A Canadian Walks Into A Bar In Boston, and…..

The perfect green shack. Isle aux Morts

Day 93                     September 10, 2014

J.T. Cheeseman Provincial Park, Newfoundland  to  Glace Bay, Nova Scotia

Canada

Today we’d be saying goodbye to Newfoundland, and catching the ferry from Port aux Basques, back to North Sydney, Nova Scotia. But before catching the ferry, we took a drive east on the road out of Port aux Basque.

Heading east from Port aux Basques..

A glimpse of southwestern Newfoundland

This area was so stunning, that we’d wished we had just a couple more days to spend in Newfoundland. We walked around the small town of Isle aux Morts, population 600, before returning to the ferry terminal.

Another nice looking church. Isle aux Morts

Isle aux Morts

The perfect green shack. Isle aux Morts

Isle aux Morts

Isle aux Morts

Isle aux Morts

One last photo op on the drive back to the ferry

While waiting for the ferry (you have to arrive two hours prior to departure, and then que your vehicle up in the loading lot), we met a guy who’d grown up in Newfoundland, was back for a visit, and was now headed back to Ontario. We hung out with him on the ferry  and the time flew by as he told stories about where he grew up, how much snow they had in the winter, and about how he once visited Boston and partied so hard that he woke up the next day in Connecticut!

Port aux Basques, from the ferry.

Final views of Newfoundland

Final views of Newfoundland

Crossing the Cabot Strait

When we finally arrived back in Nova Scotia, we headed towards Glace Bay. We checked into the nearby Ryan River Campground just before dark, and just as a light mist was settling in. It felt weird to be back in Nova Scotia.

Two Californians Walk Into A Newfoundland Tire Shop, and…

Mark. Man & food truck. Happy times!

Day 92     September 9, 2014

Barachois Pond Provincial Park  to  J.T. Cheeseman Provincial Park, Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

This is a long story with very few photos. Why? ‘Cause I was too freakin’ stressed out to take any photos!!

As soon as we walked the dogs, ate breakfast, showered, and pumped up our bad rv tire with the bike pump, we were back on the road. We headed south to Stephenville, the de facto New York City of southwestern Newfoundland, with a population of 8,000.

We knew there was a Canadian Tire store in Stephenville, and we knew that they’d be able to diagnose and fix our leaking tire. No worries. No stress. We enjoyed the drive south, and were happy upbeat people when we pulled into the Canadian Tire parking lot.

Joyfully, we strolled into the service center and explained our situation, where the friendly, and courteous employee explained that yes, they could help us, but not for another two days. They were completely booked up until then. And though we pleaded with him and explained that we had to catch the ferry back to Nova Scotia the next day, he showed no sympathy, and sent us to a small tire shop down the street. We walked out of that place a little less happy, a little less upbeat, and a little less joyful, than when we had walked in.

We found the small tire shop down the street, “OK Tire.” When we pulled up in front of the little garage, all four or so of the guys working there came out to say hello.

Friendly group, yes. But more so, a curious group, as they had never seen a vehicle even remotely similar to ours before. Nope, not a one of them had ever laid eyes on a Sprinter van! They were mesmerized by the Space Shuttle, and they were shocked to find out we’d driven all the way from California.

And so, started the most stressful part of our entire road trip. These nice guys were happy to help us, but, they didn’t know how to jack up our rig. And, did I not mention, that the problematic tire was the inside rear dually? Of course it was, because had it been a front tire, or an outside rear tire, that would have been exponentially easier to deal with!

I stood by and watched as Mark and these four guys looked under the rig, looked at the owner’s manual, looked under the rig, looked at the owner’s manual, shook their heads, discussed how to jack up Fiona without damaging her, and finally had at her with a bunch of equipment.

I didn’t have any confidence in this turning out well, ‘cause it just didn’t look to me like these guys knew what they were doing. I even tried to convince Mark that we should wait until we got back to Nova Scotia to deal with it. My fear was that, if they damaged Fiona during this first aid attempt, that we would be stranded in Newfoundland.

For some reason, Mark had confidence in the ability of a bunch of guys to figure out what to do and how to do it. Maybe ‘cause he’s a guy. I just saw impending disaster.

I was so nervous, this was the only pic I managed to take @ OK Tire. Fiona has no shoes.

And YEEHAW!!!! Mark was right!! Our guys jacked up the rig, removed both rear tires on the driver’s side, diagnosed our problem (our tire valve was loose. easy fix. not even a tire problem at all!), reassembled everything, charged us $50, and sent us on our way.

I profusely thanked each and every one of these great guys, and I apologized for my nervousness and for ever doubting them!

We had a celebratory lunch at Joe’s Takeout food truck, and then took a drive  around the Port au Port Peninsula.

Man & food truck. Happy times!

On the peninsula, we stopped at the one and only alpaca farm. The couple who own the farm have 16 alpacas and one llama. They shear the critters and send the stuff to Prince Edward Island to be processed. When the processed wool is returned to them, they hire a bunch of local women to knit stuff from it, and then they sell the stuff in their little shop. Mark bought a pair of hand knit alpaca wool sox. Nice!

Not to be missed on the Port au Port Peninsula! I recommend you get an ice cream cone and some wool sox in the gift shop.

The one lonely llama.

Curious alpacas.

Alpacas strike a pose.

Driving around the peninsula….

Interesting….not sure what this is…

A beautiful drive….

When we completed the loop around the peninsula, we stopped back at OK Tire. They’d told us to drive for about an hour or so, and then to return so that they could retighten our tire lugs. So, we stopped and said hello again, and then said goodbye again. And we thanked them profusely, again!

