Usually our family adventures are my own whims with Luke and the kids along for the ride. Luke has rarely ever brought up locations that interest him, though he’s always amenable. One of the few travel ideas he mentioned in passing was probably ten years ago. Little did I know, bringing at least part of his original idea to life would easily become one of our favorite trips we’ve embarked upon. Luke’s initial idea was to fly to St Johns, Newfoundland and drive back to Michigan. Due to the rare occurrence of Luke providing a location of interest, I added St. John’s to my list of top travel locations, though I didn’t pursue the idea until we were looking for a location for our first real adventure after having Rhett. Luke and I have loved every trip we’ve taken to Canada, especially our recent trips to Ottawa and driving through the Yukon, British Columbia, and Alberta. It felt fitting to bring Luke’s trip to life for Rhett’s first trip to Canada. 

I started mulling over how we could tackle Luke’s St. John’s roadtrip with a three year old and a ten month old. I should also add that due to having a full time job and two kids under four I did ALL of this planning while nursing Rhett at 3 AM for the span of a month. Honestly, I had given internal odds of 50/50 that some crazy planning mishap was going to surprise us during the trip. 

Relatively early into planning I encountered some issues that hampered the original design. The first was that to rent a car in St. John’s is borderline impossible. Especially when planning to take the car not only off the island, but also drive it to another country. No matter how I played with different scenarios with various dates, airports, or rental companies, I couldn’t come up with an option that would even give me a price point. Second, we were targeting around ten days, and while we managed that drive coming from Alaska to Michigan, we did not want to push that same pace with having the two kids. My goal was to drive two to four hours a day during nap time to various locations to explore. I should probably preface the term ‘nap time’ since we don’t really abide by strict nap schedules. So this ‘nap time’ schedule is never a hard and fast determinant for any of our plans. 

Switching gears, I still found it difficult and inconvenient to find a rental car if we stayed in Newfoundland, but not impossible. Almost right away though I encountered an issue where Newfoundland is so big that we wouldn’t be able to see everything I wanted to see in this large island without having some major driving days and backtracking significant hours over the same roads. Anyone who knows me well can feel my inner cringe at the inefficiency of backtracking. Random fact: Did you know that Newfoundland is bigger than Iceland? I toyed with various scenarios based on suggestions from fellow travelers like flying into other cities in Newfoundland and renting a vehicle there to drive back to St Johns or vice versa but the rental car issue again proved to be a huge hinderance. Plus, the more I read about Gros Morne National Park, I knew I just had to somehow fit this stunning area into our trip. 

Our trip finally started taking shape when I expanding my queries Halifax, Nova Scotia and taking the ferry to Newfoundland. It checked all my boxes, both efficiently wise and seeing everything on my list. Sure it seems a little crazy with us traveling to a new location almost every day, but at most we had one, maybe two four hour drives and every other drive being a minimum of two hours. I should preface that those two hour drives almost always had alternative scenic routes where we could expand the drive by an hour or two if we felt up to it. Luke and I are essentially minimalists when it comes to packing so we had two suitcases and three backpacks total for this trip. And with this revelation the trip that is easily in our top three ever was ready to take shape.

This was our first flight taking the kids’ car seats. We had two carryon suitcases, one double stroller (that was perfect), one diaper backpack, and two personal item backpacks for our trip. We did a trial run before we left for the airport to practice how we would juggle everything through the airport. I carried Rhett in a front carrier and one of us pushed the double stroller where we had the car seats stacked on top of each other. Quinn sat in the front of the stroller and the other adult pushed the two carryons and had the backpacks.

A few days before our flight, in typical Type A behavior, I was checking our flights where I was surprised to find that the original leg of our flight from Detroit to Toronto was canceled. The second flight from Toronto to Halifax was still there but no initial flight. Confused and concerned as I hadn’t been notified of the change, I called my travel company who I’d booked the flight through and they sorted it all out. Unfortunately though, instead of an 11 am flight, we now had a 6 am flight to Newark before getting into Halifax around 2 pm. So with the new schedule in hand, we set our alarms for 2 am and drove to Detroit for our early morning flight. I’ve never been one to complain about early morning flights but with towing littles it adds a whole new level of planning and prep. Not to mention crankiness on the part of my toddler. Thankfully, everything went smoothly and both kids slept the whole flight. Flying into Newark was amazing as I’d never seen the New York City skyline before or had seen the Statue of Liberty before. Honestly as we were landing, I hadn’t even realized I was seeing New York City but the skyline is so distinct and massive that I instantly realized I was seeing something special and unique. Even from the airport terminal, while we waited, you could see the skyline looming. 

