meadows

After leaving there, I drove back toward Gros Morne park to find a campground for the night – another beauty right on a river with huge sites, and not many people camped there.

From there, I drove to the center of the island of Newfoundland to a fairly major city (McDonalds, lots of car dealers, fairly big hospital) for a couple of days of taking care of business – you know, laundry, clean sheets, oil change for the car, grocery shopping.  It took two days to get it all done (they don't have jiffy lube here where you just drive up and get in line – you have to make an appointment, which took a couple of days!). But it's done, all is clean, the cooler is full, and I'm back on the road again! And the campground I had there had great wifi!