Dear Gilles,
Karate Kid Legends was a good watch. We can see it again at home with you.
There was a huge rain while we were in the theatre.
I got screeched!
Boys were not allowed into the pub for the ceremony - but it was still before crowds and bartender brought the cod out to the front door where they were and witnessed everything.
George Street closes for minors at 8:30, so we caught a cab back to the site before sun set.
Dear Gilles
We woke up to rain. This new site makes me happy.
It's not as windy as the other site would have been.
We have trees.
We have privacy.
I know how to set up a tarp and a rain shelter to keep us dry. The wind on the other hand ...
We went to the mall today and I had the battery in my phone replaced and a new screen protector installed.
We also went back to the Card/Game Store for more supplies for their hobbies.
We are just chilling today.
Dear Gilles,
It was a windy night last night. I don't like sleeping in the wind, in a tent. Even though I know everything is secure, it still keeps me up. It always has.
We moved sites within the same park. We haven't had any rain, so packing up is ideal today.
We took an RV site that has water, electrical and sewer. The water tap is nice to have. There are trees on all three sides of the site - nice and sheltered from the wind. I booked it for the next three nights which are predicting 50+km wind gusts and rain. I am MUCH happier. I didn't realize how much I hated that wide-open site, until we settled in to this new, private site for $8/night more.
On the high recommendation of Sister, we started a two hour drive down to Cape St. Mary's to see some birds.
On the way, we went to Manuel's River interpretation centre.
It was closed.
The website stated it should be open from Wednesday to Sunday. It was one of the CASC reciprocal agreements we could visit. There were chives in the community garden. Luc proved it to me.
We carried on through beautiful scenery and fog rolling across fields of bog and marsh.
We arrived at Cape St. Mary's and it was fogged in. The lighthouse fog horn was sounding every 30 seconds. We took a walk out to the rookery anyway and WOW.
Windy.
Crowded with birds. And people with big A$$ camera lenses.
Ganets and kittiwakes left no part of the rocks exposed for their sheer numbers.
It was fun and I'm sure BC has nothing like it.
On the drive back around - we stopped at the Historic site of Castle Hill. The lady at the desk had a distinctive Canadian french accent, so she said she was from Ottawa but married a Newfie and loves the climate vs the grey super cold of Ontario.
Castle Hill gave us mp3 players for the guided tour. We liked it. It was nice to have the tour with the audio and still experience everything. And more economical to the taxpayer than having "animators' out on the fort. Mark Carney's Canada Pass still is not in effect - so we're still using our $75 National Park pass - which we've definitely used every bit of it. Though I wonder if I will get a refund for it since all sites are now free. Facebook has chatter that it was silly to make attractions like camping, that are already at capacity, even cheaper when they can't be accessed even with a user fee.
It's interesting how old the east coast is. And how all the National Historic sites are re-creations. They are NOT original. The originals were either blown up and destroyed, or during archeological exploration rocks were removed from the site and thrown down the hill etc. People have been put to work to try and imitate the way the Canada was 300 years ago. It's interesting and yet, you know it's all fake.
Dear Gilles,
With our unsatisfactory bike adventure yesterday, a nice guy at Cape Spear suggested that we check out the White Hills area for bike trails. There are bike trails there. We drove to the neighbourhood. Got stopped by a security gate for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, were directed to a parking spot and unloaded the bikes.
These trails are all loose gravel, slate shards and not marked at all. Well, they're marked at the entrance with an "Enter at your own risk" sign that also includes a you're trespassing and we won't come to rescue you sentiment. But according to the security guard, and the cars in the visitor spots, there are a lot of people that use these trails. We were passed by one fellow, skillfully pedalling uphill and a dog walker.
With the lack of signage, I had to rely on the Trailforks app for location and direction of travel. It was not really a fun and satisfying morning. We did find a munitions bunker in the middle of the forest though. Looked it up on forgotten Newfoundland.
https://www.hiddennewfoundland.ca/east-white-hills-military-site
We then headed to the Johnson Geo Park with free admission via CASC reciprocal agreement.
We took our time in the small centre and learned about oil and offshore rigs and the rock cycle. The centre is built underground so that the walls are literally the bedrock of Signal Hill. There is no room for expansion on this site so, it will be a small centre in to the future.
