Location Taken: Trout River, Newfoundland
Time Taken: July 2012
One of the odd features all over Newfoundland is the colorful buildings. Heck, St. John’s is so packed with colorful row houses that you can buy “Jellybean Row” souveniers even all the way on the other side of the island.
Which, actually, is where this photo was taken.
Trout River is a small fishing town right by Gros Morne National Park on the western coast. There’s actually a lot of small towns in amongst the park, in chunks cut out of the park border. They were there first, after all, and they do provide a good place for visitors to shop and get food. Both of which we did here.
There’s a small general store right by the beach, Hans’ Confectionary. Didn’t have too much of the sweets and pastries I think of when I hear “Confectionary”, but they were well stocked with just about everything else that could fit. Groceries, lottery tickets, beer, gloves, hardware, lightbulbs, bedsheets, just about everything you’d truly need in life. All packed into a 15’x50′ (or so) building. It was awesome!
Dinner was awesome too, at the aptly named Seaside Restaurant. The fish was so fresh I suspect it came off the boat I saw sailing in as we ordered. And my goodness, does freshness make a difference for fish! I tend not to care for cooked fish since it’s flavorless to me (except for a few species like catfish), but the small bits I snitched off of the other people’s meal were delicious. Me, I’d ordered the shrimp, which were marvelous.
And we got a great view of these colorful little sheds on the far side of the harbor too. Plus we got to watch the bands of clouds roll in and out, and even got a bit of a lovely sunset.
…You know, that’s probably why they can have such colorful siding on their buildings. Most places, the sun bleaches the color to pastel before long. It’s such a strong problem that you can’t even easily buy colorful siding. But well, Newfoundland isn’t exactly known for sun. It’s more along the lines of cloudy and rainy.
No wonder I want to move there. Interesting buildings AND my kind of weather!