Just a little more driving, and we were back at J.T. Cheeseman Provincial Park. This was where we’d spent our first night in Newfoundland, and it’d be where we’d spend our last night as well. A bittersweet reunion.

Will The Real Adam Sandler Please Stand Up….

@ Coffee Cove

Day 91     September 8, 2014

South Brook to Barachois Pond Provincial Park, Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

In the middle of the night, we’d been awoken by an alarm going off inside the Space Shuttle. Argh!! It was our tire pressure alarm. I disconnected the alarm so that we could sleep and deal with it in the morning. So now we had to deal with it.

Fiona in the morning @ Kona Beach Campground

One of our tires had dropped from 61 psi, to 54 psi. Mark was able to use our bike pump to get the tire up to 59 psi, but, we clearly had an impending situation on our hands. It had become obvious that our problem with those gas station air pumps the day before, had actually been a problem with our tire.

But ya know what? There wasn’t anyplace nearby to get the tire looked at. And since we could pump it up to 59 psi, well, that was good enough to keep us on the road until we reached somewhere where someone could help us.

And so, off we went, up Route 391 to King’s Point and to Rattling Brook to see the waterfalls. This is where we came to the conclusion that a lot of stuff in Newfoundland was falling apart. We walked up the trail as far as we could, only to find that the stairway path leading up to the great view of the falls, had been destroyed by a rock slide. I guess that, being pretty remote, and there not being many people around, Newfoundland just wasn’t in a big hurry to fix some stuff. I don’t have a problem with that.

Mark & Dax. Going to see the waterfalls, or so we thought.

End of the hike for us!

At least the hike there and back was pretty!

Pretty scenery across the street from the Rattling Brook Falls hike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty scenery across the street from the Rattling Brook Falls hike

Dax the explorer…

Mark & Dax taking some photos

Next stop….St. Patrick’s and Coffee Cove. We parked in the parking lot at Church of the Sacred Heart, in St. Patrick’s, and ate lunch in the Space Shuttle . Down below was Coffee Cove. With a name like Coffee Cove, we were sort of hoping we’d find at least a cute little coffee shop . But, there didn’t seem to be anything but some scattered houses, and solitude.

Church of the Sacred Heart in St. Patrick’s.

The view down towards Coffee Cove

@ Coffee Cove. No coffee shop here!

 

 

 

Fiona in Coffee Cove. Mark’s down there having a look around.

@ Coffee Cove

Beachside was our next destination. Maybe we’d find a coffee shop there. Umm…nope…except for a small community of small houses, we didn’t see so much as a grocery store or anything out there. I found this, on Wikipedia,

“There is only one business located in Beachside and this is a souvenir shop called Newfoundland Souvenir Manufacturing Limited.”

Hmm, we missed that too. However, what we did find, was some absolutely spectacular scenery!

The beaches were actually a greenish color

So beautiful!

The weirdest thing about Beachside, which Wikipedia doesn’t mention anything about, was the color of the beaches. All of the beaches seemed to be green. Why? I don’t know. Too much spinach in the water? Probably not, as the water was a beautiful shade of blue. Well, there was too much of something on those pebbly beaches, I’m just not sure what.

Stopped for a photo op on the way back to the highway

Mark, taking a pic of the grand view…

Although actually not our main goal for the day, we did eventually find coffee…at the Springdale Tim Horton’s. Not so charming, but it did alleviate our cravings. Got some free internet while we were there as well.

Back from whence we came….heading south….

We continued our journey southwest on Route 1, all the way to Barachois Pond Provincial Park. We checked in with the on-duty park ranger, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Adam Sandler. And he was funny as hell too.

I bet he could make a fortune if he went on tour as an Adam Sandler impersonator. However, in the 10 minute comedic banter back and forth with him, he told us he’d never been outside of Newfoundland, and had no desire to travel outside of Newfoundland. Really? Not even in the winter? A little escape to Florida maybe?! This was kind of hard to believe.

Then it occurred to me that maybe this guy was the real Adam Sandler!! Maybe he goes to work and hangs out in Newfoundland during the summers. Ya know, to get away from the Hollywood scene and get some peace and quiet.

The ranger/Adam Sandler, did tell us that Barachois Pond Provincial Park has the reputation as a raucous weekend party destination. But we were there mid-week, and at the very end of the season. There was hardly anyone else in the park. Once again, we had our choice of campsites. We chose site #1, right by the lake. It was a good choice!

Barachois Pond Provincial Park

Evening walk around the pond

Evening walk around the pond

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunset from our campsite…site #1

Typically Road Trippin’ ……Cruisin’ Back West….

Twillingate

Day 90          September 7, 2014

Clarenville to South Brook, Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Damn, it was super windy all night long, and hard to sleep ‘cause the wind was so loud! But at least we had found a safe haven for the night in the Walmart parking lot.

Our overnight stay at Walmart

Prior to getting back on the highway, we went to a gas station to put some air in one of our tires. The air machine seemed broken, so we went to a second station, where we also had problems. Finally, at the third station, Mark was able to get a little air into the tire that was low. Something wasn’t quite right. It was still early on a Sunday morning, and nothing else was opened, so we basically just gave up and got on the road.

It began to rain, but our cruise west was fun. We discovered radio station OZ FM 105.3, playing traditional music, lots of jigs and reels…music to make you happy. Great road trip music!

There’s a memorial in Gander that I was hoping to stop to visit. It’s a memorial for some American servicemen that were killed when their plane (taking them home to the US) crashed just after take off.

