My first visit to Newfoundland

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luckyjudy

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Joined
Jul 4, 2010
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6
Judy says she has now got us enrolled so I can write about my trip to Newfoundland.  Hopefully my comments and suggestions will help others planning to head to this gorgeous spot.  First I should introduce myself:  I am Kirk; I was trained as a Guide Dog for the Blind and am still working for that organization as a stud dog ( a great job, by the way).  I have graciously been granted a sabbatical this summer so I can visit my ancestral home.  Well, I'm not actually going to make it to Labrador, but Judy pointed out the ferry as we drove along the coast.  You see, I am a yellow lab and travel with my buddy Xerxes, also a former guide dog, and an elderly Wheaten terrier called Reilly.  We really all love traveling in the motorhome.  We can get up and stretch whenever we want and I can help the driver check for moose.  Mind you, bathroom breaks are a little confusing: every time Judy opens the door, the landscape has changed.  I can't even find my favourite tree!  So Rv'ing for us boys has its unique perspective.  I hope you will enjoy my notes.
It's been 2 weeks since we left home in Ottawa.  We were wakened up at 2 am so we could head off and get through Montreal before the traffic!  OUr first stop was just on the other side of Montreal.  There is a great park there between the 2 highways with lots of parking for motorhomes and trucks and since it was daylight, Judy took us each for a quick stroll.  Then back to sleep.
I will get out the notes later, so I can give you some tips in case you are making this journey.
Happy tails!  Kirk
 
Poquita, Pancho and Pucci are eagerly waiting for Kirk's next installment! Meanwhile, as Hungarian Pulik, they're sleeping away during the heat of the afternoon.
 
Kirk

Hello and welcome to the forum. I am sooo lucky I am a cat and not a dog. I don't have to wait for a potty break, I have my own built in litter box allowing me to do my thing any time of day. I bet my motorhome is cooler than yours!

Meow
Tarzan
 
luckyjudy said:
There is a great park there between the 2 highways with lots of parking for motorhomes

Do you recall the name of the park?
 
Kirk, Sounds like you're having lots of fun. I'm also a yellow lab - we are a handsome, intelligent breed, aren't we? My Mom applied to adopt a guide dog wanna-be but when she found me at the pound, how could she resist?

Hope we meet up some day - I can tell you about lots of cool dog parks and other places to have doggie fun.

Gordon
p.s. And who wants to do your business in a box of sand when there's a whole big world out there just waiting to be peed on?
 
I am not sure of the name, but I will verify details on my return.  I believe it is at Exit 196 off Autoroute 40.  It's not actually a park, but there are picnic tables and a spot to buy food too, but best of all--a great place for relief!
 
Wendy said:
p.s. And who wants to do your business in a box of sand when there's a whole big world out there just waiting to be peed on?

We cats value our privacy. Some things are not meant for the whole world to see. That is why my litter box is enclosed. And we are not so stupid as to waste our time chasing a dumb ball.

TZ
 
OK.  I had to leave before finishing off our first day.  We stopped at a great spot in Riviere du Loup.  That's in Quebec on the south shore--about 400 miles from our starting point--a very long day .  And we hadn't eaten either.  For a lab that's torment.  Even the wheaten was grumbling.  But when we pulled in to Camping du Quai we were rewarded.  This is a neat spot right across the road from the Christmas castle  and in full view of Le Fleuve St. Laurent.  We had requested a pull-thru site so we wouldn't have to unhook.  We are towing a car on a dolly, so it's a pain if we have to detach everything.  The campground has lovely heated showers and even a hot tub and a water play area.  I was tempted , but Judy said it was only for kids.  After we had devoured our food (the only way we labs know to eat) Judy took us for a lovely long stroll along the bicycle/pedestrian path towards the harbour.  What a great spot!  And love those seaside smells!  We stayed 2 nights there.  The next day we had a more regular schedule and some more great walks.  I guess Judy felt a bit guilty because they took a "whale watching tour".  She said it was fantastic, but she wished she had taken warmer clothes.  The trip was about 3 hours long and took them way out.  They saw so many whales they lost count.  There was a naturalist on board who helped them spot the whales (Minke and Finback), but they were so close it was impossible to miss them. Dad got some great pictures. They also saw some seals and there were belugas playing in the harbour before they even started out.  It's not much fun being left for a few hours, but when they return they usually feel bad, so they give us nice treats (we really like Tim-bits from Hortons) and take us for extra long walks.
 
seilerbird said:
We cats value our privacy. Some things are not meant for the whole world to see. That is why my litter box is enclosed. And we are not so stupid as to waste our time chasing a dumb ball.

