Down East with the Cousins

Thanks Ron, it was a great day!

Saturday: Foggy St Johns

Our trial with bad weather isn't over after all as the system that was to have moved off to the NE over the North Atlantic has stalled and today was another of fog and drizzle. We had planned to attend a Labrador Newfoundland Folk Festival in a local park but decided to postpone until tomorrow in hopes the forecast will be right and the weather will improve.

We did go downtown to stroll around for awhile and then visited The Rooms, the combined Provincial Museum, Art Gallery, and history research center.Named after the Fish Rooms used to process early catches the building is a tribute to the architecture and imagination of Atlantic Canada.

The Natural History Museum traced the development of the land masses of Northwest Atlantic as well as the first inhabitants of the continent. As 16th century Europeans searching for a route to Asia discovered the fish and whale harvests nearby Newfoundland became a center of westward expansion.

We still hope to enjoy the Folk Festival and a more extensive tour of St John's with better weather . Next on our agenda is to return to Bay Bulls for a whale and puffin cruise and lunch at Gatheralls recommended by everyone who have proceeded us.

Saturday: Folk Festival

Rain seems to be the order of the day around here! We awoke to light rain that turned to drizzle around 10:00Am. By noon it stopped so we had lunch and headed downtown to spend the afternoon at the Newfoundland & Labrador Folk Festival at Bannerman Park. Even though the weather was cool and occasionally drizzling there was a good crowd who had an enjoyable afternoon.

One of the side shows was a kitchen party by a group of French Labrador musicians who spent some time describing growing up in Labrador and having large parties showing up to sit around their kitchens enjoying food, music, and drinks.

The main stage changed performers every 20 minutes so we had a chance to sample a large variety of local music. We had a great time and stayed until the afternoon session ended at 5:00PM.

As we returned to the CRV we passed more of the multi-colored housing that identifies Newfoundland but is disappearing as homes are resided with aluminum siding that unfortunately seems to come in one color! From there it was on to My Brothers Place for dinner, recommended by Betty Brewer.

We also heard from friends on an Adventure Caravans trip who are over on the west side of the island at Gros Morne who have two days of good weather so maybe our time is coming!

The Folk Festival sounds great, rain or no rain. Is this typical weather or are you all just hitting "unusual" weather? Seems to me like no matter where we go, the locals tell us that they're having "unusual" weather

Keep sending the pictures and travelogue.....with gas prices where they are, this may be the only way we'll ever see that area. And if we ever do get there, just think of all the places and things we'll have on our "To Do" list.

Wendy
Cortez CO

wendycoke said:

The Folk Festival sounds great, rain or no rain. Is this typical weather or are you all just hitting "unusual" weather? Seems to me like no matter where we go, the locals tell us that they're having "unusual" weather
...
Wendy
Cortez CO

Click to expand...

Hence the memorable line spoken by the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz, "Unusual weather we're havin', ain't it?"  ;D

By definition: Since every day is a brand new day, the weather must be unusual for that day. ;D

The Brewers and Russ had beautiful weather over here last month, as we did in New Brunswick and PEI, but it has (according to the locals) been unusually wet the past couple of weeks.

We still have plenty of time so are hoping it will change, we are running out of museums and festivals here in St John's.

Each day the forecast for tomorrow is cloudy with clearing skis the following day but they change it by daylight.

Jeff and Sue,

I absolutely loved all the brightly painted Newfie homes.  There was even one where a person had painted leafless trees all the way around it.  There also was one in St. John's not far from Signal Hill where every section of the house was a different color.  Talk about multihued!  What fun!

ArdraF

Monday: Whales, Puffins, and .....Lobsters

We woke up to rain again this morning but were determined not to let another day get away drove back down the Irish Loop to Bay Bulls, about 15 miles south of St John's, to go on a Whale and Puffin Cruise. The weather all the way down and when we arrived at Gatheralls was wet but the earlier cruise got back and reported lots of whale sightings so we were off!

Just at the mouth of the bay was Gull Island that has no natural predators of birds so is loaded with several species of winged inhabitants including Puffins, Common Mures, and a couple of eagles hoping to snitch lunch from the smaller birds.

The Puffins are small birds barely 10 inches long who are aerodynamically challenged with very short wings and no tail feathers for directional control. They nest in small caves in the grass above the rocky cliffs and were there in large numbers.