We followed a small wooden sign that pointed down a dirt road. Since it was raining, the dirt road was actually a mud road. And the road was pretty narrow. We weren’t even sure we were on the right road, and were beginning to worry that we might get stuck. When we got to a spot where we could turn around, we did. Mission aborted. 

Although we were long past iceberg season, we did drive out to Twillingate. Twillingate is one of the primo spots for iceberg watching in the spring and early summer. 

Somewhere between Clarenville and Twillingate

Somewhere between Clarenville and Twillingate

Somewhere between Clarenville and Twillingate

Stop or turn…stop or turn…make up your mind quickly!

Dark and moody….

Newfoundlanders aren’t afraid of color!

Hello doggie…

We drove to the end of the road, to Crow Head, where we enjoyed the spectacular views of the coastline.

Crow Head

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crow Head

Mark, standing way out there at the edge of Crow Head

Long Point Lighthouse, Crow Head

The rain had finally stopped, and we were able to enjoy a nice outdoor lunch at the Crow’s Nest Cafe, followed by a little photo time at the Twillingate harbor before continuing the journey west.

Crow’s Nest Cafe, Twillingate

Twillingate

Twillingate

Twillingate

Twillingate

Twillingate

Twillingate

Twillingate

It was the end of the camping season in Newfoundland, which made it easy for us to have our choice of sites in all of the campgrounds we visited. It was a treat to pull into the almost empty Kona Beach Campground in South Brook, and park in site #9…right on the beach! It was a pebbly beach on a lake, but it was a beach and it was sweet!

And the winner is….site #9

Sunset walk on the beach

The Snow Globe, The Mighty Wind, and the Walmart

The Rooms, St. John’s

Day 89            September 6, 2014
St. John’s to Clarenville, Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Most of our day was spent at The Rooms, an amazing combination museum and gallery in St. John’s. Although half of that time was spent in the restaurant and gift shop, we really did love the great art and exhibits, all of which related in some way to Newfoundland.

Graphic interiors @ The Rooms

View of the harbor, from The Rooms

The most memorable thing about The Rooms…..the waitress in the cafe telling us that St. John’s in the winter time, is like living in a snow globe. Brrrrr..…I shudder to think about it!

Late in the afternoon, as we sat in the Space Shuttle out in the parking lot, we held a major trip planning session. We were supposed to be in Albuquerque, New Mexico on October 2nd….only 3.5 weeks away. There were still a good number of places on our “to visit” list between St. John’s and Albuquerque, and this was the time we really got down to figuring out how we were gonna see everything, do everything, and still end up in Albuquerque on time. And the verdict was, we better start heading west now.

It was sad leaving St. John’s. Not only did we love this city, but leaving also meant we were on our way home. Granted, it would take over a month to get home, but, it still signified the end of our great journey east and north.

We got on the road, the same road we’d driven east on, the only road that crosses Newfoundland from east to west. We drove for an hour or so, but as the wind picked up a notch, and it started getting dark, we searched for a campground. According to our campground guide, there was a campground in Arnold’s Bay called Putt & Paddle Campground.

The one good thing the wind was doing…perfectly posing the flags!

Perfect flags!

We found Arnold’s Bay, but we never found the campground. We were wandering around some neighborhood, lost, when we saw an older gentleman walking up the street. We stopped him to ask directions. Classically, it seemed he either couldn’t hear us, or couldn’t understand our accents. And when he spoke, well, with his uber thick Newfoundland accent, we couldn’t understand a damn word he said. We smiled, said thank you, and made our way back to the highway.

By this time, it was dark. And with our high profile vehicle (almost 10’ tall), the high winds were really blowing us around. And we were scared to death of hitting a moose. There was no choice but to continue driving until we got to the next town. And as luck would have it, the next town had a Walmart! Hello, Clarenville Walmart! I’ve never been so happy to see a Walmart, and to get off the freakin’ road!

Another Day, Another Brewery? Maybe, Maybe Not!

Following Mark and Dax on the hike up to Signal Hill

Day 88     September 5, 2014

St. John’s, Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Since arriving in St. John’s the day before, we’d already sampled some local Quidi Vidi beers. However, we hadn’t yet actually visited the nearby village of Quidi Vidi, or the Quidi Vidi Brewing Company. That was Priority #1.

Had we been warned, we’d have parked outside of the little village and walked the rest of the way. But, we hadn’t been warned, and we drove right into the village. Not so smart. The streets were super narrow, winding, and hilly. A test of our driving skills and of our patience. We almost got stuck at the end of a street with almost no way to turn around….almost.

Quidi Vidi

Quidi Vidi

Quidi Vidi

We checked out the Quidi Vidi brewery, hoping to get a tour and have lunch. Unfortunately though, they don’t serve food. Even though it’d mean missing the brewery tour, we were way too hungry to stick around, so we moved on.

We found lunch and beers at the Inn of Olde. And by “lunch,” I mean, soup, ‘cause that’s all they served. Not one of our finer meals, but you couldn’t beat the atmosphere. This place was kind of a trippy pub with all kinds of crazy crap and memorabilia hanging  on every square inch of the ceiling and walls.

Inn of Olde

Front door to Inn of Olde

Mark  @ Inn of Olde

Inn of Olde

Inn of Olde

Old church that’s now a private residence. Quidi Vidi

After a good walk-a-bout the village, and satisfied that we’d “done” Quidi Vidi, we left and drove to the Johnson Geo Centre. The Geo Centre was a cool place. It’s basically a museum built underground, dedicated to geology. Hard to believe, since I almost failed geology 101 in college, but, I loved this place! There were movies, and interactive exhibits, and, just fun shit!

