Gander and 9-11

After leaving the beautiful Rattling Brook falls behind, we drove back towards a little town called Kings Point.  This was another little fishing village that appeared to be somewhat abandoned, but there was a small gift shop open, so in we went.  This tiny little shop was packed from head to toe with pottery, stained glass, wood working, soapstone carvings, paintings and pastels all of which were made locally.  It was a beautiful little shop.  The two people running the shop were not really all that friendly but we did purchase some items from them.  We had been dying to meet up with some real "Newfies", but these two people had moved to this little place from Toronto.  So perhaps that explained their unfriendliness?  Maybe they are just used to living in a large place!  Anyway, we did see something very interesting in this shop.  There was a stack of small Terracotta pots uniquely stacked in a pyramid shape.  Some of the pots were hand painted while others were left in their natural state.  I am not sure if you can see the fish in this picture.

There was not much else happening in Kings Point, so back to the highway we went and continued our drive to Gander. 

I have to take a moment to tell you about the landscape/terrain of Newfoundland. In Port Aux Basque, there is rugged rocks and very little trees. As you drive north towards Corner Brook, you start to see more trees and flat mountains, almost like table tops. In fact one of the mountain ranges is called Table Mountain and people come from all over to hike up the mountain. The mountains are covered with boulders and short stubby for and spruce trees. Very few deciduous trees. There is virtually no flat farmland. These mountains go right down to the sea in most places.

Gander is a larger community in central Newfoundland with a population of approximately 11,000 This is relatively large as most of the smaller towns along the way have less than 1000 population.  I am not sure if you are aware of the touching story about the Gander community and 9-11 terrorist attacks on America. On the day of 9-11, when all the airports in the USA were so quickly shut down, the flights bound for the USA from Europe had to be diverted.  39 of these rather large airplanes were diverted to the Gander Airport rather than the larger airports in central Canada.  Gander airport has long runways and is usually used as a refuelling spot for trans Atlantic flights.  The airport building is roughly the size of the Abbotsford Airport.  Imagine this building all of a sudden having to take in 6,122 passengers and 473 crew members.  In a few short hours the population of this town increased by 6,559 people!  In the airport would also have been the usual staff plus all of the volunteers who came with food and clothing for these stranded passengers.  This 1960's themed airport was suddenly bursting at the seams!  The kindness the townsfolk gave to these weary and frightened passengers is well documented in the hundreds of letters sent to the town afterwards.  The letters are kept in the Gander Aviation Museum and will bring a tear to your eye as you read them.  Makes me feel proud to be a Canadian!

 

Here is a photo of the inside of the "international" terminal, it is a bit blurry but you can see the 1960's chrome and vinyl chairs, that really are now a retro look!  It truly is stuck in the 60's era!

 

 

We spent a night at a wonderful B&B called Inn on Bedford.  It was run by a very lovely Newie couple.  The woman, was hilarious with her funny stories of the area.  The guests were entertaining.  One of the guest (Ray his name was) is a retired RCMP member who worked with Andrew Wooding.  His wife (Darlene) is a pediatric nurse at Children's.  In the morning we had a gourmet breakfast fit for kings and the most amazing french toast that I have ever had!  It was soaked in brown sugar and a thin layer of sliced apples and then baked.  On my gosh, it was Amazing!

 

Stay tuned for St John's......