Common Mures were another bird we saw in Alaska last summer and they nested on the open rock ledges of the cliffs. Their appearance is very much like small penguins with black coasts and white necks.As we departed Gull Island out into open water the ride got very rough but fortunately the drizzle had stopped and the visibility improved.

We traveled about ten miles along the coast until we found several whales who seemed content to perform for us solo and in pairs.The whales spend their summers here feeding on large schools of Caplin fish ("Whale Food" in Newfoundland) and then return to the Caribbean near Santo Domingo for the winter. Their diet can be up to two tons of fish a day while feeding.

We had a great time and then returned to Gatheralls where we had lunch at the restaurant on the dock with a couple from Ontario we had met on the boat. We watched a freighter next door unloading what appeared to be several hundred (or thousand) feet of anchor chain for a new off-shore oil field that is being developed just to the east. Jeff maintained his diet by enjoying another (small) lobster.

Tomorrow we plan to travel north of the city if the weather cooperates or take a guided tour of St John's and visit the Institute for Ocean technology if it doesn't. What a choice!

"There be whales here !!" Now wasn't that trip today worth suffering a little rain? And I'm sure Jeff is eating that lobster with NO butter, yes?

Wendy

No, but when I remember it I carry a little "I Can't Believe It's Butter" to use. :

Tuesday: Touring St John's

Another day of fog so we decided to take a guided tour of St John's to learn a bit more local history. The tour guide was Brendan McQuillan who the Brewers and Russ toured with last month when they where here. Brandon remembered "The pathologist with the nice camera" .

St John's, established in 1853, has been declared the oldest continually occupied city in North America. With a population of 100,000, is the provincial capital of Newfoundland and Labrador. Newfoundland was settled because of the cod fishing industry and alternatively saw French, Portuguese, and English ships seek haven in its protected harbors. The last Anglo/French battle in North America was held here in 1762 when the English defeated the French at Signal Hill.

We started the day with Brendan of Legend Tours by retracing our route last Friday to Cape Spear. What a difference today with the heavy fog! These photos of Dave and Jeanette Reavis and Sue were taken from the same viewpoint five days apart! We then stopped for a few minute browse around Petty Harbor where we saw many of the distinctive designs of the Newfoundland fishing fleet.

After a short break we left Petty Harbor and returned to Signal Hill in St John's.Signal Hill is so named because of the flags flown to signal arrival of different ships outside the protected harbor from the top of the 800 foot hill on the seaward side of the harbor. Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless telegraph message from Cornwall England on Signal Hill in December 1901. Our trip up Signal Hill would have been much nicer on a clear day!

A short distance away is a separate opening to the sea, Quiddy Viddy Harbor that was a cod fishery and now is a trendy part of St John's including the Quiddy Viddy Brewery and the Hop Shop. The St John's Regatta was held here last weekend and it was so crowded we couldn't get within a block of the water.

A few stops at city landmarks completed our tour and Brendan dropped us off at Tippy Park. We spent a leisurely afternoon and headed back down to Water Street for dinner at Hungry Fisherman where we had a delicious meal. Our afternoon wildlife sighting was a good-sized grouse that appeared to be looking for a handout in the campground!

The weather forecast is for more rain and fog in the morning so we are planning on visiting the Railroad Museum and doing a little shopping.

Wednesday:    Sun!

After a few showers this morning the weather turned cool and clearing for a chance to see St John's on a beautiful day. We revisited Signal Hill and the comparison of yesterday's photos with today's show what we missed during the tour of the city. We also had a chance to spend an hour or so in the Signal Hill Visitor's Center and learn the civilian and military history of the Hill.

On our way back downtown we stopped to check out one of the many examples of how Newfoundlanders paint their homes in multiple colors. Local lore is that the paint used for painting boats was not taxed so enough paint was always ordered to paint the house.

After a break for lunch downtown Sue did a little shopping while Jeff checked out the Railway and Coastal Museum on the south end of Water Street.
The Newfoundland Railroad and Coastal Boat system passed from Government sponsorship to private ownership back to government ownership again before being shut down in 1949 as highways became the lifeline across Newfoundland. Development of Newfoundland's mining and lumber industries were completely dependent upon the railroad and helped the Province survive the decline of the cod fishery.

We finished the afternoon doing a little shopping and returned for the m/h for dinner at home. Tomorrow we will take advantage of the good weather by driving north to tour Conception Bay.