Johnson Geo Centre

When the centre closed for the day, we retrieved the pups from the space shuttle, and went for a little walk across the street. But first we had to pose the pups in front of the big dog statues in front of the Geo Centre. One of the statues was a Newfoundland dog, and the other statue was a Labrador Retriever. We hadn’t thought about this before, but this far away Province had two namesake dogs! Impressive!

The Newfie, the Lab, the Trixie, and the Dax

What started out as a short dog walk, turned into an epic hike. We had inadvertently found ourselves on this cool hiking path that wound around a little village by the harbor, around the sometimes precarious hillside, and all the way up the backside and up to Signal Hill. It was magnificent!!

Beginning of our epic hike

On the hike up to Signal Hill

On the hike up to Signal Hill

On the hike up to Signal Hill

On the hike up to Signal Hill

Following Mark and Dax on the hike up to Signal Hill

Looking back at the path we’d hiked up on.

We finished off the day with dinner at Tavola, on Water Street. Sweet potato soup, salad, ravioli, and some sissy pink lemonade spritzers that were oh so delicious! Great end to a great day!

Ravioli @ Tavola

Pink Lemonade Spritzers. Not just for sissies!

Goats On A Leash…Getting Screeched In… & Other Tales From St. John’s

The view from Signal Hill

Day 87     September 4, 2014

St. John’s, Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

This morning we spent time organizing, rearranging, and cleaning, and then we headed out on more fun adventures.

As we we were driving through downtown St. John’s, we passed a guy walking two goats on leashes. What up with that? Is that some kind of trend? Where does this guy live, that he’s walking his goats downtown in the city? I’m not sure goats even like cities.  Too bad we couldn’t pull over and stop to talk to this guy. This bugged me for a long time, the not knowing what the story was!

I had to shake off the vision of the guy with his goats as we drove out to Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America. Couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day.

Cape Spear Lighthouse

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

Fiona, way down there in the parking lot @ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

While exploring, we stopped to talk to a young guy walking his puppy. He told us that he bought a house just down the road. He used to be a furniture mover, and it seemed like every time he’d be moving someone, they’d tell him about how they were moving ‘cause they couldn’t stand their neighbors. So when he was able to buy his first house, he made sure he bought one as far away from anyone as he could get. Cape Spear is pretty far away from most people!

Our next stop was Signal Hill. This is the spot where Guglielmo Marconi received the first ever transatlantic wireless signal. I figure he picked this spot due to the magnificent views. If you’re gonna be sitting in one spot for a long time, waiting for someone to call you, you may as well have great views, eh?

The view of St. John’s harbor @ Signal Hill.

@ Signal Hill

@ Signal Hill

@ Signal Hill

An interesting dude in pink high heel boots @ Signal Hill

We had the luck of the dumb with us today, as we unknowingly had ended up at Signal Hill at just the right time to enjoy the sunset and to enjoy the spectacle that is everyone cruising up there in their cool cars to strut their stuff and watch the sunset. Dumb works for us sometimes!

@ Signal Hill

@ Signal Hill

@ Signal Hill

How would we top off our day? It’d already been so amazing. Only two things left to do so late in the day…get “screeched in” and eat dinner.

I’d met a St. John’s native back in Nova Scotia, who’d told me to go to Trapper John’s in St. John’s to get screeched in. So we did. 

We drank shots of screech, kissed a big frozen cod fish on the lips, repeated some gibberish, and laughed our asses off during the 15 minute hilarious ceremony (presided over by the bartender). And so, we became honorary Newfoundlanders! We have certificates to prove it all. Proudest day of our lives!

Getting screeched in @ Trapper John’s

From the Urban Slang dictionary….

The day ended with a fabulous meal at Yellowbelly. We ordered a simple cheeseburger pizza, not really expecting too much. But, yet another surprise…this was possibly, the best pizza I have ever had…ever!!!

We were falling in love with St. John’s.

The Education And Feeding of Magical Creatures (i.e. Nancy & Mark)

Local beers

Day 86     September 3, 2014

Terra Nova National Park to St. John’s, Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Being the social movers and shakers that we are, we had a breakfast invitation for this morning. We’d been invited over to George and Pearl’s nearby motorhome for a hearty meal and conversation before we took off for St. John’s.

George and Pearl

We’d met George and Pearl the night before. They were native Newfoundlanders who lived only about a half hour from Terra Nova National Park. They were doing a little staycation at Terra Nova NP.

We feasted on bacon, eggs (I skipped the eggs..hate ‘em), toast, and homemade jam. And add to that, funny conversation. Funny  ‘cause, at times, their accents were hard to understand, and funny at other times ‘cause they were really funny and nice peeps.

Before we departed the campground, George and Pearl came by the space shuttle and gave us a jar of Pearl’s homemade canned/jarred beets. (months later, when we were back home, we cracked open the jar and ate them all in one sitting. they were absolutely “to die for!”)

On the drive to St. John’s, we listened with interest to a radio talk show discussion about what people who live in Newfoundland and Labrador call themselves. Newfoundlanders? Labradorians? Newfoundland and Labradorians? Believe it or not, this was quite a controversial discussion, and quite educational for us, to say the least!

Back on the road. A typical moose warning

Woohooo!!! We’ve arrived!

Where we were…..the little red dot….

We checked into the campground at Pippy Park, just on the outskirts of St. John’s, and then drove into the city. WOW!! St. John’s was colorful, hilly, and edgy! More rough around the edges than I’d expected, but all the more interesting!!

