Ferryland

So the blog has been slightly neglected this month; ironically, I have had more free time in July than any time so far this year.  Perhaps the lack of posting is because of all that free time - I've been filling it up with fun little visits and outings!  I'm quite behind, so let's get started:

Ferryland is a little village on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland.  Friends of ours have been raving about Ferryland's lighthouse picnics for years now.  A few weekends ago, we finally made plans to go check it out for ourselves.

The village of Ferryland is south of St. John's.  It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to drive out there.

[maplandia]

Once arrived in Ferryland, you realize that the lighthouse is located on the tip of a little... well, in PEI we'd call it a spit but since it's made of solid rock, not sand, I guess it's more of a mini-peninsula.  From the parking area, you walk out onto the peninsula, which is traffic-free.  This takes another fifteen minutes if you are at a strolling pace.  I mention all these times because we were quite late the day we decided to picnic.  We had made reservations (very important!) but overshot by an hour (eep).

It is at this point I would like to discuss the service at the Ferryland lighthouse.  As some of you may know, my pet peeve in this world is the dearth of customer service personnel who actually give a crap about their job.  At the Ferryland lighthouse, I was instantly struck by the quality professional service.  Despite an obviously busy afternoon, the counter staffperson was calm and collected.  She kindly accepted our profuse apology for our lateness (apparently lots of stunned city folk like us misjudge their transit time), took our order, answered our questions, and did it all with a smile and a welcoming attitude.

But as impressed as I was with the service... my favorite part was the food!  (You know me).



O. M. G.  So there were several selections available, but I had heard in advance about the "ham and cheese" and had already made up my mind about what to order.  "Ham and cheese" is a sandwich that can range from a satisfying lunch to a Sketchy McNasty vending machine disaster.  The Ferryland picnic sandwich fell on the extremely awesome end of that spectrum.

Oven-roasted fruit-chutney glazed ham, sliced thin, but not too thin.  The cheese?  Brie.  Green apple slices brighten the flavour.  The bread:  hearty, homemade, thick-sliced, buttered oatmeal with (methinks) a touch of molasses.  And that was just the sandwich!!  Orzo and bell pepper side salad with fresh mint, topped with fresh-grated Parmesan.  Fresh-squeezed lemonade in a Mason jar.  Wide dessert selection - but mine was a no-brainer:  gingerbread with brown-sugar sauce.  The meal runs you about $20 and is worth every buck.

Did I mention that the picnic is served to you after you've nestled in on the cliff overlooking the ocean on a lovely tartan picnic blanket (provided)?  Oh yeah, a server comes out to you with a picnic basket/horn o' plenty filled with the above-mentioned feast.

Did I mention there's not a bad view from the Ferryland lighthouse?

And did I mention that we had front-row tickets to the frolicking-whale show?  Whales spouted and breached all afternoon.  Wish I had a better zoom so you guys could enjoy it like we did:

All-in-all, the Ferryland lighthouse picnic is an outing not to be missed while on the East coast of Newfoundland.