Oh Canada! June 7th, Cartwright, Labrador to Port Hope Simpson, Labrador

Day 10 Thursday, June 7^th

After gassing up, we said goodbye to the friendly folks at the Cartwright Hotel and hit the road again – destination Port Hope Simpson, Labrador.

John next to an Inukshuk at the Cartwright Hotel.

At about the same stretch of road where we saw two bear coming in to Cartwright two days before, we saw two bear again - about 30 miles west of town.  We wonder if it was the same two individuals – perhaps siblings from last year.  We’ll never know, but we were able to get some pictures of them this time.  yea!  One was going back and forth across the road in front of us, just sniffing at the road.  Sort of like Smokey, except this fellow was a prowlin’ and a growlin’ and a sniffin’ the dirt. 

These were all taken through the windshield.

The other fellow just sort of glared at us as if to say, 'Take your bloody picture and go away!'

It was a very nice day – again – man, we’ve been soooo lucky – and we got to Port Hope Simpson in a few hour’s time.

The only thing to mar our drive was the receipt of our first big ding in the windshield.  We were thinking ourselves pretty fortunate to have made it so far across Labrador without incident when a big semi came barreling by and SPINK!  Alas for our windshield.  Could have been worse, but it did leave a nice little spider crack.

Here are a few pictures from our day on the road.  

This roadside memorial, made of brass, we believe, probably honored someone who worked on the road.

They're hard to make out, but I think I've ID'd these three guys as Ringnecked Ducks.  They are diving ducks and I'd never seen them in the wild before.  Cool, eh?

Typical of our view this day.  Broad gently sloping terrain with low conifers. And the ever present gravel road.

We began to see these rough wooden sleds along the sides of the road.  They are used to haul firewood from the woods in the winter when snowmobiles can traverse the landscape.  Folks just leave them on the sides of the road till they are needed the next season, and nobody bothers them.

And of course I can't keep from taking pictures of the flowers.  These I captured while out taking a pee break.

Our destination for the day was the Alexis Hotel on the Alexis River.  When we got to the reception desk, I noticed right away that the countertop was made with polished Labradorite tiles roughly 12 inches square.  It was GORgeous!  The lady who owns the hotel, Margaret, was kind enough to find for me the name of the place where I can try to order some tiles.  They’d make a beautiful top for an occasional table or coffee table.  The stone just sparkles and blinks at you.  Lovely stuff.

Here's what we saw outside the hotel.

After checking in, we stopped at P&K Sports and Automotive for something, I forget just what, but we unexpectedly found a good assortment of Labradorite items.  Chris was all agog and bought several for gifts and for herself too.  : - D

Chris next to a large Inukshuk outside P&K Sports and Automotive.

Point of interest:
The Inukshuk -
According to Frommer's guide to LB and NL, Inukshuk are products of the Inuit, one of the many early inhabitants of the 'North Coast'.  Inukshuk is an Inuit word meaning 'in the image of man'.  The figures served as signposts to mark the way across barren land.  They symbolize friendship, caring and a sense of community.

Taking a drive around town, we found a rough quarry road and followed it up the hillside where we got this beautiful view of Gilbert Bay and Port Hope Simpson.

For lunch we parked on the Port Hope Simpson public wharf, ate from the cooler and took these pictures of stacks of crab baskets. Crabbing has helped replace cod fishing in these parts.

Will you look at the color of that sky already?  Wow!

We also learned that this bay, Gilbert Bay, is a protected area for a special species of Cod known as Golden Cod.

This close up tells you about the protected area, but also shows where we are in relation to the world.  The map inset at left shows, in yellow, Labrador and below it the island of Newfoundland.  The grey area is Quebec and the white the Atlantic Ocean.  We are at the point where it's marked Gilbert Bay.

We were told by folks in Cartwright that President George H.W. Bush stayed at the Alexis Hotel when he went to Labrador for hunting or fishing.  And that was confirmed by pictures we saw when we got there.  I tried to get John to spring for their suite so we could say we’d stayed in the same room as President Bush, but no dice.  Ah well.

As it was, our room was very nice with a decent view of the river.  Chris luxuriated in the bath for a while and warmed her road weary bones and soaked her dusty hide. 

The only downside to the place is that the walls must be made of plywood.  Every noise carried.  Fortunately people didn’t stay up toooo late, so Chris was able to get a few hours of sleep at least.  Fortunately, John wasn’t bothered by it. Zzzzzzzzzzz.

Point of interest:

The story of former President Sr. Bush's stay went on to say that when the bush pilot dropped the former President and his entourage at their site in the bush, the Sr. Mr. Bush stepped onto a thick mat of spongy moss and ‘disappeared from view’!    His secret service fellows blanched (what?  Did they think he was abducted by aliens?), ran toward the spot and were able to pull him up out of the tundra.  The story goes that the bush pilot was laughing his head off the whole time. 

Truth?  Or Tall Tale?