Newfoundland Insectarium, Clarenville (again)

We left Gros Morne an hour behind our scheduled 8:00 AM departure. If you’ve read previous posts, you will know why. A little down the road from Gros Morne is the town of Deer Lake. It has one of only two insectariums in Canada – the other is in Montreal. There was some debate on whether or not to stop. The stop was worth it as this place is unique to Eastern Canada. Exhibits show live and preserved insects from Newfoundland and around the world. We saw live tarantulas, scorpions and giant cockroaches. We located the queen among 20,000 honeybees in the observation beehive. We also saw exotic live butterflies up close in the butterfly pavilion. We also got to see their newest attraction – the giant millipede from Malaysia. One bite from this footlong character and you’re dead. We asked about an antidote but they weren’t sure if they had one. Hummn!?! It’s a fun and educational museum. From there it was to Timmy’s for bagels and one coffee. Another quick stop to fill the van – at $1.21 per litre – and we were on our way. Just under 500 kms and five hours later we arrived at our hotel in Clarenville. The drive was great as the traffic was not too bad and the weather is fantastic (as the Newfoundlanders say: The sun is so bright it could split rocks). Tomorrow is still undecided as I think Peggy wants to head straight to St.John’s and I want to head south and drive the Irish Loop. It would be a bit of a longer drive, but I think it would be worth it.