St. John’s

Colorful houses. Downtown St. John’s

More colorful houses on hills. Downtown St. John’s

Colorful houses on hills. Downtown St. John’s

Colorful houses. Downtown St. John’s

Colorful houses. Downtown St. John’s

Mailbox

The oldest store on the oldest street in the oldest city in North America!

Downtown St. John’s

Trapper John’s. We’ll visit this pub in the next day or two.

St. John’s would be the big turn-a-around point of our trip. To celebrate, we’d already decided that we would treat ourselves to lots of eating out while we were there. This turned out to be a good decision, as we found that St. Johns was a foodie haven!

Mark Wienke finds Winky’s food truck. How perfect!

We had the most awesome dinner at a restaurant called The Club. We chose The Club, because we happened to get a parking spot right out front, and we were hungry…pure luck. We stuffed ourselves with local Quidi Vidi beers, gourmet soup, salmon, miscellaneous sides, and a gourmet burger. Then we finished all that off with the most freakin’ amazing cake…parsnip cake!! Parsnip cake is the more delicious cousin to carrot cake.

Local beers

Gorgeous and delicious food @ The Club

Parsnip cake!!!

Now that I think back on our time in St. John’s, I’m pretty sure this is where that extra four pounds crept up on me. And it was all worth it, even though, seven months later, I’m still trying to get rid of it!!

Is It Groundhog Day, Or Are We Just Driving On The Same Road Again?!

Arches Provincial Park

Day 85      September 2, 2014

Portland Creek to Terra Nova National Park, Newfoundland, Canada

Some people don’t like the fact that, when you travel around Newfoundland, inevitably, usually, you’ll have to backtrack over the the same roads you’ve already driven on to get back to somewhere else you want or need to go, or just to get back to where you started. Some people will throw around words like, “Groundhog Day,” or “boring” when describing this predicament. But not us. We only used the word “lucky” to describe our situation.

When we left L’Anse aux Meadows, we had to travel south, down the same road…the only road…to get back to the split in the road that would take us east to get to St. Johns.  This was pretty cool, ‘cause we got to see some of the places we’d seen on the way north, only from a completely different angle. This made us happy. It was like seeing old friends again!

East coast magic.

Arches Provincial Park

Arches Provincial Park

Near Gros Morne National Park

Near Gros Morne National Park

Near Gros Morne National Park

Headin’ east on the Trans Canadian Highway

Moose?? Where??

Happy Road Tripping Nancy

And speaking of old friends…Just outside of Gros Morne National Park, we stopped for fuel at an Esso station and ran into a couple from the U.S. state of Washington that we’d met on the fjiord boat tour three days earlier. When we’d first met them, they had assumed that we’d flown out east from California and then had rented a car to travel around Newfoundland, just as they had done. They were shocked to see that we were actually in an RV and had driven all the way from California. Trust me, this fact added a lot to our “cool factor” when we were so far away from California! I reckon we were just about the coolest people in Newfoundland at the time!

We bid our friends farewell, and continued our eastern pilgrimage. Before stopping for lunch, we drove past Grand Falls-Windsor, a blip on the map whose motto is “Perfectly Centered.” Hmm, must be smack dab in the center of Newfoundland!

I was really excited to spot a restaurant in Badger that made Canadian and Chinese food. We’d been eating such simple food on the road, that Chinese food would be a real treat! So, we stopped at Helen’s. And I was so bummed to find out that they didn’t have Chinese food that day, ‘cause the Chinese chef had off work that day. Oh well. There are worse things in life than a lack of Chinese food, and I wasn’t gonna let this little hitch get me down.

No Chinese food today!

As we headed east, we stopped at a scenic look out point near Gambo. There was a guy there selling fresh veggies from his little produce truck. We bought a bunch of stuff from him, super happy to have fresh home-grown veggies. He also gave us a gigantic turnip for the dogs. We never did feed it to the dogs. While on the road, we were afraid of feeding them something out of their ordinary diet. Didn’t need any more doggie gastric or digestive problems while we were all living together in our small Space Shuttle!

Scenic lookout near Gambo

Scenic lookout near Gambo

The final stop for the day was at the campground at Terra Nova National Park. Once again, a stellar Canadian National Park. It was the first National Park established in Newfoundland and Labrador, and it is also the eastern most National Park in all of Canada. It also had the most beautiful bathrooms I’d ever seen at a campground!

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly….Red Bay, Labrador

Red Bay

Day 83             August 31, 2014             Part 2

Red Bay, Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

THE GOOD……

We could count on one hand, the number of cars we saw on the road between the ferry in St. Barbe, and Red Bay. We stopped a few times along the route to take in the enormous size of the place.

War Memorial

War Memorial

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

Curling Champion!!!!

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

A whole lotta pretty countryside

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

On the way to Red Bay

The little village of Red Bay was, well, little. And so pretty! We ate lunch at the only restaurant in town, Whalers Restaurant, where for the first time, we tried bakeapple pie. Verdict: Bakeapple pie is delicious and I should eat it every day to stay happy!

Red Bay

Red Bay

Red Bay

Red Bay

My new favorite food group….Bakeapple Pie!

After lunch, we visited the whaling museum. Basque whalers in Red Bay were some of the first Europeans to arrive in Canada…..a fun little fact that might come in handy at a trivia party.

The view from the whaling museum

This place was proving to be small and mighty. But, it was a long way from anywhere, and from what we could see, there were only about 6 other tourists in the whole village. But I can assure you that all of us were having the adventure of a lifetime!

