More in Newfoundland

 Hello Again!

We are still in Newfoundland and enjoying ourselves. And we are also having our thoughts turn toward Steve's New York home.  His mom is on hospice and is still joking and smiling and is focused on enjoying her moments.  We are looking forward to seeing her again.

Last I wrote to you it was warm out.  We drove out to a sandy beach to go for a swim.  But as we were getting ready to park a man was waving his arms over head, standing with three other people by a dark pickup truck.  We drove over and discovered he had tried to drive out on the sand and got stuck.

We gathered ropes and straps to try to pull him out.  The back passenger tire was really buried where he had tried to spin his way out.  I got on my hands and knees and used my gloved hands to dig the sand away.

First try, a strap broke.  Second try, a rope broke.  I had noticed that the guy driving was just spinning that back wheel like crazy instead of trying to slowly drive out.  I wondered why he didn't have four wheel drive.  

Before he tried the third time, I tried to coach him to go slow, don't accelerate or he will just bury the tire again.  He seemed to resent my advice, but he followed the directions and Steve pulled him free of the loose sand.

He then told us a Newfie joke.  "Why are the blueberries green and not blue?  Because they are not red."

They said they were in Lewisporte and were at the beach for the day.  But the beach was covered with jelly fish. It was really covered, like polkadots.  They really had the Irish lilt of so many Newfies.  The driver gave us a business card and told us if we were in Lewisporte, call them and they would buy us a coffee.  

As we were driving away, Steve and I joked about how we have to struggle to understand the Newfoundlanders.  They remind him of the Swedish Chef on the Muppets Show.  Remember? We laughed and laughed. Here's a video of the Swedish Chef making popcorn shrimp.

We drove to another place to swim.  We were staying at Sanger Memorial Campground in Grand Falls-Windsor, making our way toward St. Johns on the East side of the island.  I asked at the office about places to swim and she told us about "Leech Brook".  I think I told you this part.  We really loved it, a creek running between cliffs with waterfalls that created three areas of ponds.

The next day Steve saw in the news that the rescue team had to go in there and rescue an injured boy.  Lots of boys had been climbing the cliffs and jumping into the pools.  We even watched a young boy take long minutes to gather his courage.  Then he jumped, trying to do a flip, but landed flat on his back on the water.  Poor guy, his back red, fighting back tears.  He and his friends left right after that.

We noticed that the helicopters that were coming to get water in the river by our campsite were now getting water more often.  They weren't going very far anymore.  Then we saw from our campsite where the smoke was rising.

That was our last day at that campsite anyway.  We left and headed further east where I had made us reservations at Terre Nova National Park.

Our first stop was the visitor's center.  

There we saw whale bones and I wondered if that was the only time we would get to see the big mammals on this trip.  We have one more boat trip scheduled...

It was very windy the day we arrived, but the next morning it was nice and we went for a little kayak ride.  The water was crystal clear.

The wind picked up on our paddle back to our truck.  We got splashed a little by the waves.  It was exciting, the wind pushed us at a good clip and splashed me once in a while.  It was never bad enough to worry about our safety.

St. John's

We left the trailer in our campsite and went for a day and night to St. John's.   I had reserved a place downtown near George Street.  George, we were told, is the street with bar after bar and lots of music.

Our room was huge and lovely.  It had big windows looking down on the active pedestrian street below.

We had been told not to miss the jelly bean houses.  We were able to walk to them from our motel.  

A lot of the houses are painted bright colors in St. Johns.

We were told by the motel that due to the fire and smoke, the Canadian games were being moved and the cycling event was happening in St. Johns right by our motel!  Cool!

This vendor below was carving beautiful whale tails from soft rock.  For a donation we could pick a chip of rock from a box.

Besides the cycling event, there was a wedding happening downtown too.  

I took a video for you.

We struggled to find a place with music and dinner.  We had dinner and then we went to a bar for music.  Only the music advertised wasn't there!  Well, at least we got a beer out of a Dildo glass.  Dildo is the name of a small town in Newfoundland.  It now has a brewery.  I am sure the name helps them get more business.

There is a tradition to become an certified Newfie, you gotta get screeched.  We have some of the local Screech Rum, kiss a cod, and in St. John's you also have to eat some balogna.  We didn't get screeched. though we are enjoying the rum.

We went to Signal Hill.  This is right in St. John's up on a hill that is part of the narrows leading into the protected harbor.

We parked by a visitors center that was focused on the geology of the area.  But we didn't go through the museum,  we just used the bathrooms.  In the lobby was this wall garden.  What a nice idea.

The rocks on Signal hill are older than the rocks we saw in Gros Morne on the otherside of the island.

We are too late in the season to see glaciers floating by.  We are too late in the season to see whales from the shore.  We are too late in the season to see seals.   Steve says, next time we come we are coming in June.

We walked along the road to get to the top of the hill where the information about the first signal sent across the Atlantic that was received in an abandoned hospital on the hill.

At the top of the hill I saw people walking way below us.  I wanted to walk down there too.  It was all so beautiful.

Below is a picture of the trails as seen from the top of the hill.

