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16 | THE COLONY NEWS | SEPTEMBER 2022 | SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS By Kathy Sullivan I can unequivocally testify that Newfoundland is one of the most beautiful and diverse places on earth. Not only is the land beautiful, so are the people. Travel brochures truthfully say they are the friendliest people on earth. My trip started at the northeast point of Nova Scotia, where I, along with drivers of 29 other Pleasure Way Camper Vans, lined up at 9 pm to take the eight-hour ferry to Newfoundland. This ferry is so huge it not only held hundreds of cars and vans, but also 43 big rigs! And especially nice were its cabins, so we could get a good night's sleep. The underlying reason I went to Canada was to join this caravan through Newfoundland. We were given times to be at certain destinations and then left on our own to get there, giving people like me the fun of exploration. I traveled many back roads and found little gems like the foggy fishing village with an aging boardwalk, and this fishing shack surrounded with flowers on a lovely beach. I even saw an errant iceberg who came to visit from Greenland. One of our planned visits was to the Tablelands. In California, we are familiar with the Ring of Fire and the resulting earthquakes. Newfoundland had one of the most turbulent clashings of the continental plates in history. Not only did the plates collide, but the Atlantic Plate rose over the continental plate for miles and hundreds of feet deep, bringing along the crust and the mantle underneath. This area gives people a chance to actually walk on land from the center of the earth. The land is over 500,000 years old and still nothing of substance grows on it. The next day, we went to West Brook Pond for a lake tour. First, it is a two-mile walk to get to the lake, and another two-mile walk to get home. But it is an easy walk – and worth every step! Think about what it would look like if they flooded Yosemite Valley and you could tour it on a boat. Just like Yosemite, West Brook Pond has towering rock cliffs with scattered waterfalls and green forest all around. I want to talk a little bit more about the Newfies. We all remember 9/11 and the terror that went with it. One of the beacons of light in that disaster was a little town named Gander. The planes heading to the U.S. that were past the point of no return were diverted to tiny Gander. That day 10,000 residents took in 7,000 travelers and fed them and found beds for them and cared for them for five days. The Newfies are very proud of their Norse heritage. In fact, the first Viking settlement pre-dated Columbus by 500 years. The first European baby was born in Newfoundland. I saw and did so much more but there just isn't room to put it all down here. My last photo epitomizes the character of the Newfies. It is a simple photo with lots of color, just a picnic table sitting by the side of the road overlooking a lovely bay. Everywhere I went, even on little dirt roads, there would be brightly colored Adirondack chairs or picnic tables so people could just stop for a time to immerse themselves in the pure beauty of the countryside. After Nova Scotia, I crossed the 14 km bridge into Prince Edward Island (PEI). Growing up, many of us as girls read and loved Anne of Green Gables, which was set in PEI. What a beautiful, serene island. Most of the island is red sandstone, so there are many miles of pink sand beaches. Also, the island is famous for its potatoes and for hay fields fenced in by the forest. New Brunswick's Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world. Whole bays are only mud and with boats high and dry twice a day. The flowerpot rocks show how high the tides can be. In this area, the tide difference can be 48 feet or almost to the top of the rocks. One of my favorite places is Peggy Cove in Nova Scotia. This was the cutest small fishing village I saw on this trip. I love Canada and I loved that I could buy a Canadian dollar for 70 to 80 US cents, which almost made up for the cost of their gas. The country is beautiful, the people are so friendly, but their roads are terrible — patches on patches, but I got used to driving like I was traversing an obstacle course. I am so glad that I took the long drive to get there. Newfoundland, Canada This will be the last Sullivan's Travels that will be printed in The Colony News. Thank you to Kathy for sharing the tales of her journeys accompanied by so many beautiful photos. We have truly enjoyed your articles.