Gros Morne National Park protects a huge amount of land on the west coast of Newfoundland. We will be staying at four different campsites over the next week. Our first two nights in the park at Tablelands exceeded all expectations. Our next site, Berry Hill, is in the other side of the park and there should be some semblance of a cute old fishing town with some supplies and restaurants.

We awaken and bask in the glory from our hike yesterday. We are also very tired, on our map we spot a National Park Pool. We found one in Fundy Bay and had a good time so we spent the afternoon swimming, afterwards we went to check out the cute town, we ate along the water in the harbor with live music and a fun little crowd. We later noticed a small aquarium that was closed but might be a good plan for tomorrow. We also managed to fit in a small hike up to a waterfall Amy spotted on the map.

The rocks here are completely different from the rocks at Tablelands. Here the land supports life freely and the pine trees cover every inch of forest. We are in another layer of earth that was flipped up, the rocks here will be unlike our last campsite or our next even though it’s all the same park.

On our second day at Berry Hill we went to hike Gros Morne Mountain, the entire trip would be 13 miles so we just decide to see how far we get. The hike has gorgeous views and a couple waterfalls before we tired out. Sitting on top of a boulder on the approach trail about two and a half miles in, we all agree the Aquarium sounds great right about now, we turn back and with nothing to prove, enjoy our chats and walk leisurely down the path we just climbed. The Aquarium is exactly like the one we saw on Vancouver Island at the far other end of Canada. I love this style or Aquarium. They only exhibit things they themselves specifically gathered and everything they catch is returned at the end of the season. This lets you really get a feel for what’s right off the coast of the island. It’s fun to know that all the crabs, sea peach’s, scallops, sand dollars, lobsters, and star fish are right along the coast. We pick the brains of one of the collectors and we find these were all caught along the very beaches and shoreline we will be frequenting for the next week, we need to look harder.

Finding a way to spend individual time with the kids can be hard to come by when the entire family is living in a 14 by 8 foot box for three months. Hikes are surprisingly a great time for one on one time with the kids, which is important to us. Although the family is never spread out far on trail, I might be deep in a conversation with Everest about the universe or his universe when I realize we cruised through several kilometers. Other times I may play I Spy with Maple for fifteen minutes while Amy and the boys are galavanting ahead, Fitz might spend a whole hour with me identifying plants while he asks me to retell old stories he’s heard a thousand times.