Red Bay

Red Bay

Red Bay

Red Bay

Red Bay graveyard

Red Bay

Red Bay

End of the paved road on coastal Labrador. Red Bay

 

 

The other dirt road out of Red Bay.

Red Bay

The day had already been jam packed full of stuff to do and see, but the best, and worst, was yet to come. Mark had purchased a t-shirt in the gift shop at the restaurant that said “I hiked Tracey Hill.” And so, we had to hike it.

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

Me and Trixie

Tracey Hill hike, Red Bay

The pics from our hike, pretty much say all there is to say…Absolute Beautifulness!! Including stops for photo ops, it took us about an hour to hike to the top. The entire hike, top to bottom, we only saw one other person.

THE BAD……

The sun was setting, and we slightly hurried back down to avoid being caught in the dark. We made it in plenty of time. And so did the ferocious and infamous Labradorian biting black flies. Apparently, sunset is when they come out to suck the blood of the ignorant.

The flies were on us like, well, like biting black flies to ignorant people. And they were biting us something awful. We ran to the space shuttle, brushed the flies off of each other and off of the dogs, and jumped inside.

THE UGLY…..

In those, oh, say, 8 seconds that the door was open to the rig, at least 20 of those freakin’ flies got in with us. We spent the next 15 minutes killing black flies. And it was disgusting. Those little freaks are full of blood, so every time you kill one, you have a mini blood bath on your hands. That shit was everywhere….on the windows, on the window shades, on the off-white wall covering. Yuck!!!

When we were satisfied that we’d killed them all, we drove back to the RV site for the night. And we didn’t dare go outside again, so we just hung out inside and tried to clean up the carnage from the kill. It was during that time that I noticed that I had huge welts on my neck from the fly bites. Two in particular, one behind each ear, made me look like I’d been abducted by aliens.

Stuck inside the space shuttle. And yet, we still had a nice view!

Last light, from inside the rig, on the side of the gas station!!

But, alas we were safe. Safe and tucked into our little RV spot, which, by the way, was one of 4 parking spots, with hook-ups, on the side of the Red Bay gas station. But, we weren’t going outside, so we didn’t bother to hook up to anything. We just hung out, ate dinner, and contemplated how the hell anyone could survive life with the infamous biting black flies!

Grandpa Was An Iceberg Hunter… & Other Adventures in Labrador

Ferry boat @ St. Barbe

Day 83        August 31, 2014         Part 1

St. Barbe, Newfoundland to Red Bay, Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Another day, another ferry boat ride. First thing in the morning, we got in line for the ferry over to Labrador. Technically, the ferry takes you to Quebec (the Province, not the city), and then you drive to Labrador. And technically, you could drive across Canada, through the province of Quebec, and across Labrador on the Trans-Labrador Highway, and never get on a ferry, but we like ferry boats, and we’re not so crazy about unpaved roads. We met a few people who’d done the drive, and word was that the long unpaved parts were pretty brutal.

Ferry boat @ St. Barbe

Fiona, on the ferry

Goodbye, Newfoundland

Time to be creative on the ferry

Time to be creative on the ferry

Proof that we came from aliens!

So, here we were, on the ferry to Blanc Sablon, Quebec. The ride was less than an hour and a half, and smooth sailing all the way. There weren’t many people on the ferry, but we did manage to meet a nice young couple who were on their way to see her grandfather in Mary’s Harbour.

They told us that they would have about a 1.5 hour drive on an unpaved road once they reached Red Bay. Red Bay, the end of the paved road in eastern Labrador, was our destination.

The couple also told us that her grandfather would have drinks waiting for them that were made with iceberg ice. And technically, yes, ice from icebergs. And in case you’re wondering, yes, her grandfather does actually go out on a boat and chip off ice from icebergs! 

Apparently iceberg ice is super dense and lasts much longer than the ice cubes that we all are used to. I see a great benefit there…no longer having watered down drinks from melted ice. I wish I could grow an iceberg here in southern California.

Upon landing in Quebec, we took the road east and crossed into the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. We’d made it to Labrador!! And it was looking as if we were in the minority. Labrador was even more sparsely populated than Newfoundland. And the landscape was vast and beautiful!

Arriving in Blanc Sablon, Quebec

Which way to go! Labrador…go right!

Still in Quebec

Still in Quebec

Not in Quebec anymore!

The Non-Fjord Fjord, Shopping For Garbage Bags, and The Mighty Wind!!

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Day 82      August 30, 2014

Gros Morne National Park to St. Barbe

Newfoundland, Canada

This morning we got an early start so that we could make the 10:00 am boat tour on Western Brook Pond Fjord. Since the pond is now cut off from the sea, the fjord isn’t technically a fjord anymore. The Canadians know this, they admit it publicly, and yet they still call it a fjord. Obviously, it’s better for business. It’d be much harder to sell tickets to a “boat ride on a pond.”

We parked in the parking lot, and hiked almost two miles to get to the fjord-pond. The hike was pretty, but when the fjord finally revealed itself…now that was spectacular!

Western Brook Pond Fjord in the distance

Hiking trail to get to Western Brook Pond Fjord

Hiking trail to get to Western Brook Pond Fjord

Loading on the boat for the fjord tour!

The two hour boat tour was amazing. The scenery was gorgeous! We went all the way to the end of the fjord, snapping photos the entire the way.

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

Western Brook Pond Fjord

When the boat turned around to head back to the dock….Holy Crap…that’s when the mighty wind struck us! My hair was flying around like it had a life of its own. The guy in front of us had his hat whipped right off his head and into the water.

