"The West Coast is the Best Coast"

Today we travelled back across the province from the east coast to the west, which is a seven hour drive along the Trans-Canada Highway. There really aren’t any alternate routes- the majority of central Newfoundland is uninhabited by humans and unimproved except for snowmobile/ATV trails. We broke this drive up on the first part of the trip- staying one night in Corner Brook, then two nights in Twillingate, then one night in Trinity/Port Rexton before landing in St. John’s. It was a long drive to come back to Corner Brook in one shot, but we decided we wanted to spread out our driving days and we’ll be able to stay on the west coast for two nights and just about two full days before we head for the ferry back to Nova Scotia.

 

We left St. John’s under cloudy, damps skies but it didn’t take long for the sun to come out and the temperature to go up, up, up as we moved west. Finally! By the time we arrived in Corner Brook it was in the low 80s with bright sun in a cloudless blue sky. Never saw full sun or temps above the 60s the entire five days of our stay on the Avalon peninsula. We needed to immediately celebrate this weather by going to a local brewery with an outdoor patio.

Then taking a walk along a trail that runs right from the hotel along nearby stream. 

And then by eating dinner at a restaurant with outdoor seating. Note common theme of picnic table and umbrella decor. 

I had delicious local scallops with charred corn and leeks, corn puree and dill. Sooo good!

Corner Brook is the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nations Band government headquarters. It seems like the western side of the island has a more visible indigenous presence than the east, and the Mi’kmaq homelands in Canada include western Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. When we were in Twillingate, Trinity, and even St. John’s the only references I saw were to the Beothuk people who lived until the earliest colonists arrived, were pushed from their homelands, and eventually died out. That’s a familiar narrative that is completely wrong in every context I know about, but I’ll try to find out more information!

We’re staying at the Glynmill Inn in Corner Brook; we also stayed here two years ago as our first stop in Newfoundland. We tried to avoid chain hotels if we weren’t staying long enough to get an Airbnb, and this place has a lot of charm but also modern hotel amenities. A CBC article came out today because the Inn is celebrating its 100^th birthday this month and I learned that it was originally built as housing for the engineers who were building the paper mill in town, then transitioned to a hotel a year later when the mill was completed. The Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Mill is still in operation right in the main part of the town!

The only wish list update for today is that Jen saw a moose while I was driving. I'm gonna count it anyway.