Gander

Yesterday, I spent several hours exploring the town of Gander. 

My favorite display at the museum was the letters written after the "Come from Away" experience. 

                                                   

The Gander Airport was built in 1959 as a world class airport where most flights between the US & Europe stopped to refuel. A few short years later, with the arrival of the jet age, these refueling stops were no longer necessary, so the traffic here plummeted dramatically. As a result, the airport has not been replaced & is a sort of time capsule. There is a neat exhibit showing some of the furnishings used over the years. And the bar still has some retro furniture in use.










Aviation is definitely the major theme around town. There are a number of these statues.



Come from Away: I'd known the "Come from Away" story, & found it quite incredible. However, after meeting so many Newfies, I now look at that story, & say, "Of course the Newfies reacted the way they did." Yes, it's amazing, but just what one would expect from these lovely, can-do folks.
 
There are also a number of signs in front of public buildings describing aspects of the "Come from Away" experience. 

   


The town park is full of monuments to various aviation-related historical events. 



Last night, I camped at the Aviation Museum right beside an old Canadian Air Force plane. 


Today, I got a hair cut, filled a propane tank, bought some groceries, did some laundry, & moved a short distance to Terra Nova National Park.









































 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

boat tour to wildlife & glaciers

Image
I can now die a happy woman! The boat trip was fantastic in every way. (Major Marine 8.5 hour tour on Orca Song from Seward to the Northwestern Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park) We saw SO MUCH wildlife, including several rare sightings & behaviors.  Here is the first of 3 sea otters we saw.  This is the sea cave & rocks where we got very close to see sea stars & jelly fish - many, many of each.  A dozen Dall's porpoises swam & played near our boat for a while. They swam so fast that they were hard to photograph, but we saw each one many times. This group of Stellar's sea lions is typical of what one sees in Alaska, that is no babies, just a group of adults hauled up on shore.   Though humpback whales are often seen in this area, they are mostly seen alone or perhaps a mom & baby. Not only did we see a whole pod, we saw them engage in what is called bubble net feeding. Many pods around the world do not engage in this type of feeding. There are...
Read more

Alaska!

Image
Top-of-the-World Highway This road runs from Dawson City in the Yukon into Alaska. The 110-mile drive today was a dirt road with the exception of a 9-mile long paved stretch in the middle - seems odd to have a short paved stretch in the middle of a long dirt highway.  arrived in Alaska! I've wanted to come to Alaska since I was 14. My day trip to Skagway last week was to a small corner of Alaska, but that corner isn't connected to this main part of the state, so this feels like my official arrival.                                         Chicken, Alaska Apparently, the original residents here wanted to name the town after a chicken-like bird called a ptarmigan. However, they couldn't agree on how to spell that, so they compromised on "Chicken". It became a small town when the Pedro Dredge (now a National Historic Site) was set up here to dig for gold. Besides a few crazy tourists who...
Read more

Gros Morne: Trout River area

Image
Exploring this little town, I first walked up a headland to the lighthouse; the old lighthouse was charming, but, like many, it's been replaced by a functional red & white modern little tower.                                    Then, I walked up the headland on the other end of town. A late lunch of pickled herring with onions & sour cream along with a bowl of Newfoundland pea soup (split pea soup pureed with lots of carrots & potatoes) topped off my visit. Adirondack chairs are quite popular here, & many folks have their own version.                                  After returning from my hike yesterday, I was wiped out. The walk was only 4K & not too steep, so I couldn't figure it out. Then, in the evening, I developed a throat tickle that I just couldn't shake - kept me awake for hours. It h...
Read more