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Newfoundland and Labrador is strange – but in a good way. It's the most easterly point in North America and it's blessed with a maritime climate. It's also where Vikings left their most western mark 1,000 years ago. But that's not what's entirely eccentric about this place. Here at the edge of the continent bordering the Gulf of St. Lawrence you'll find the otherworldly terrain of Gros Morne National Park.
The lower land is made up of coastal cliffs fringed with sea-battered spruce and fir trees (also known as "tuckamores"). Up higher you'll find the Long Range Mountains full of massive yellow birches interspersed with fields of broken rock. It's a place famous for its abundance of black bears. It has the densest population of moose on the continent, too. Farther inland you'll find an uplifted floor of an ancient ocean now known as the Tablelands. Even though it can be as bare as a desert in some parts it's one of the few places where you can spot Newfoundland's provincial flower, the carnivorous Pitcher Plant.
If you take a medical job in Newfoundland this year, be sure visit Gros Morne. Stay in a local bed and breakfast then wake up early for a day hike. Or take your time to plan a backpacking trip on the Long Range Traverse. Keep in mind portions of the park close for winter but guided snowshoe and ski expeditions are offered around the park's Western Brook Fjord. Don't miss out when you come for you locum tenens assignment.