The Great "White" North: Wintertime in Newfoundland

Dear Family and friends: So Lina and I have made it through our first winter in Newfoundland--barely! We're not going to lie, it has been brutal at times. It also included some firsts for Lina: such as shoveling snow and driving in snow. Although I (Jordan) have lived in cold and snowy places before, I've never experienced any winter as intense as Newfoundland's (all things considered). We thought we'd post a few pictures that will tell the story better than we could with words. Much of the snow in the pictures below has melted now (phew!), but it's still not all gone yet. The pictures below show it near its deepest point of the winter. These photos are not in order, but will provide some info. for those interested in perusing some experiences and adventures of the past six months or so... The following several pictures were taken last night on a trip to the Southern part of the Island along the coast. There are few things as beautiful in North America than the Newfoundland coast. It is rocky, rugged, and picturesque at nearly ever turn.

"Part of your world" ... This is Lina impersonating the Little Mermaid (in imitation of Lucia Tucker's priceless video performance on Facebook. Thank you for the inspiration Lucia! We love you.)

Another stunning breaking wave/coastal splash...

The critter in this picture is a MOOSE! There are allegedly about 150,000 moose in Newfoundland. It is a commonly hunted animal and they are huge! It makes us nervous driving at night in the "bush" (wilderness) because they are about as big as our car.

To date, Lina and I have gotten to taste moose sausage and moose roast from some locals (tasty!), but it took us until last night to get to see our first ever moose in the wild. This is a female. The picture belies her true size. She was absolutely enormous; and the bull's (male's) are even bigger, as you could imagine. We actually saw a full-size stuffed bull in a Smithsonian musuem recently and compared to deer, they are unspeakably large. I was hoping for a better picture than this, but unfortunately, our city-slicker like excitement induced a mild roar of over-eager squeals and thoughtless door slams which understandlably frightened the poor critter away. By the time I snapped this photo, she was probably at least 150 yards away or so, and it was getting dark.

The rugged shoreline...

Lina on the East Coast with some small islands in the immediate distance.

Jordan on the East Coast shoreline at dusk.

The snow accumulation on the street where we live.

The snow in front of our place. We live upstairs and have a neighbor who lives in the downstairs (private entrance). At it's peak of accumulation (snowfall and shoveling combined) the snow on our property was 2-3 feet above the top of Jordan's head. Some of our friend's had a pile 12-13 feet high in front of their house. We received over 200 centimeters (6.5 feet) of snow in February alone.

The snow in front of our house during a light snowfall; notice the height of the pile compared to our car.

A gift and a new friend amidst the rough and tumble of winter.

Christmas time at our Branch President's house.

This last picture was taken from the backyard of our last basement apartment (where we lived from August-January). This was taken around Thanksgiving time before the snowfall started nailing us. In the distance you can see the famous Signal Hill (left) and the Atlantic Ocean (right). It was pretty cool to be able to see the Ocean from our house. That may never happen to either of us again. We both love the Ocean, so our proximity to it has been one of our favorite things about living in Newfoundland.