Due to the wind and choppy water, our boat was rockin’ and rollin’ side to side most of the way back. The funny thing was that we were all sitting on these very slippery bench seats. And I was wearing my very slippery camping pants. Every time we rocked to one side, I’d slide down the bench…and then I’d slide right back to where I started when we rocked the other way. Damn camping pants. Note to other travelers…if you do this boat tour, wear pants that are a little more grippy!

The hike back to the Space Shuttle

The hike back to the Space Shuttle

The final view of the fjord

With one adventure behind us, we set off on another. On the way north, we stopped at a little store to buy garbage bags. We asked for help when we couldn’t find them. The clerk kept saying something about billybooties, or something or another. Couldn’t figure out what she was talking about. Finally, with a line of very patient people forming behind us to check out, she escorted us to what she was talking about…the garbage bag brand was “Billy Boots!!” Billy Boots Garbage Bags! And to be exact, we needed the small size ones, the Baby Billy Boots. For some reason, we thought this was hilarious, and the whole rest of the day we kept saying, as fast as we could, “Baby Billy Boots, Baby Billy Boots.”

Next stop for the day would be Port au Choix, a National Historic Site of Canada. What we found when we arrived, was a town with gale force winds, and nothing opened, not even the Visitor Centre and Museum. Hmm. Interesting. Maybe it was too windy for anyone to go to work. Doubt that. Newfoundlanders are hardy people and a little wind wouldn’t keep them at home…would it?

Back on the road…

Port au Choix

Port au Choix

Look what we found @ Port au Choix.

We found the RV park in town. It was pretty amazing. Right on the ocean! But the wind!!!! The wind was brutal. No wonder there wasn’t anyone there. We could have just parked for free for the night, but we were honestly afraid we might tip over in the middle of the night.

The uber windy, completely empty RV park on the beach. Too windy for glamping!

Port au Choix

Taking pictures of each other getting blown away at the beach in Port au Choix

Port au Choix

Port au Choix

Port au Choix

Port au Choix

We needed to find someplace safer to spend the night. With no other options here in Windy-Town, we got back on the road. We ended up at the RV park in St. Barbe, right across the street from the ferry landing that would take us over to Labrador the next day.

It was still super windy in St. Barbe, but we were at least parked in a bit more protected area in the RV park/parking lot. The cool and odd thing about this place was first, that they had the fastest freakin’ internet you’ve ever seen. The second cool thing, was that the bathrooms and showers were luxuriously large and extraordinarily nice! And remember, St. Barbe is, arguably, in the middle of nowhere!!! What a treat and great way to end the day!

Falling In Love With A Coffee Drink, & Other Adventures In Newfoundland

Tablelands

Day 81          August 29, 2014

Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada

We got an early start this morning, and drove over to the tiny community of Trout River.

A great view to start out the day!

On the way to Trout River

Beach time @ Trout River

It was dang cold this morning, so you can imagine our delight when we saw wool socks for sale at one of the little houses on the main street. Mark picked out a nice pair of brown and white striped socks. I would have bought a pair too, but they all looked too huge.

Mark scores some hand made socks. Trout River

On the main street in Trout River

Lots of colorful stuff in Trout River

Nice looking pile o’ wood. Trout River

At 10:00 am, we joined the park ranger’s interpretive talk at the Tablelands.

The park ranger, trying to educate us all.

The Tablelands were pretty spectacular looking on their own, and with a bit of education about what we were actually looking at, we had an even greater appreciation for how special this place was. You can google it to learn more, but basically, this area is one of only a couple places on earth where the earth’s crust and mantle rock are exposed. This is orgasmic stuff for geologist types, of which I’m not, but, just sayin.’

Hiking + Tablelands…that way…..

Tablelands

Tablelands

Tablelands

Tablelands

Tablelands

Tablelands

Tablelands

Pointing out something tiny at Tablelands

Tablelands

Tablelands

Tablelands

Following our Tablelands visit, we returned to Woody Point to have lunch and have a better look around. This time I scored, and found a hand made knit wool hat in one of the little shops. Now Mark’s feet would be warm, and my head would be warm, and I guess we could swap socks and hat once in a while, if necessary.

Lunch at Merchant Warehouse Retro Cafe & Wine Bar, Woody Point

After lunch, we walked across the street to a little coffee shop to take on some “liquid energy.” I tried the “Black Forrest Coffee” concoction, which was out of this world, and I don’t even like coffee very much!! Secret recipe…coffee, chocolate syrup, and cherry juice. Yum!! Must remember to try this at home.

The coffee did us good, and kept us revved up for the rest of the afternoon of exploration. We took a short hike to Southeast Brook Falls, followed by a drive to Rocky Harbor, and a hike around Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse.

Back on the road

Back on the road

Hiking to Southeast Brook Falls

Hiking to Southeast Brook Falls

Hiking to Southeast Brook Falls

Hiking to Southeast Brook Falls

@ Lobster Cove

Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse

Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse

Hiking around Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse

Hiking around Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse

Hiking around Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse

Hiking around Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse

Hiking around Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse

There was a nice campground nearby at Green Point, Green Point Campground (duh!), with ocean views and a nice vibe, so we docked for the evening and relaxed. We took in the sunset, admired yet another wild looking expedition vehicle, cooked dinner, and played music around the campfire with one of our neighbors. When it was too cold to play anymore, we called it a night, and retired to the cozy Space Shuttle.

Another crazy looking expedition vehicle!

Sunset @ Green Point Campground

Mumble-Speak, Kit Kat Bars, and Moose….A Fine Day In Newfoundland!