We had a four hour layover, which was way too long with kids. Rhett was 10 months at this point and was walking, but also falling/crawling a lot still. I’ve never seen this in an airport but in the terminal there were so many birds. Due to my job, bird flu and its transmission into humans was weighing heavy on my mind as I watched Rhett crawling all over a floor that was probably covered with bird droppings. I was a ball of anxiety. Our next flight couldn’t come soon enough and layover length will weigh heavily in my next time I book a flight with the kids.

The kids again slept on the second flight and we were so excited to finally make it to Halifax where we were thankfully able to check into our hotel early as we were all beat. As it was around 3 PM we toyed with the idea of venturing into Halifax itself which was about a 30 minute drive away but ultimately made the sage decision to relax for an evening and let the kids play in the pool. Quinn was delighted to find out the pool had a large indoor water play area that everyone loved. It was a really nice way to regroup after a taxing travel day. Plus give Luke a chance to look at the itinerary for the first time. 

The following mornings was one of our longest travel days as we had a four hour drive to North Sydney. After breakfast, we drove into Halifax to quickly explore with the only must see spot on my list, the Central Library in Halifax that has stunning architecture. I’m sure our brief stop in Halifax is rather scandalous to most, but I have to confess that Luke and I are not city people and very much prefer escaping the big cities to the countryside as quickly as possible. Needless to say, Luke loved all farm land in north Nova Scotia.

During previous evening Luke really started looking at our itinerary for the first time. He grew excited when he realized how close we were to the Bay of Fundy and after some research we added an hour and a half to our drive the next morning to head north to the Burncoat Head Park where we would arrive at low tide around 1 PM. The Bay of Fundy is home to the highest tides in the world and at this park you can even walk on the ocean floor. The average tide is around 47.5 feet high with extreme tides reaching 53.5 feet. Actually walking on the ocean floor and seeing the physical differences in the tides was shocking and it is hard to describe how amazing this spot is. Burncoat Head Park was Luke’s favorite stop of the whole trip. Of note, walking on the ocean floor is muddy and the dirt here is bright red. Learn from my mistake and do not wear white sneakers. Don’t even wear sneakers. Do yourself a favor and don’t make the mistake I did. Please wear your sandals. That said, they do have a washing station at the top of the staircase. We walked all the way to the ocean so Quinn and Rhett could touch it, though the walk there often felt like a maze as we were trying to navigate around water holes and muddy patches along the way, not that the puddles stopped Quinn from jumping in them.

Quinn the whole time kept asking for ice cream as she’s seen people eating it on our way past the light house. Which brings me to the topic of temperatures in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. A week before the trip I checked temperatures and everything was in the 50s-60s with rain most days. Now please keep in mind that this trip was wholly planned during 3 am nursing sessions and for some reason as I started packing I never revisited the weather to see if the forecast had changed. I packed rain coats, long sleeves, sweatshirts, and pants for everyone. Except for Luke, who packed all his own items, though under my weather influenced advice. So when we landed in Nova Scotia and the weather is a toasty, 80F we were all quite unprepared, especially as when I looked up the weather forecast and was surprised to discover every day  on our trip was expected to get hotter and hotter with one of the days we are were Terra Nova National Park the temperature is expected to reach 97F. So the day we were at the Bay of Fundy it was quite warm and ice cream was a welcome treat. We climbed to the top of the lighthouse at Burncoat Head Park, which was an experience itself due to the sauna at the very top that was uncomfortable to say the least. Once back in the car we took off to start our originally planned four hour drive to North Sydney where we would get on the ferry to Newfoundland the next morning. 

The drive to North Sydney was beautiful and we wish we could have spent more time exploring Nova Scotia. We (especially Luke) loved driving through the remote farm fields, especially along the Bay of Fundy. Thankfully the kids slept most of the way to North Sydney. We again stayed at a hotel where they had a large water slide, which Quinn was so excited to try though it was daunting in height. There was some confusion as we checked in because we were initially told that the hotel had no cribs, leading us to go grocery shopping and look into buying a pack and play. We ultimately decided against buying a pack and play just for the trip, which was a blessing in disguise because upon asking a second hotel worker, a crib was found. The grocery trip was also needed as we stocked up on snacks and supplies for the rest of the road trip. During the initial packing for the trip we reduced space needed by waiting until we got to Nova Scotia to buy extra diapers and baby food for the trip. 

