Gander, Newfoundland

I have nothing very positive to say about Gander. It is a crummy town with not much to recommend...except a walk around Cobb's Pond (shown above). I'm sure there are some redeeming features but we never found them.

Some of the countryside around Gander is beautiful though and if you want to see it you may need to stay in Gander. We stayed at the Comfort Inn and, in reality, it was pretty comfortable. Good size room, nice bed. Toilet worked.

Next door was a Jungle Jim's restaurant. For $10.00 a day you can see your ass get real big...!!!

Gander is 130 miles from St. John's but, for some reason, it's the best part of four hours to get there. It's an easy drive though on the Trans Canada Highway.

After the two planes crashed into the World Trade Towers on 9 - 11 many airplanes were diverted to the Gander airport because just about all American and Canadian airspace was closed. 42 flights landed in Gander and 6,600 people were required to stay in Gander - some up to six days. Apparently there's a popular musical play running on Broadway right at this moment called "Come From Away" which tells the story of that event.

So the first thing I like to do when entering a new geographical region is to try their local beer. The Iceberg beer I had at a small diner on the way to Gander wasn't bad but I have to be honest and say it wasn't very good either. The statement "made with pure 20,000 year old iceberg water" is a bit suspect too. Anyway, it was the only beer they had except for the disgusting Molson's and Labatt's products.

So this was our motel room in Gander...not a lot of choices and Terri thought this was the best place. In reality it wasn't so bad...the bed was comfortable and the bathroom had been modernized recently.

And such a lovely view from the window.

So on the way to Gander we made a few stops and this was taken in the lovely village of Salvage. This is typical of the little villages we saw...a few houses spread apart, maybe a convenience store, always a liquor store and usually attached to a gas station. Maybe drinking and driving here is the norm.

And this fine bit of work had to be recorded. The construction of the stairs seems to be okay - the carpenter somehow just didn't consider everything when attaching the stairs to the house.

Another funky village near Gander. Don't recall the name of this one.

The next day we did four short hikes. The day started out foggy and drizzly but improved by noon. The first hike was pretty much just a walk through the woods.