The Tablelands, Gros Morne National Park

Day 80              August 28, 2014

(west coast of) Newfoundland, Canada

I was super excited to start our exploration of Newfoundland. However, as usual, before we could get on the road, we had to take the doggies on their morning walk. We leashed them up and followed a nice dirt road through the campground.

Too bad we didn’t have tons more time, or we could have followed the road all the way to the coast. Walking with Trixie and Dax can be a slow process, and at our pace, it seemed like it’d take us at least another hour to reach the coast, so, we turned around.

On the way back to our campsite, we stopped to talk to two of the nicest men you’d ever meet…two park rangers. This was, of course, also when we discovered that the Newfoundland accent can be a bit difficult to understand! They seem to speak with a slight mixture of Irish accent, and mumble-speak. Sometimes the mumble-speak is just in the first few words of a sentence, almost like an engine that’s just getting up to speed. This wasn’t too much of a problem though, ‘cause even without the first few words of a sentence, we could usually figure out the gist of the whole thing. And, no disrespect meant…just trying to describe the accent here.

Leaving J.T. Cheesman Provincial Park

The other interesting thing we discovered today, was the white chocolate Kit Kat candy bar. Y’all do know that white chocolate isn’t even chocolate, right? Mark and I are big fans of the Kit Kat bar. We were NOT fans of this silly white chocolate Kit Kat. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!

As we were driving north, we had our first moose sighting. A giant moose was grazing on the side of the road. Couldn’t believe our luck, to see our first moose on only our second day in Newfoundland. Should have bought a lottery ticket.

On the road north

On the road north

At the urging of one of our tourist center guide books, we took Rt 407 towards St. Andrews. Supposed to be some interesting old church down that way. I think we found it, but it didn’t seem like it had been worth the detour. Oh well, Rt 407 was kind of a bust for us, so we headed back to the main road to continue north.

I think this was the church we were supposed to be looking for..

We made a short stop in Cornerbrook. Just long enough to check out the nice local bike shop and to have lunch, then went on our way.

Gumby, hanging on for dear life as we fly down the road!

Passing by Marble Mountain Ski Resort

Just a bit more driving, and we arrived at Gros Morne National Park. We did a little drive-a-bout to get oriented, and then stopped for the night at Trout River Campground.

Entering Gros Morne National Park in the drizzling rain

Gros Morne NP!!

Heading into the park…

 

 

 

 

The view from Woody Point

The view from Woody Point

The view from Woody Point

The hustle and bustle of downtown Woody Point

 

 

Driving through the park

Nice views all around us!

The Tablelands

Our day was complete after making dinner and walking the dogs, and realizing that it was cold up here and we were completely unprepared for the weather! We’d have to wait until tomorrow to figure out what to do about our lack of enough warm clothing!

Mark and Dax on our evening dog walk on the dirt road next to our campground

At Last, A Blog Post With Some Educational Info

Landscape @ the visitor center

Day 79       August 27, 2014          

Nova Scotia to Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

We were catching the ferry to Newfoundland today.

Here’s a quick geography lesson. Newfoundland is an island. It’s part of the Canadian province called “Newfoundland and Labrador.” Labrador is the land mass (not an island) east of the Province of Quebec. The Province of Newfoundland and Labrador is made up of Newfoundland….and of Labrador. Make sense?

And one more thing, the pronunciations. The accent is on the last syllable of each of these names. NewfoundLAND, LabraDOR. It’s kind of odd and took a while to get used to it, but hey, if you’re gonna go there and talk to anyone while you’re there, you should at least learn how to pronounce the name of the place.

Moving on….we had our ferry reservation, and we arrived the required two hours prior to sailing. This meant a lot of “hanging around” time at the ferry terminal.

Fiona, in line to board the ferry

Somebody’s house is also in line to board the ferry

The two hours passed surprisingly quickly. Upon check in, the staff measure your rig from the very tip to the very toe. Fiona was 27’ long from the front to the back end of the bike rack. To be even more exact, Fiona was $258 CDN long!

The rest of that time “hanging around” was spent walking the dogs, and talking to all the other hanger-arounders. We met a bunch of nice people, including other RV-ers, other dog owners, and a truck driver from Newfoundland who was bringing home a little corgi puppy to his kids!

We finally loaded onto the ferry. While Mark was finishing up inside the rig, getting the doggies comfortable, one of the crew was nice enough to snap a photo of me next to the rig.

Into the belly of the beast

On the ferry!

This would be a six hour ferry crossing. The dogs had to stay in the RV, and we weren’t allowed to check on them. Access to the vehicle decks was strictly prohibited. Really, all we could do was set up their water bowl, and open up some windows, turn on the roof ventilation fan, and then try not to worry about them.

Our crossing was nice and smooth, for which I was quite thankful. I’d heard that it could go either way.

Leaving Sydney, Nova Scotia

Taking photos on the ferry

Beautiful seas

Good bye, Nova Scotia

The shadow versions of Mark and me

Before we knew it, we arrived in Port aux Basque, Newfoundland.

Arriving in Newfoundland

Arriving in Newfoundland

Arriving in Port aux Basque, Newfoundland

The trucks unload off the boat first

Yep, we’re here!

We stopped at the visitor center to pick up a bunch of info and a map. Not that you can get lost, as there’s pretty much only one road around most of the island. But it was helpful to see where everything was.

Landscape @ the visitor center

It’d been a long day and we were tired, so we stopped for the night at nearby J.T. Cheeseman Provincial Park. I enjoyed an evening music jam session with Keith and Marilyn, a couple from Alberta that had also just come over on the ferry. Our visit to Newfoundland was already starting out with a bang!