Before leaving the large city we have to make a few more stops in the falling rain. First we have to buy some provisions, who knows when we will find another large supermarket. And second we need to eat something, we try now Hortons which is more fast food like so we order a hamburger and a poutine to try.
We debate a bit whether we should stop or not along the way at Manuels River Hibernia Center along the way. Initially it was in the plan but to hike and find caches and see trilobites but none of these are possibe in the rain. However we can still see the exhibits in the visitor center so we decide to stop in the end. After paying the entrance fee it is time to go down into the small museum, the cafe is not open and of course trails are out of the question.
Manuel River is great for hiking and also geocaching it seems but it is famous for its many trilobites, there are quite a few places where they were found.
As a result a small museum was erected inside the visitor center to give an idea what was found here, how it looked way back then and the results of the years of research in the area. We really like actually the diorama of the seabed of the rivers long gone with animals and plants that look alien.
The research sections are also quite interesting. One explains how the area was closed of from the ocean from a bit and how the trilobites evolved creating a different subspecies and how that subspecies disappared after the blockage was removed, interesting stuff, for us.
There is also a small section about the animals and birds in the area, you can even listen to sounds and smell odors and then guess what they are. We do quite well actually at this challenge, yay.
There are also some plants growing inside which we don’t understand as outside to us it seems the same plants are growing better. Maybe it is a test or maybe they are already preparing for the winter, who knows? And then we are done with the Saint John’s area and it is time to drive to Fortune where we will spend the next two nights.