TZ

Hi, Ray and Jean said I could post since this is really important. My name is Greyla and I'm a black Lab. The reason dogs need to pee out in the world is that we are so much more social than cats and communicate with others of our kind via a variety of hormones in our urine. Cats are too self sufficient to need this means of communication.
 
RayandJean said:
Hi, Ray and Jean said I could post since this is really important. My name is Greyla and I'm a black Lab. The reason dogs need to pee out in the world is that we are so much more social than cats and communicate with others of our kind via a variety of hormones in our urine. Cats are too self sufficient to need this means of communication.

I ain't buying that for a second. You dudes are marking your territory thinking that you actually have a territory. Cats don't need a territory, we own the whole world.

Remember dudes, dogs have owners, cats have staff.

TZ
 
Hello everyone,

My name is Casey and I'm a year old next week. I was staying in this hotel for animals with cold concrete floors and fences when these humanoids came by on January 9th and took me away from there for the last time.

They took me to this neat little place with much more room, warmer and carpets and hardwood that I'm not supposed to pee on....or worse!

Anyways, two weeks ago, the clothes started piling up, the food was gathered on the countertops and they loaded it into this large metal box attached to my truck. They put me in my normal crate and away we went on a truck ride.

This one was longer than normal and when we arrived at our destination, they drove a metal stake into the ground and attached something on my collar. This was the first time I was ever "tied up" as they put it and once I learned where the limits were (as we are all prone to do) I found that I spent much more time outside than I would normally do. And my family was around much more than normal too!

I loved it! People walking around, other dogs to talk to, chipmunks squirels and even a racoon or two.

I can see the clothes piling up again and the food on the counters again.......I hope it's for the same type of drive!

 
Hi again!  It's me Kirk.
Judy says I can have a bit of time on the computer this morning .  There's so much more to tell you, so I'm going to try to condense things.  First I want to tell you though that I finally saw one!  A moose!  we were just driving along from Bishop's Falls to Twillingate when Dad pointed one out having breakfast on the side of the road.  Good thing those things are herbivores!  Yesterday was just a short drive which means more time for dog walks, right?  We've found that if we don't comply right away we get longer outings.  Mind you, if we see Judy bustling around in the morning, we know we have to go NOW because we'll soon be rolling.  Today we're at Peytons'Woods RV park in Twillingate.  Great deal $25 (cash) for a fully serviced site + a bit extra for internet.  That's something you should know about NL--they like cash.  In many places they don't take cards; in others cash or interac .  You might want to advise your people.  Another neat thing about this province?  They have no skunks or snakes.  Now I vote for that!  Twillingate is known as the iceberg capital of the world and that's what we were hoping to see but.. you know the rest...last year there were tons (literally) but not one in sight this year.  So sad.  I have never seen one except in pictures.  The ride up was sure scenic but a little bumpy.  When we got set up the folks went to investigate.  They checked out the fish wagon around the corner and found his prices were up so they went into town.  Prices better but still too high for them.  They checked out the boat tours and decided they would try the Iceberg Man tomorrow if weather was good (it is).  Costs $44 for a 2 hour tour.  Guess they can look for whales and seals and coastline.  They checked out the Auk winery--wines made mostly from local berries.  Some are made with iceberg water.  We haven't tried any yet.  There was a crowd there and the sampling cost $3.  You could take a tour for $5.  After that, still on the lobster hunt, they drove back down 340 to Summerville Fisheries in Hillgrade.  There was a lobster pool there and a canteen as well as picnic tables.  Prices were much better.
 
