Zero Day: Corner Brook, NFLD
Jeremy takes a break in Corner Brook
Date: Friday, September 8, 2023
I spent the day at the home a family member, so this will be pretty light on detail! I woke up and did a second round of laundry. I also ate breakfast, showered, and started to catch up on blogging. At some point a friend of the family offered to drive me up to a lookout over the city, which I accepted. It was a good thing too because it meant driving uphill for a loooong time before we got there. But once we arrived, it was incredible! It is known as the Captain Cook lookout because there is a statue of Cook and a plaque explaining why he's honoured in this place.
It also looks out over the city. And the view was spectacular! If you need an idea of what Corner Brook looks like, this should do it. Corner Brook is the second largest population centre in Newfoundland at around 30,000 people in the metro area. You can probably see the large white plumes being emitted by the Kruger Paper Mill located down by the water. This is one of the main employers of the city.
When we got back to the house I considered my options. Explore? Blog? Check my gear? How about...none of the above and take a nap? That's what I did. I needed more rest!
When I woke up I pulled my tenting gear out to dry fully and went out for lunch. I walked the streets of Corner Brook checking out the town. I noticed a lot of people walking around with hats and sweaters that hinted they might be American. And there seemed to be more than I would expect for everyday tourist traffic. It wasn't long before I spotted the cruise ship docked in the town. That was the source of the tourists!
I checked out the local bike shop and found a cafe for lunch.
After lunch I walked to downtown and checked out the very impressive war memorial. Newfoundland's history of war is somewhat different from that of Canada. We have fought in all the same wars, but Newfoundland was not a province of Canada until 1949 (after WWII) and so fought as a dominion of the United Kingdom. There is a famous monument in France commemorating a battle at The Somme in WWI in which Newfoundland took part and 700 men from Newfoundland died in the first day of the battle. The monument is of a caribou with its head held high, commemorating all the men of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment who died there with no known grave. It is Newfoundland's equivalent to the Vimy Ridge monument. That battle started on July 1st, 1916 and so while the rest of Canada celebrates Canada Day on July 1st it is also commemorated as Memorial Day in Newfoundland.
From here I went to the grocery store to grab some food for dinner, then walked home along some of the wonderful nature paths through the city. I then blogged, ate dinner, and called it a night!