LOCALadk Magazine

46 Fall 2018 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk When we told people that our next adventure was trek- king around Newfoundland, many of them asked, " Where is that again? " or " Why Newfoundland? " Before the trip, our best answer was something along the lines of, " Well, we've seen some pretty amazing photos." Now, though, we can wholeheartedly say that Newfoundland is a place to discover natural wonders, explore rugged coastal trails, meet some of the nicest people you'll ever encounter in your travels, and wrap yourself up in a culture with a fun Irish influence and a histor y that includes the early Vikings. Newfoundland is a large island off the coast of the Cana- dian mainland. Along with Labrador, it is Canada's most east- erly province. Being an island surrounded by craggy coastal shorelines and hosting the northernmost portion of the Ca- nadian Appalachian Mountains, Newfoundland is fondly re- ferred to by locals as "The Rock." Our 10 -day journey around The Rock began on May 25th in the capital city of St. John's. Arriving to some cool weath- er, we decided to set up our tent at Pippy Park Campground, then head into town to enjoy poutine, seafood chowder, and a few brews at Yellowbelly Brewer y: a great way to kick off our Canadian adventure! Bonavista Peninsula The next morning, we woke up to a slushy snow on the tent. Having left temperatures in the 80s back home in New York, snow was a bit of a rude awakening, but we were prepared for all varieties of weather. The day started with brunch at Mallard Cottage, a highly raved-about spot in the St. John's neighborhood of Quidi Vidi. The brunch menu was extensive, but we finally settled on breakfast sandwiches, accompanied by excellent coffee and a sampling from the dessert table full of delectable goodies to-go, including massive cinnamon buns, peanut butter cookies, and chocolate fudge brownies. We then started out from St. John's toward Trinity and Port Rexton, where a tiny house we found on AirBnB would be our home base for the next two nights. Later that evening, we hiked the Sker wink Trail, one of the most popular coastal trails in Newfoundland. The Sker wink Trail skirts Sker wink Head, a rocky peninsula that separates Trinity's harbor from Port Rexton's. Sights included sea stacks, arches, lighthous- es, and some pleasant pebble beaches. Evan may have also had his first moose sighting along the trail too, but we'll nev- er know if his eyes were just playing tricks on him. After a dr y and warm night in the tiny yellow house, our first stop the following morning was Elliston, the self-de- clared "root cellar capital of the world." We scoped out a few public root cellars that were once used for the storage of root vegetables like potatoes and carrots, and then made our way to the puffin viewing site. A quick trail leads to the edge of a cliff that overlooks a little island where there are hundreds of nesting puffins. We spent a good hour just sit- ting cliffside and watching the puffins pop in and out of their burrows or fly off to go fishing. We continued the drive around the peninsula, stopping

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