It was such a beautiful walk.

St John's has a lot of colorful buildings even outside of Jelly Bean Row.  It makes the skyline and shore bright and cheerful.  I think the colors might be helpful during the long winters.

The trail made a loop, taking us into town, between houses, and up narrow streets.

Where we were camped in Terre Nova, there are a few hiking trails.  Somewhere, we learned about some fir trees that grow dence clumps of branches.  That is where the cones are.

We got lucky again and had another pretty morning with little wind and we were able to take a bike ride!  There are no trails for our kinds of bikes, so we rode Hwy One which has a nice size shoulder in most places.

We went up to a scenic overlook.  It was a challenging climb.  I would have been walking much of it if I didn't have e-assist.  Steve made it the whole way.   Part way up we stopped to rest and there were lots blueberries by the road.  We vowed to come back that evening with containers.  Is it illegal to pick berries in a National Park?

At the top of the overlook we were joined by a couple with some of the Canadian Accent.  They asked where we were from.  I told them that we aren't very proud of it right now with what is happening, but we are from Florida, USA.   She said she prays every night that something will happen and the orange menace will no longer be there.  I said, it isn't just him.  She told us several times, "Welcome to Canada, we are so glad you are here."  She and her husband usually go to Arizona in the winters.  She knows a lot of people who won't be going back there because of what is going on.  So sad.  

Anyway, they told us we should go to Bonavista to see the puffins.  And they said that we should go to the dinner theater in Twillingate.  (We had already planned on a day trip to Twillingate.)

They also raved about the play in Gander, "Come From Away."    I was thrilled because we already had reservations.

We rode 40 miles!  Pretty good for not riding much this summer so far.  On the way back the wind picked up.  Steve even tried to block the wind for me.  Even with e-assist it was dragging me so slow I could hardly keep my balance at times.

Steve said, "I am tired of the wind on this island."   I agreed.

It was a cold and windy day that we drove to Bonavista to see some puffins.  We parked in a lot near the lighthouse that allows free overnight parking.  We gotta share this information with Ann and Jim.  They have a touring van and like to find good places to park overnight for free.

Below, you can see the interesting Bonavista lighthouse.

It was very windy and very cold.   See how Steve is dressed? We wore our rain pants to keep out the wind.  The wind would gust so hard I had to really push into it to keep my balance.

We saw puffins!  Only, can you believe it, it was so windy we could not hold our monocular still.   I took a video.  You might want to turn the volume down, there is lots of wind sounds.  

Afterward we drove toward Elliston and went to see the Puffins there.  Below is a picture of the Dragon something or other.  Since the wind was so stong, it was fun and thrilling to see the waves splashing against the cliffs.

Elliston claims to be the root cellar capital of Canada.  There are several by the Puffin viewing site.

Here is what Puffins look like.  Since my videos and pictures are teeny-tiny, I took a picture of a sign for you.  This is an adult.

And this is a youngster.

After Terre Nova, we started our journey back toward the Ferry to the mainland.  It will take a few days driving, so we have reservations at Notre Dame Provincial Park.  It is about 30 miles from Gander.  I stopped at a gym in Gander.  It was poorly rated on google, but it was pretty good for my needs.

Last night we drove back to Gander to see the play, "Come From Away".  Thanks to all the people who recommended we see this play while in Gander.  It was great!    The singing talent was great, the live 8-piece orchestra was great, the story was awesome.

Where were you on 9/11/2001?   In 2001 Gander was a town of about 10,000 people.  They had an airport that used to be the largest in the world.  It was used by most trans-Atlantic flights to re-fuel.  But as the planes got bigger and able to make the flight without refueling, the airport pretty much wasn't used much.  But on 9/11 38 planes landed with about 7,000 passengers.  All within just a few hours.

The airport operated with just two traffic controllers at a time, but when the US air space was closed, all 14 traffic controllers knew right away to show up and help.

Think about it, the population of the town increased  by 70% in three or four hours.  The people were stranded here for at least five days.  Think food, bedding, clothing, entertainment, and most of all support as they manuevered through shock and fear.

What was really fun was to watch the play knowing that it all happened right here in Gander.

Steve bought two books about it that were for sale after the play was over.

After the event of 2001, the community asked residents invokved to submit a crochet square with thier story of the event.  They were expecting 100 squares.  The hall where the play takes place has over 2000 crocheted squares and stories.

Today is another cold windy day.  We are at the library in Gander.

Next week we try again to see a whale with a boat ride from Twillingate.  We have booked a motel room and plan on going to the dinner theater there that folks recommended.

My sister in Wisconsin said that there was weeks of heavy smoke in the area from Canadian wildfires.  The air there has finally cleared.  We got rain here and the cooler weather has helped the fighters get better control and reduce the intensity and size of the fires.

We are now making plans to join up with friends (Louise and Richard) near Quebec City on our way back to New York.  Fingers crossed that the weather cooperates.  We are also excited to try the rail trail between Lake Placid and Tupper, NY with Holly and Lois from our Florida biking group in September.

Enjoy your moments.