Big Land, Big Fun

View of the Mealy Mountains from North West River.

I took a couple of days off this week as my boyfriend Jordan came down for a visit. It was lovely to have someone to go exploring with and to enjoy the beautiful winter here in Labrador and I was thoroughly sad to see him go. (Not to mention I missed him - I s'pose.)

Jordan and I decked out in some World War One helmets in Northern Lights.

Our first day exploring we got our rental car and explored some of the sites to visit in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. We stopped into my favourite stores - previously mentioned on this blog. In Slippers and Things we drooled over the beautiful crafts and handmade slippers. We explored the small military museum in Northern Lights a store (also known as bullets to bras for its wide selection of items to purchase). We also made a quick stop into Them Days where I showed Jordan the office, archives, and the magazine.

Cable car in North West River.

After a quick lunch we took a drive to North West River where we went for a walk, checked out the local convenience store Groceries and Things and met some interesting people. It was a beautiful albeit chilly day. Unfortunately we were unable to check out the museum as it was snowed in from a storm earlier in the week. We did see the cable car I was told about by my pop who worked as a roofer on some buildings in North West River. He vividly remembered taking the cable car across the river and told us to have a look out for it. We returned to town and finished off our first day in Goose Bay with a deadly feed of wiener schnitzel at Bentley's restaurant.

Medium cheddar cheese, black truffle cheese, devil's rock creamy blue cheese, jalapeno muenster cheese, and ginger cheese! CHEESE OVERLOAD

We decided to pack in as many winter activities as possible because Jordan has been unable to do much of anything in St. John's' slushy winter and because we both love the season. The following day after a breakfast of cheese and crackers we headed out to Birch Brook Nordic Ski Club. The building is beautiful and the trails are excellently maintained. They were a bit more of a challenge than the cross country trails in Pippy Park or on Three Pond Barrens! It was an excellent ski and was topped off by a hot chocolate and chat with two of the people responsible for starting and maintaining the club. We headed back to Goose Bay for a potluck at my boss Aimee and her boyfriend John's house. The potluck was in celebration of the end of February and the end of the health challenge several co-workers and spouses completed. We didn't win the challenge but we had a great and healthy meal with friends and had a lot of fun trying to meditate for extra health challenge points.

Skiing selfie at Birch Brook.

Jordan borrowed John's snowshoes and I brought my pair with me so we started Monday off with a snowshoe on Birch Island. The island was inhibited until resettlement in the 1960s and is a beautiful spot for a walk. It is so calm and peaceful you really don't feel like you are minutes from Goose Bay.

The view on our snowshoe adventure.

Snowshoeing at Birch Island.

Monday afternoon we went dog sledding with Northern Lights. It is nowhere near as fast paced as it looks on TV but it is an excellent way to see the countryside and the dogs keep a steady pace. Jordan and I took turns standing on the back of the slide or sitting in the front. After our ride Scott showed us around the kennel, explained some of the reasons he keeps dogs and the importance of dog sledding in Labrador. He mentioned that there are roughly 60 Labrador Huskies left and he feels it is really important to keep the tradition of dog sledding alive and well in the Big Land.

Northern Lights dog sledding.

Dog sledding fun!

The whole team rearing to go.

After a couple of eventful days we took some downtime to relax, read books, eat good food, and watch bad TV. Jordan flew back to St. John's Wednesday evening so it was a bit of a strange work week as I only worked Thursday and Friday. It is hard to believe that is now the start of the tenth week and I am already over halfway done my work term. I'm excited to head back home but I will definitely miss my time here in Labrador.