Jeff and Sue,

Down near the bottom of Signal Hill are a couple of hotels on the water side.  I can't remember which one (!) but one has a restaurant about ten floors up.  It's neat because you can view the whole harbor while dining.  We also had good food there.

There was another one at the Quiddi Viddi harbour that also was good.

Gee, if you didn't know better you might get the impression that this group like to eat! 

ArdraF

Ardrea:

You are right!

We have been without WIFI for a couple of days so have been out of touch. I am using the Bonavista Coffee Shop's right now.

Beautiful sight, as Cabot said.
We have to head down to Trinity for the afternoon walk and play tonight.

Thursday: Conception  Bay

Our last day in St John?s had great weather and we headed out for a sightseeing trip around Conception Bay. We headed north to Torbay and then west to pick up the east coastline of Conception Bay at Portugal Cove that offers beautiful views of  Bell Island, site of Canada?s longest operating iron ore mine. Unfortunately a tour of the mine and island would have consumed most of our day so we continued south through Conception Bay South and Seal Cove to Holyrood, stopping only for photos and a fill up at Tim Horton?s since Jeff has become addicted to their coffee since we started this trip. Holyrood is the southern end of Conception Bay and offers beautiful scenery looking northward.

We worked our way around to the west side of the Bay and noticed a lot of evidence of the closing of the cod fishery 16 years ago with rusting deep sea fishing boats tied up or grounded on the beaches of the harbors around the bay. Today snow crab is the large seafood crop from Newfoundland and there were many piles of crab baskets and crab equipped fishing boats in the harbor.

We wound our way down to several of the small towns on the waters edge and enjoyed the beauty of Newfoundland?s rocky shores. One of those small towns was Brigus and we stopped there to look at its beautiful rocky harbor. One of the little trivia things we learned is that Captain Robert Bartlett grew up in Brigus and is buried there. Bartlett was captain of the Roosevelt, Admiral Byrd?s ship for his North Pole Expedition in 1902.

One particularly picturesque peninsula juts out from the western shore of the bay near Bay Roberts to Port de Grave with its large fishing fleet and Hibb?s Cove at the end of the Peninsula marked by its rocky shores. Port de Grave has a thriving Snow Crab industry and its harbor is full of fishing boats.

Next stop was lunch at Spainards Bay and then a chance to visit the memorial to aviators who departed Harbour Grace Airfield for Transatlantic flights including Amelia Earhart on her flight as the first women to make a solo flight across the Atlantic.  The mounted DC-3 is one that flew for Air Labrador and is named Harbour Grace. Just off shore is the SS Kyle, one of the first ships built for the Newfoundland Coastal Fleet that saw service as the ferry to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland as well as serving local coastal communities and as part of the sealing fleet. After suffering damage from an iceberg the Kyle was moored at Harbour Grace for repairs but broke free during a storm and ended up beached where it is now located. It has been designated a provincial landmark and was repainted in its original coastal fleet colors.

By the time we reached Carbonear it was 3:00PM and we headed back to St John?s for dinner and relaxation. Fortunately the new highway down the bay to the TransCanada Highway is much shorter and faster than our winding route out through the many harbors today.

Friday: On the Move

We began our drive east across Newfoundland in a driving rainstorm that reminded usw of the winter storms along the Washington coast. The temperatures were warmer but winds reached 40-50 mph and the rain fell horizontally in blinding sheets!

Our drive took about three hours and we are comfortably settled at the Cabot Hiway RV Park about 15 miles from Trinity, NL on the Bonaventure Peninsula. We will be here until Sunday.

Today ranks as one of our top days so far in Newfoundland. Under clear skies we left Cabot Trail Campground around 9:00AM and followed the west coast of the Bonavista Peninsula eastward to Cape Bonavista and the town of Bonavista. As we have found all along the Newfoundland coast the views are awesome!

When Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) first sighted his landing point in Newfoundland history records his first remark as ?O Buena Vista? in his native Italian, and oh good sight it is. Cabot, looking for a western route to the Far East claimed the New Foude Lande in the name of England who had sponsored his trip. The Mathews replica and museum was a great place to start our tour and unfortunately we did not have time to see all the attractions of Bonavista. We did travel out to Cape Bonavista to see the lighthouse and to see the amazing rock formations near Dungeon Provincial Park.