The next morning we had some extra time before the ferry so I took Quinn to the pool where she fearlessly climbed the pool slide. I went down with her the first time and I’m not going to lie. It was rather alarming how long you are in the dark before emerging at the bottom, though Quinn loved it, proceeding to go down the slide at least 20 more times. 

After finally convincing Quinn to leave the pool, we got everything packed up for the seven hour ferry to Newfoundland. The ferry tickets were one of the first things I purchased during the planning stages as I was worried it would sell out, plus I wanted a cabin to keep the kids contained. We paid $50 for the cabin and it was well worth it though the kids refused to sleep. We snacked on the ferry, having pizza and chicken strips, and tried to keep the kids entertained in the various areas. Even climbing to the top viewing deck both when we launched and when we arrived. Most of the trip we spent shrouded in fog and rain, with visibility seeming to only be a few feet ahead of the ship. The ferry left around noon, arriving in Port aux Basques, NL around 7:30pm. We were staying in a AirBnB in Stephenville Crossing that was about an hour away. We were lucky enough to have been first car in the line to be let off the ship so we made it to a Tim Hortons for donuts and a bathroom break before the chaos of the rest of the ship disembarked. 

Arriving at our AirBnB in the rain and after dark wasn’t ideal but we could tell how cute and well maintained the property was. As with everywhere we stayed, we wished we could have stayed longer, but we were off to Gros Morne National Park the next day and I was so excited to see what this highly praised park had in store. 

In the morning we set out for Gros Morne National Park, but with our check in at our next AirBNB not until 3PM we had some time to kill. The drive between Stephensville Crossing and Rocky Harbour was just under two and a half hours. Getting in around lunch time we went to Jackie’s Takeout where we had wonderful fish and chips. We missed the sign saying cash or debit only, so Jackie let us run to an ATM after the meal to get some cash. After Jackie’s we went to Lobster Cove where we explored around the lighthouse while we waited for the AirBnB to be ready.

Our AirBnB was one of a set of cabins overlooking the water and the town of Rocky Harbour. It was a stunning location, high up on a bluff, with mountains behind us. We stayed two nights in Rocky Harbour and could have stayed longer as there was so much to do. After settling into the cabin we took off for a drive to see what we could accomplish before dinner.

One of the top activities I wanted to see in Gros Morne was the Western Brooke Pond. They have a boat tour, but with a 10 month old I wasn’t sure we would be able to make the hike, let alone take the two hour tour and walk back. With the sun out and it being a beautiful afternoon we decided to start the hike back to the pond and see what we could do. Quinn had just started napping when we arrived at the parking lot and she woke up an absolute bear, unhappy with her lack of sleeping status. Usually she recovers well but she never really hit her stride on this hike. The views were stunning though and Rhett was happy as could be in his carrier. The hike back to the pond was gravel and boardwalk. From the reviews I’d read of the hike I was expecting it to be quite rough. It must have been recently renovated though as it was smooth enough we definitely could have brought the stroller. It is a 3 km hike from the parking lot to the pond. Luke was a champ and ended up carrying Quinn for most of it. We were so happy we fit in this hike, especially with the views along the way. We met a tour group who had just gotten back from an all day hike up to the top of the gorge. We looked it up after and the views of this hike were absolutely gorgeous. The walk back felt long but we were definitely ready for food after our hike. 

Being the off season, we kept running into everything closing earlier than we were anticipating. Thankfully the Fisherman’s Landing Restaurant was still open once we made it back into town. They had such good comfort food and the staff was so very sweet, gushing over Quinn and Rhett. We spent that night sleeping soundly, listening to the waves in our cute little AirBnB. 

The next day we set out after a relaxing morning to explore more of Gros Morne National Park. We took the southern scenic route down to Trout River where we had lunch at one of our favorite spots of the trip. The Seaside Restaurant was right on the ocean and had such amazing food. Our table had beautiful views of the beach. After lunch Quinn and I went on a quick beach walk to explore a bit before heading back to the car. 

On the way back to Rocky Harbour, we stopped at a hike I was so looking forward to seeing, the Tablelands. As a scientist, I couldn’t help but geek out over the fact that the tectonic plate theory was proved at this location. Our success the day before made us a bit overconfident as I hope the story I’m about to relay is one that makes any other parent smile in memory of previous missteps. After how smooth the trail was at the Western Brooke Pond in contrast to the expected rough path, Luke and I decided to try to take the double stroller on the Tablelands hike. We should have turned around when very quickly we realized how rough this hike would actually be, with large stones littering the path. It didn’t help that there were some brutal winds buffeting us every step of the way. We make it almost to the end of the hike before turning back. It was honestly one of the only times I felt embarrassed with parenting choices. I’m sure we looked ridiculous. Talk about relief getting back to the car. It was definitely not enjoyable in any measurable way, but hey, we tried and lessons were learned. 

