Aug 28, 2010 - Bell Island and Middle Cove Beach

No rain today. More blue sky. We drove west to Portugal Cove on the shore of Conception Bay and took the ferry to Bell Island. This is where a large number of the Newfoundlanders in Cambridge used to live. Ferry was a 20 minute ride and then we toured the Mine #2 Museum at Wabana. They used to mine iron ore and the mines extended 2 ½ miles underground and went under the ocean floor. The mines closed in 1966 and that's when a number of residents moved to Cambridge. You could take a tour down the mine shaft but neither on of us was too...

Aug 27, 2010 - Botanical Garden and Ches's

A rainy morning. Almost a heavy mist but still wet. Decided to do laundry this morning. Marilyn is in charge and I'm just the hired help. After lunch we decided to give the botanical gardens another try. It was still misting but that doesn't bother us. The gardens were OK. Marilyn wanted to see the pitcher plants and the wild orchids. It was at the end of the season but still interesting. Late afternoon we took the bus downtown and wandered Duckworth and Water Streets visiting the shops. Marilyn did most of the visiting, I did a lot of...

Aug 27, 2010 - Mama I'm Coming Home

This will be our last post (unless we are standed in Toronto, lets cross our fingers). St. Johns is a city with a lot of character. We arrived Thursday afternoon and we to signal hill. Within the hour we were there fog rolled in and visablity went to zero. The hill is perched high about he entryway into St. John's harbour. There we learned about hte history of St.John's, similar to all maritime history (Halifax, Louisburg). Later on we took in George Street. It was neat to see all teh bars on one street (closed off to trafic). We went to...

Aug 26, 2010 - Quidi Vidi and the Cartalator

This morning was a combination of things. I had to get some blood work done as part of my regular maintenance and while I was doing that Marilyn decided to hike to the Memorial University Botanical Gardens which she had been told were about 20 minutes away. Off I went and off she went. Took me about an hour and then I came home. Marilyn wasn't back yet so I washed bugs off the front of the trailer. That took awhile and she still wasn't back so I figured she must be having a great time. As I was preparing lunch she arrived, obviously out of...

Aug 26, 2010 - St. John's Newfoundland

Wednesday, August 25th – Newfoundland Ferry The day was spent at the RV park on Cape Breton Island in preparation for the ferry ride over to Newfoundland tonight/overnite. It was housekeeping day! Want the details? No? In the afternoon we were served lunch by our hosts, then at 4:30pm we left for the ferry at the Sidney, Nova Scotia dock. We pulled out of the park by rig number (we have big numbers on front & back of each rig). We all lined up! It was kind of cool to see all 23 rigs with cars attached, 5th wheels being pulled by pickups &...

Aug 25, 2010 - Looking for Whales in All the Wrong Places

Today is the day we go looking for whales. We headed south along the coast towards Bay Bulls and passed through Witless Bay and Mobile. Ended up in Bauline East at Colbert's Puffin and Whale Tours. This came recommended and turned out to be excellent. Not the big catamaran but a smaller fishing boat. Our tour had 12 people and the captain/tour guide. A beautiful day to be on the water sunny and calm (as calm as the North Atlantic gets). We were 5 minutes from the Witless bay Ecological Reserve and soon we were surrounded by puffins. They...

Aug 24, 2010 - Signal Hill and Harbour Tour

Clouds this morning but starting to clear. We have found that you can't plan too far ahead in St. John's as the weather is unpredictable. You also have to take into account the height of the seas if you are planning a water activity because if the seas are too high the boats won't go out of the harbour. We went to Signal Hill this morning and it gave us spectacular views of downtown St' John's and the harbour. It's a National Park and the displays were excellent. It was easy to see how they defended the harbour. Back to the trailer for...

Aug 23, 2010 - The Rooms and The Big R

Rain and fog this morning which we expected. After breakfast we had some errands to do; get propane, groceries, Canadian Tire and a stop at Home Depot. It is just like being at home with all the same stores. Now that we have the city figured out it is much easier to get around. Home for lunch. The rain stopped so we decided to try the bus system to get down town. The bus stop was at Memorial University which is a five minute drive from here so we parked there and hopped on. What a great way to see the city. No parking and we don't have to...

Aug 22, 2010 - St John's Pippy Park

A lazy start. Left the campground about 10:30 AM. Marilyn is having a hard time with the moose spotting duties. On a stretch of highway with one on the largest moose populations on the island and she didn't see one. Zero! Zilch! Time for some remedial work. She's still my favourite! Arrived in St. John's at Pippy Park Campground at 12:30 PM. Set up and had lunch. Great sites. Private and fairly level. Pippy Park is an urban area of 1300 acres and is only about a 30 minute walk from downtown. It has all sorts of trails for hiking and cross...

Aug 20, 2010 - As Far East As You Can Go

After breakfast at Smitty's we headed south on what is known as the Admiral's Coast,going as far south as Petty Harbour. After taking a short look around the docks and the info center we headed back north to the Cape Spear National Historic Site. Not only is this the farthest east point of land in North America, it is also the site of Newfoundland's oldest lighthouse. We toured the old lighthouse and had a very informative talk with one of the on-site historians; being a lighthouse keeper in the mid 1800's was quite a lucrative job, they...

Aug 19, 2010 - Woke Up In A Fog!

After packing our stuff back down to the truck, moving to different hotel every night we're here!, we headed of to Costco to grab a few things and then it was off to Signal Hill. The part of St. John's we had stayed in and where Costco is located was under clear and sunny skies, not so when we got to the top of Signal Hill and Cabot Tower. Not only could you barely see the tower from the parking lot, the town and the harbour were socked right in! We headed back into town and spent the late morning early afternoon at the Avon Mall and then...

Aug 18, 2010 - A Day of Wind & Rain

We pulled out of Grand Falls with great intentions this morning, however shortly after our morning coffee it started to pour, and blow, and pour some more. It was so ugly when we went by the Gander Aviation Museum that we didn't even want to get out of the truck. A decision was made that unless the weather improved we would just keep rolling until we hit St.John's, and here we are at the Holiday Inn in St. John's! We stopped at the Visitor Centre in Terra Nova National Park long enough to use the washrooms and check out the inside displays....