After a quick lunch for Sue while Jeff updated the blog and checked email at the Bonavista Pub and Coffee Shop we were off back down the Peninsula to Trinity Bight and the restored historical fishing village of Trinity. Trinity Bight (small bay) is home to ten communities that were settled in the early 1500?s in an absolutely beautiful, protected part of the Trinity Bay coast.

We were there on the recommendation of Betty Brewer to take part in The New Founde Lande Trinity Pageant, a biweekly stroll through Trinity as the professional troupe from The Rising Tide Theatre relives life in Trinity Bight since the late 1400?s. The Pageant, which takes 2 ? hours, is filled with the joy and sorrow of life in early Newfoundland. The entire production includes moving to scenes that reflect life 500 years ago.

When the troupe tells of the sealing disaster that killed 24 local fisherman out in the Bay in the early 1800?s when the weather suddenly turned we were taken to the cemetery as widows grieved and then into St Paul?s Anglican Church for a memorial service. You really feel you have seen the lives of the residents in early Trinity.

We stayed for a dinner theater production whose music and stories reflected Newfoundland culture. The tale tales always had a ?Newfie? twist and were very entertaining.After dinner it was time for the company?s production of ?The Joan Morrissey Story?, the telling of the life of one of Newfoundland?s popular folk singers whose life ended tragically in 1978. By the time the play was over and we drove the 15 miles back to the campground it was after 11:00PM, a long day!

Sunday:  A Wet Day in Gander!

We left the Bonavista Peninsula this morning in another driving rain and it lasted all the way to Gander. Unfortunately our view of Terra Nova National Park was rather foggy!

We arrived here to more rain and after checking into the Country Inn Trailer Park Sue decided it was a good afternoon to defrost the refrig, read a book, and stay dry. After hooking up in the rain (Again!) Jeff headed for the North Atlantic Aviation Museum after stopping at Tim Horton?s for a coffee, his first in three days. The Museum depicts the role Gander has played in Newfoundland?s aviation history as well as the very important place it has in the world?s.

The early pioneers here, as they did in most remote locales, provided the lifeline to outlying communities in the 20th century. Gander?s location halfway between Europe and the US also saw it take its place very early in aviation development as a launching point for early flights across the Atlantic, and a vital refueling stop for east and westbound flights during WWII to the current day.

Part of the display reveals the role the entire area played supporting the 31 planeloads of passengers and crews who landed here without warning on 9/11/2001 when all airspace in the US was suddenly closed. The 9500 residents found themselves hosts to 53 aircraft with 6500 passengers and crew from all over the world!

Also depicted are those who have lost their lives in aviation accidents in Newfoundland including the 256 members of the 101st Airbourne headed home from the Mideast on December 12, 1985 .

Jeff left the Museum and drove out to the 101st crash site which is now a memorial to those who died, erected by the members of the Canadian Forces unit here in Gander. Standing in the driving rain thinking of how close they all were to being home for Christmas that year was very moving.

We leave in the morning for Twillingate. The weather cleared tonight and is forecast to be good for the next few days; for once we hope the forecast is right!

Monday:  Twillingate

This island seems to have the most photogenic coast we have seen! Every time we move on to another locale it seems to be even more stunning than the last and the rocky coast around Twillingate is no exception.

We are settled into the Peyton Woods CG for three days and plan to take it easy while we are here, taking in the local sights and evening entertainment. The weather is also cooperating as it was clear and cool here today with good weather forecast for the rest of our stay. Dave Reavis called today to say so long as they are taking the ferry back to Nova Scotia in the morning. They are on the west coast and it was clear here as well. The next round of precipitation seems to be over in Maine and New Brunswick so we will enjoy the nice change while it lasts.

After having lunch and driving around town we were headed back to the m/h when Jeff diverted out to Crow Head and the Twillingate Lighthouse for a quick look around. After checking out the lighthouse we were climbing around when we heard people calling out the whale sightings down below us.

We spent a fascinating 90 minutes watching a pod of six or seven whales cavorting around two whale watching boats. Our location above the boats made a great vantage point although I am sure the passengers were enthralled.

These whales were going deep so we got to watch them about every 8-10 minutes as they breeched for air. We will be going back out later in the evening when locals tell us they are even more numerous.

This evening we attended a local Newfoundland dinner show that featured local entertainment of music and humor. We ended up assigned to sit with an RVing couple from South Carolina that we spent three hours with last week on our tour of St Johns. It's a small world.