After dinner at the Sunset Cafe we had a relaxing night at the AirBnB taking in the stunning views. Eager to make it to eastern Newfoundland, the next morning we had one of our longest days of the trip with a four and a half hour drive to our next ocean view AirBnB. It was a long drive but we were looking forward to seeing the much anticipated Twillingate that night. Twillingate was beautiful but easily our least favorite area we visited. Getting into town, no restaurant was open past 8 with many closing around 7. We tried four different locations where the wait lines were too long. Our breaking point was when when we went to a pub that actually kicked us out because they didn’t allow children. I was defeated. Luke came to the rescue with the idea to get groceries and make food ourselves. Thankfully, there was a nice grocery store where we stocked up on essentials and snacks, and we had a peaceful dinner overlooking the ocean from the kitchen of our AirBnB in Summerford. This house had a washer and dryer allowing us to refresh our laundry, another trick to minimizing our need to pack extra clothes.  

Thoroughly unimpressed with Twillingate, we decided the next morning to drive along the coast to our next stop at Glovertown. It was about a three hour drive, but it was beautiful along the water. We even stopped at one point at a park to let Quinn get some energy out. There wasn’t a lot along this drive, giving it a very rural, remote feel. In more reading after this trip, if we’d strayed from the main road we would have found pretty beaches and towns.

 We stayed in an adorable icebox AirBnB in Glovertown. After local recommendations, we adventured back out into the Eastport Peninsula for dinner and trust me when I say I’m so thankful we did as we had the best fish and chips I’ve ever had. Before seeking our dinner spot, we quickly stopped at the Eastport Beach where Quinn had fun on the sandy shores chasing waves. Thoroughly coated with sand, our tired toddler did not want to leave the beach. What ensued was one of Quinn’s largest tantrums to date. By the end, Luke, the car, and me were all covered with more sand than Quinn. Thoroughly exhausted after that rare burst of emotion, we wearily dragged ourselves in the direction of dinner that was on the other side of the peninsula. Chucky’s Seafood & Wild Game Restaurant is a part of Happy Adventure Inn and I cannot give them enough high praise. The restaurant was absolutely packed and they had no tables available the rest of the night. Upon checking, they were able to fit in two fish and chips dinners to go. I was grateful to my core as due being off season, there were no other food options remotely close to where we were. Again, I can’t praise their customer service enough. I also don’t say this lightly, but it was seriously the best fish and chips I’ve ever had and our favorite meal of the trip.

That night with a relaxing night at in Glovertown, Quinn and I played many games of Clue, well Quinn’s version of it anyway. The only way we could get her to go to bed was to promise her we would play first thing in the morning. She surprised us by popping up first thing at 6 AM, saying “Mom! Let’s go play Clue!” Needless to say, we played many games of Clue before heading out for our next adventure. Having loved the Eastport Peninsula, we decided to head that direction one more time before continuing south. We drove out to Salvage and were treated to some stunning views of the coast line along the say. There wasn’t much to the area, though the views of the bright houses in Salvage felt like it was out of a Newfindland postcard. 

Driving South we encountered our second national park of the trip, Terra Nova National Park. As I’d not packed approapriately for the trip due to an unexpected shift in temperatures, this travel day was by far the warmest with a high of 98C. It was record highs for the area. We were absolutely not dressed for this kind of heat. I had planned a hike or two but with Quinn and Rhett we could not brave being out for long hikes in those temperatures. Instead, we stopped at their visitor center and visited an amazing playground for Quinn. She had so much fun running wild. They even had a zip line that she did over and over again, laughing crazy every time. The only other stop we made was a very short hike to one of the highest parts of the park where they have an old, retired, fire tower. I’m not one to fear heights, but starting to walk up this tower we only made it up two rounds before we were above tree line and exposed to the brutal winds. So, up on this mountain, we were not only battling the heat, but also fighting 30-40 mile an hour winds. I had Rhett in a carrier and Luke holding Quinn. With adrenaline from the powerful winds reaching even to my toes, we decided the views were spectacular enough where we were, turning around not even half way up the old tower. 

