Last week we were deciding where to spend a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. We looked at the map, checked out the forecast and set out to King's Point and Rattling Brook, Newfoundland.
These two small towns in Central Newfoundland have a lot to see and do. We will take you along for our little adventure to these two scenic places and show you the various amazing things these towns have to offer.
Sunday morning, we pack up our travel rig with our lunch, various jackets to make sure we are covered for the ever changing Newfoundland weather (if you ever visit here take heed to this advice, it could be raining in front of you and sunny behind you with every season in between) and we set out. From our home in Grand Falls-Windsor, King's Point is about an hour and fifteen minutes away. A nice easy drive. We fire up Cool Jazz on Coast 101.1 FM via their radio app on Kelly's iphone as Colin loves listening to that channel. We make it 20 minutes west of Grand Falls-Windsor, to a small town called Badger.
We cross the bridge over Badger Brook and bingo, Ms. Moose is feeding in the river. She has caught the attention of quite the crowd lined up on the bridge to get some photos of her. Moose are very common on our island and they are around our roads a lot. So, if you ever come this way, take it from someone who has hundreds of thousands of kilometers of driving experience. PLEASE SLOW DOWN IN THE NIGHT. Hitting a moose can be very dangerous.
* Back to our previously scheduled program. *
We hit the road again after grabbing a couple of great photos of the moose and head to Colin's grand parents house at Badger Lake so he could visit them on the way. He loves to visit the lake and does so often. Another 45 minute drive where we see no more wildlife but lots of great Central Newfoundland scenery, we arrive at King's Point.
After arriving, the first place we visit is the Humpback Whale Pavilion. This little place is a must see for everyone of all ages. Inside there is the largest known skeleton of a Humpback Whale in the world. It measures over 18 feet long and is awe inspiring to look at. All around the inside of the building are stations where you learn about the whale, and its connection to King's Point and the surrounding area. There is also a mural of clay plates that local school students created without any direction from others or how these plates would be used after they finished them. The result is an amazing piece of artwork that shows how diverse the King's Point area is. The clay plates themselves, are connected because of the amazing pottery gallery in the town.
Speaking of the pottery gallery, That is our next stop. King's Point Pottery is a delightful little place to spend some time. Even the exterior of the gallery and store is whimsical. When you walk inside it feels like you walk into a time warp. I cannot find words to say how cool this place is. All the products inside are handmade and are locally or semi-locally made. You can find everything from pottery (of course) to jewelry made from the only source of Newfoundland jade. We spent some time looking around and seeing all the wares from the local artists. This place is a MUST SEE.
After leaving the gallery, we decided to sit and eat our picnic lunch on the wharf by the pavilion. They have picnic tables, and a gazebo in case it's raining. We relaxed there and after awhile we hit the road to our next stop.
Approximately 10 minutes driving time outside of King's Point is a small town called Rattling Brook. Aptly named because of the 800 vertical foot waterfall the town is known for. Along the way, we spotted a small iceberg. Newfoundland is world famous for our icebergs. This one was just a very small "growler". A growler is a small iceberg that if a large vessel hit, it would just be a very loud noise and inflict no damage to the ship. After taking a couple of pictures, we were on the way to a small hike up the trail to the numerous viewing platforms along the trail. The trail is a full board walk up to the top viewing platform so its an easy hike. There are, however, quite a few steps so keep that in mind if you ever visit with a person with a disability. About half way up there is a tent platform for the people who would like to stay for a night. A very nice added touch to a very beautiful part of Newfoundland. We got to the top of the trail and the view of the waterfall is amazing. We met a couple from the United States who were in the area (we saw them a few times while in King's Point), and they offered to take a photo of us with the falls in the background. A very nice ending to a great trip.
After we hiked back down to the Jeep, we settled in for a nice relaxing drive home enjoying the scenery and music. See you next time for our next adventure, wherever that is.
Steve, Kelly and Colin!