Our true destination was Mistaken Point, but first we had to drive through an unexpected stretch of desolate tundra-like flatlands that took our breath away. We pulled over to watch a lone caribou trotting away from the road - it stopped and looked back over its shoulder at us before continuing on its way.
Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve is at the south-east corner of Newfoundland. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to the 550+ million-year-old fossils embedded in the rocks along its coast.
The only way to see them was to join a guided hike through the park. We normally don't sign up for group activities or anything requiring human interaction, but in this case it was totally worth it: our guides were three delightful locals with strong, lilting accents (Lucas, a 30-ish naturalist who is clearly deeply in love with his job; his cousin Jeanine, who came back from studying at Memorial University for a summer job; and Pearl, a sweet and endearing woman who told us all about her kids on the walk back).
We had to take off our boots and put on special booties once we got to the rocks with fossils, which jutted out horizontally over the water. The fossils were preserved in volcanic ash, and are some of the oldest known specimens of complex animal life on the planet. B had studied them in school and was particularly excited to see them in person.
Getting to our accomodations was an adventure in itself, thanks to unexpected miles of gravel roads and potholes large enough to swallow a full-grown bull moose. Today we drove across the entire island (no photos) and are holed up in a funny little cabin in the middle of Gros Morne National Park.
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