The destination that night was Little Catalina in the Bonavista Peninsula. With the drive only about two hours from Glovertown, we got into our cute little icebox AirBnB just in time to head to Bonavista for dinner. Our Airbnb was seriously the coziest little house that was right on the ocean in Little Catalina. I loved being able to hear the waves at all hours. 

I had expected another major tourist spot in Bonavista but we were enchanted by this bright and colorful town. We had dinner at Ragged Rocks Gastropub where I had a delicious lobster roll. We continued our exploring after dinner, driving out to the Bonavista Light House, even seeing a fox while we were driving along the ocean. On the way back to the AirBnB that evening, I convinced a reluctant Luke to fit in just one more thing before heading back. We ventured to Ellison to see if we could spot the famous nesting grounds of the puffins. It was an interesting excursion as after leaving Bonavista we promptly lost cell service and only vaguely knew what direction we were headed. We had to blindly follow signs that sent us what we hoped to be toward the puffins. Eventually we found our way, where we parked next to what looked like a little hobbit hole. After reading more we found out they were root cellars and this areas had the most in the world. We even were able to look into one on our way to the nesting grounds. 

Walking out to the nesting grounds we were immediately accosted by black flies. The kids were tired and we were surrounded by steep cliffs and ocean so Luke carried Quinn the whole way out there. Once we made our way out there we were surprised to find out the nesting ground was actually the next island over. We could see the famous puffins in the distance, but not in any detail. There was a whole crowd gathered to observe the meager activity. Some people were staked out with some of the largest cameras I’ve ever seen. 

After getting our fill of squinting in the distance and swatting flies, we headed back to the car with Luke being less than thrilled with the whole excursion. Heading back to the AirBNB we slept peacefully with the sound of waves emanating throughout the house.

The next morning we were so enchanted with Bonavista that we ventured into town for breakfast, stopping at the super cute Bicycle Picnic Cafe & Bistro we’d spotted the night before. This coffee shop had delicious muffins and the latte hit the spot. Needless to say, both the shop and the location were memorable as it is across the road from the ocean. When watching the most recent season of Severance, I jumped out of my seat when I saw the Bicycle Picnic Cafe & Bistro flash across my TV as it was featured in one of the scenes. 

Leaving Bonavista we were heading toward St. John’s for our last night in Newfoundland. It felt like a long drive as the action packed vacation was starting to catch up to us. I was monitoring the Newfoundland Facebook pages for any last minute must see diversions when someone announced that the whales were starting to get into the area. I was debating on us driving two hours out of our way to go watch whales from the beach. Ultimately, we decided it would be too much, especially on the day before a super early flight home. Our hotel was near the St. John’s airport, with a convenient shuttle running between locations. Even though we were tired and still needed to repack for home, we took one last excursion out to drive through St. John’s and drive to the most eastern point of North America, Cape Spear. 

We were left wishing we had more time to explore St. John’s. The houses are all so bright and colorful and the whole city feels like it is on a hill. We continued on to Cape Spear. At this point I was driving, and as we came up over the hill to see the ocean and fort for the first time I was shocked to spot a whale tale in the distance. Luke was rather skeptical of my excited exclamations as this might not have been the first time this trip I’d thought I’d saw something in the distance. As we found a parking spot facing the ocean though, I was delighted to be more right than I ever could have hoped. There were dozens if not over a hundred whales in the area. With the kids sleeping Luke and I sat for probably an hour just watching and listening to their singing. Hardly a minute would go by without seeing a blowhole in the distance. There was even one breaching over and over again out in front of us. 

When the kids finally woke up we walked around the edge of the cape, constantly stopping and looking with every distinct sound of a blowhole. Humpback whales were everywhere! We even stopped and watched again near an path that took us a little closer to the water. Quinn was having so much fun trying to spot the tell tale blowholes and see the tail that would follow. It was a surreal experience and definitely one of my top vacation moments of all time. After this finale we we ready to go home, we couldn’t imagine a more perfect end to the trip. 

Getting back to the hotel, we cleaned out the car and got everything repacked. I took the rental car back to the airport so we didn’t have to worry about it in the morning as we could take the hotel shuttle. The shuttle even picked me back up after dropping off the car. The flights home went so very smoothly. We will definitely be coming back to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in the future as this trip made us fall even more in love with Canada. It’s truely hard to capture how stunning Newfoundland is but a fellow tourist I talked to from Toronto was close as he said that every curve in the road has some unexpected surprise and you could drive all day long here and never get bored.