More news.  WE like this spot.(Twillingate)  WE can walk around a lot and there is lots of green lush grass.
Quick re-cap of other spots:  We stayed in Amherst, NS.  Wonderful spot.  Clean, great pool (no dogs allowed there), free internet. Close to everything and has pull-thrus .  It is near a wonderful tourist info.  There we learned about the Joggins Cliffs, a heritage site with lots of fossils from the "carbon(?)" era.  Then they dashed across to the Jost winery.  They toured the spot and said the wine was good. (they always visit wineries , though never with the MH).  After that we went to one of our favourite spots near North Sydney (Little Bras d'Or, actually), Arm of Gold campground.  There were so many folk there this time, but if you're lucky you'll find a spot overlooking the lake.  Awesome sunsets.  You can even get 50 amp here.  There is even a place on site where you can get fish and chips .  Even the locals come.  OH--there's a bakery as you come in just by the Irving station.  Great pies and treats (we get to share sometimes, you know).  After staying 2 days at Arm of Gold (the folks toured the Fort at Louisburg--said they had the perfect day for it)we had our most stressful time--the ferry.  Judy decided that since we were not used to cages(where dogs have to go if they don't stay in their MH) there was no way to take the LONG ferry to Argentia.  She also figured that we would do better if we could travel at night.  So we got on at 8 for the 10pm trip.  We arrived in NL at 5:30.  Now that's a long time even if you do take off the extra 1/2 hour for time change.  But we made it!  Whew!!!
 
Hi Kirk, this is Charlie.  I'm a black standard poodle and only 2 1/2 years old.  I weight 70+lbs.  I also have two very good friends, Jazzy and Bandit; but they are cats <spitting out cat hair>  ::) ...

Last year in July we went to Newfoundland.  My mom and dad put us on the ferry to Port aux Basque so we would have a shorter ferry ride.  We stayed in the motorhome and it went just fine.  They decided to just drive all over NF and come back to Nova Scotia at the same ferry crossing because the other one near St. John's was just too long for us animals.  We loved NF, the people are so great and the food sooooo good; especially the Cod....yummm.  Mom says for you to tell your mom that you might have a better chance of seeing ice bergs if you head up to St. Anthony's at the very tip.  You can see the Lief Erickson homestead and maybe more icebergs.  Oh, she says to be sure and look for whales, they are everywhere.

Ok, gotta go, mom's putting her shoes on...we are in Glacier N. P. and mom and dad are taking me "touring" today.....I love touring.

Charlie
 
I just love reading  all of your story's.  My name is Roxey yes I know that it should be Roxy but my mom wanted me to stand out and had to put a E in my name. I don't travel with mom & dad because when they take me I shake the whole time I hate anything with wheels! . I stay at home with my human sister she is 27 and we wont tell mom & dad about the party's she has when they take the RV out! Now when they are gone I can read about all the adventures from my pillow.
 
Dear Kirk,

Thanks for your reports! Pancho and I remember our days of travel in La Casa De Amistad around Colorado, to the Carolinas and living a very wet year in Charlotte and trips to Texas --esp seeing all those pretty blue flowers and the wild reds, yellows and whites. Home in NM and trips around here are shorter AND dryer. With our double coats, the house and the rig almost never smelled wet doggy!

Dad Bob and the new lady Estelle are sitting sorta numbed out. They were all happy and excited and took a trip to Springfield IL for a two weeks over Memorial Day weekend, Uncle Jeff house sat us and spoiled us. They were talking about setting up family sometime in September. Estelle likes long walks but Pucci is being a typical white Puli and she had to bring her back since she wouldn't obey today and left her here as the sun rose.

When they got back from IL, they each had a new ring on their 3rd finger, left hand, and are all sorts of gushy and their endorphins are really flying! The cleaned out the guest rooms quickly and ten days later, Mom Estelle's daughter [she has her smell along with her three kids] and their dad arrived. Kids, we love them!

The house now looks like a warehouse. The last two weeks they've been taking the truck and or car to Q [Albuquerque] and bringing back lots of stuff and furniture too. Yesterday three guys in a Sprinter van [boy are those cool!] brought in a spinet piano, bookcases and a lot of books. Dad and our new mom Estelle then drove back to Q for a beautiful leather chair that we've yet to try sitting in --those three guys didn't load the chair.

Everything then stopped. . .dad grilled steaks, mom cut and saved some pieces for us [unlike mom Bev who used her fork for us during meals,] they hot tubed for about 45 min and then chrashed. I guess all her stuff is here now.

Oh, if you ever get to New Mexico, dad has 30 and 50 amp service and we've a 7' high cinder block wall around our back yard. Sorry, they won't let us in the hot tub but we can walk up the steps and lick some water off their hands and arms. There is a lot to see here and you can see it for miles and miles. The chickens are quiet most of the time.

Later --dad just mentioned breakfast, finally, their coffee may be kicking in!

Poquita, with Pancho and Pucci

We are not "dogs" we're Pulik!
 

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