BAKED GOODS, CARIBOU, AND FOXES.
Day 136 – The low temperature was 57 degrees last night; big difference from the low 40’s up north the previous night. This morning, it was still fairly windy, but less so than yesterday and last night. The girls are enjoying the sun on the dashboard.
Last night when the campground host came to collect the camping fee, he mentioned that they have Moose across the road and near the trees from the Visitor’s Center at sunset almost every night. Tonight we’ll go there to see whether this was another “moose story”. And of course, today we’ll do our Caribou watching trip, too.
This morning we went into town to The Bakery. They are only open to the public on Saturdays. We got there about 20 minutes after they opened and already the small parking lot was full and several vehicles had parked across the street. We got in line and watched as our favorite Cinnamon Sticky Buns were selling out. Oh no! Never fear, when we got to first place in line and asked if they had more, she reached behind her and pulled a dozen for us from a large bin. We also bought 2 Carrot Cake Muffins, 2 Chocolate Chip Cookies, and a dozen of the smaller Chocolate Peanut Butter Sticks. (Mark T., wish you were here! LOL.) We’d emptied a shelf in the freezer in the RV, so we had plenty of room for our desserts. Can’t wait until after dinner tonight! (Speaking of dinner, today we are cooking up a batch of Linguini and covering it in a Creamy Sauce with Garlic and Lobster. Mouth watering yet?)
It was a nice day, but very windy again. Later this afternoon we went to the Lighthouse area to see if any Caribou were out and about. Eight to ten were feeding in the distance, and Rob hiked out to take pictures with the zoom lens. Too windy for me and I wouldn’t be able to see that much without a closer lens or binoculars, so I stayed in the car. Rob got some pictures and walked back to the car against the wind, no easy task.
ABOUT CARIBOU: “Standing 1.5 meters (5 feet) at the shoulder, caribou have adapted perfectly to the harsh arctic climate of Newfoundland and Labrador. They weigh up to 150 kilograms (330 pounds) and are the only member of the deer family in which both sexes grow antlers. The only region of Atlantic Canada where caribou are present is in Newfoundland and Labrador. More than twelve herds roam the Island and are most plentiful in the Avalon Wilderness Reserve and across the Great Northern Peninsula. Four caribou herds inhabit Labrador, the most famous of which is the George River herd. Its 500,000+ caribou migrate east from Quebec in late spring to calve in the Torngat Mountains. This calving ground is currently under consideration for a national park.” from Moon Handbooks, Atlantic Canada, 5th Edition, 2009 Note: This area in Labrador did become a National Park in 2008.
Around 8 p.m. we drove back out the the lighthouse area and looked for Moose near the Visitor’s Center. We did not see Moose but in the distance, we did see the herd of Caribou grazing in a field near the ocean. We drove the lighthouse road back and forth a couple of times, and each time we saw beautiful Foxes. Evening must be when they come out to hunt. The high temperature today was 66 degrees.
Fresh baked goods……Yum!