Wednesday, August 9

Today was our last full day in Gros Morne NP, and I was already missing it. It was a rainy day and we'd had a couple days of good hikes so we decided to tool around the park. We headed to the big town of Cow Head, Kari had a yarn shop she wanted to check out. The yarn shop was cool, the town not so much. It was another of the many small towns we'd been through, and I mean small. They're not unlike our small towns, they just happened to be perched in incredible seaside settings. 

It brought back memories. We had a similar experience last year on the Oregon coast. Remote, small towns struggling to survive in the modern economy. Struggling to keep their jobs, they're kids. Almost everything has changed for them as they’ve had to shift from a fishing/logging based economy to one that’s relevant in today’s knowledge economy. One based on tourism and services. It’s not unlike the fundamental transformation of Indiana’s economy that’s been underway since the 70’s & 80’s, in our case a shift away from manufacturing and agriculture. Some have done it better than others, and it’s hard. It's also a major contributor to the polarization we see in our politics today. 

The issue comes through in many conversations with locals here. They bring it up, but in a positive way. They talk openly of the importance of family, bragging about being 7th generation etc. They know their family history, the town's history, and they’re connected to it. It’s an ancient, remote land, and they are fiercely proud of it. The concept of home has an extra dimension. It’s nice, very different than so many “growing” US towns. The kind where no one who lives there is actually from there. Neither is inherently good or bad, they're just very different.

For lunch we headed back to Java Jacks. I wanted to try their fish cakes, which are a “thing” up here. I’d passed on them the first trip and have coveted them ever since:) Kari ordered the cod au gratin, that was pretty damn good too.

Here are a couple pics from our wandering.

Oh yeah, fries and gravy are a thing here too. Gravy is everywhere, what a country:)