After this, we probably should have quit for the day. But we went to The Rooms. The building is architecturally fun. The art gallery portion was small but effective. The museum portion was too much information for us. It had a strong military floor and semi-recent life in Newfoundland, but we had already visited places with very similar displays.
The BEST display was a preserved giant squid. We spent a lot of time observing it in the tank.
We came back to the campsite and watched the effectiveness of the tent to withstand the wind that promised to last all night long.
Dear Gilles,
Luc really enjoyed biking in PEI and has been requesting another similar experience. On the website, the trail around Quidi Vidi lake shows up with a pump track and a trail around the lake. We unloaded our bikes near the pump track, and went the opposite way around the lake. It wasn't until we were half way around it when there were signs that said no bicycles. So, we walked our bikes on boardwalks and were disappointed for a lot of the trail. We found the pump track - which was asphalt. Tested it. Gave it a thumbs down for being too tight - too unforgiving on the hard surface and in general not fun.
Then we headed out to Cape Spear and the most easterly point in Canada.
The whales were out. We saw them!
It was NOT windy and a very enjoyable morning.
Then off to Petty Harbour to the Mini Aquarium. We got in free with the CASC reciprocal agreement. It was cute. The boys are now critics on museum displays and set ups and gave this one a thumbs up for being a good visit.
We still had time in the day to make it up to Signal Hill for a visit. Great look out point and I still need my National Park pass for admission.
Dear Gilles,
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
WE MISS YOU!
We're settled at Pippy Park - an urban campground in St. John's. We're on the second to last tent site that is butted up against Allendale Road, a busy street. We face on to the giant RV parking field. It's wide open. There's no wind today, but it's just not a pretty camp site. Luckily I had a reservation though because the tent sites are full. Each site has a 15amp outlet for charging devices, which is handy and I think a lot of private/regional campgrounds are going in that direction for tent sites. St. Lawrence Parks had a section of plug-in tent sites.
We found breakfast at the nearest Tim Horton's.
We drove downtown St. John's today. Checked out George street at 10am. Places were busy with brunch customers.
We parked where I could find a spot - which was near the harbour - and took a little walk to the Terry Fox Memorial. I didn't know there was one here, so I was pleasantly surprised at MILE 0. There was a plaque that pictured the Thunder Bay monument and others that told the story and a brief biography. The site itself is tucked out of the way of anyone casually driving by. You have to go and search it out based on street-post sign directions.
Beside our truck - and making the St.John's landmark list - was a giant pile of road salt.
We also found Jelly Bean row. Which was also nice to find on a quiet Sunday, where parkiing was easy and traffic was low.
The Fluvarium is open on weekends this time of year. It boasts nine underground windows to see brown trout in their natural freshwater habitat. It was a nice visit.
We wished Cousin a Happy 3rd Birthday from the pile of salt.
I still need to do some research on what our next few days look like. This is the last leg of the sightseeing portion of the trip. Once we get on the ferry to the mainland we'll be looking westward all the rest of the way.
Dear Gilles,
It was a long day of driving today.
The sun was shining!
I planned a long day of driving.
We went up to Trinity - checked out a UNESCO geo-spot. Saw the town. Returned to the highway.
We went in to Elliston for the puffin lookout spot.
Saw the puffins. Boys were amazed at how small they were - especially beside seagulls. No photos. Too far away and too tiny. We just enjoyed seeing them.
The boys sat in a chair and called themselves the Puff-Vins.
Then we went to the Puffin Cafe for lunch. I got some Cod au Gratin in honour of Come From Away - and I thought we should try it. Lunch took a long time to be served so that added to our time.
Then we headed to Bonavista. Saw an iceberg in the wild. Visited the John Cabot statue.
Booted out of there on our way to St. John's campground.
We're staying at Pippy Park. It's right beside a main road and all the sites are jammed as close together as possible. Our site is wide open for sun, rain and wind. And it's windy.
Our tent is pegged down GOOD.
I'm wired from driving. I'm tired from driving.
We'll get our feet under us tomorrow.
I need a new purpose and project to post. I'm 'not allowed' to go travelling this year - after prolonged absence last year. So...
