Bye Newfoundland, Hello Cape Breton

August 27, 2010
Went caching for the day on Saturday and Sunday, also drove to Margaree . After a long walk on the beach at Port aux Basques, stopped for supper at Pizza Delight. Food was ok service was terrible.
We noticed that all the restaurants we were in in NL were spotlessly clean, and in every one but the last service was great.
Lined up at ferry terminal ready to spend the night. After they took our potatoes (something about a quarantine on NL spuds) we parked and went to bed. About 1130 there was a knock on the door, and a fellow said they could get us on the next ferry, leaving at midnight. We got up again and loaded up. This ship was the Joseph and Clara Smallwood, quite a bit different from the Atlantic Vision. Not nearly as comfortable and no entertainment but TSN on TV and the Safety DVD. Tried to get some sleep, but it was so cold. Thought perhaps they were acclimatizing us in case we had to abandon ship.
Found the crew was not as friendly as the Vision either. Trip was a bit longer, about 7 hours. Looks like there is frost in Cape Breton, so should see some fall colours soon.
The dogs were sure glad to see us when the trip was over. So now we are on Cape Breton Island and will probably spend a couple of days before heading for PEI

Still on the Rock

Sept 26, 2010
We are in Port aux Basques Newfoundland again. Got here yesterday and planned on seeing something of Rose Blanche and then making reservations to return to Nova Scotia. We drove out to Rose Blanche and visited the lighthouse in the rain and wind and decided to cut out stay short and head for NS on the next night’s ferry. Stayed at a parking lot of a pub that had been closed for a year and went for dinner at the “Friendly Fisherman” (excellent food and good prices). There are not many level spots for parking in this area. I can see why they call this province the rock. Beautiful country though. I love it in the rain and wind, so if I was to see it in sunshine, I would likely never leave.
Next day headed back to Port aux Basques, to find the earliest ferry we could catch would be Monday morning. Have to say I was not too disappointed. Went geocaching for the day. This is a great province for geocaching. Every cache has a magnificent view thrown in for free. Stayed at the parking lot at the visitors centre. (All the campgrounds nearby are closed for the season)
Woke up this morning to glorious sunshine and no wind. Darn and we have to leave tomorrow.
Will probably do some geocaching again ( got 4 FTF’s yesterday) and then move down to the parking lot at the ferry terminal for the night.
Jerry has had to do some work on the levellers this morning again. Good that he is not battling wind and rain today. We are very lucky that he knows how to repair this rig, not only saves money, but repair places are scarce too.
By the way, we survived Hurricane Igor very well. Lots of wind and rain, but nothing like they had on the east side of the island. The trans Canada hiway was closed and some communities completely cut off. Over 8 inches of rain in one day.
Well tomorrow we leave I guess, and should be in PEI on Tuesday.

Victory over da feet

Today was the day that Jerry tried to get rid of me. We started out by saying we would take it easy. Picture this 67 year old lady with COPD and Rheumatoid Arthritis, with a bad knee on one side and an ingrown toenail on the other.
The first cache was a half mile hike, straight up hill through a bog. Up hill the breathing was the problem, downhill it was the knee and the toenail hitting the end of my boot. The last cache was up hill again for about a half mile. And we did three others. As you can imagine, I am typing with both feet propped up on the dash board, and no intentions of cooking supper tonight. Even the dogs are tired.
The views were fantastic however, See the pics.

Gross Morne and the Vikings

September 20, 2010
It has been an interesting week or so, Stuck in Cornerbrook for 5 days while we wait to see what is the matter with the rig. Geocaching again on Sunday. Monday was laundry day and Tues finish up the rig. And get on our way. It was not a waste of time though, since we ran into our geocaching hosts again on Sunday and other great people. I have to say, Newfies sure live up to the reputation of the friendliest people. And they are so genuine, what a great experience. Managed to get a feed of cod tongues in Cornerbrook. Jerry passed on that delicacy’
One thing he did note, was that it was nice to be around people that spoke English again, Sort of.....
Wednesday we left Cornerbrook for Deer Lake. First time we were able to get propane . Auto propane is not a big item here, and the price is pretty steep 1.49 a litre. Gee, guess we will have to eat out more.
Thursday we drove up to Trout River, a little fishing village near Gross Morne Park. Beautiful drive, stopped and talked to some fishermen who had just come in, managed to buy some fresh cod $4.00 a pound. (that is pound, fellow Canadians, All of Nfld has not gone metric) What a treat. Noticed that when they clean and fillet the cod, they have a pan for the cod tongues and cheeks that they save for themselves.
Did some more geocaching, These guys do not make it easy, almost every one is a climb. See pic of the Old Man. (Not Jerry, the rock stack)
Friday we headed for Rocky Harbour, where the Anchors Aweigh Pub is and the band does a great job of Newfie music and comedy. Laughed for three solid hours. Ran into some people that we had met on the ferry and shared a table and lots of stories with them. The sunset picture is from the veranda of the Rocky Harbour Pub.
We did do some geocaching at Rocky Harbour as well, and spent most of the day driving around Gross Morne. Some fantastic views. This is a very beautiful province, and I am very glad we came here. So far we have spent more time in Nfld than any other province, and plan to spend a few more days. We have not left western Nfld, and probably won’t go over to St Johns and the Avalon peninsula.
Saturday we got to L’Anse aux Meadows, where the Vikings landed in about 1000 AD. We did a lot of geocaching in the morning, then had lunch at the Norseman Restaurant, very good seafood chowder. The geocaching was pretty demanding with long up hill hikes. Later went for dinner at Northern Delight and had a plate of mussels and then the seafood platter. Got home that night with very sore feet.

Newfoundland Here we are!

Sept 11, 2010
Well “Earl” blew us through New Brunswick, we stopped at Woodstock overnight and did some sightseeing, It was very hot. Saw the world’s longest covered bridge at Hartland but forgot my camera.
Moved on the next day to Fredericton, and Earl brought the rain in buckets, when it slowed down we realized the Walmart lot we were in did not accept overnight parking. Since we will be coming back this way before we head for the US we decided to go on to Moncton and head for Amherst where we would meet up with John and Dianne.
Had a couple of great days near Amherst. Stayed at the property of Melanie and Charlie Atherton, very nice couple, with lots of information. Had a nice Happy Hour with them and friends of theirs.
It was great to spend time with John and Dianne, (it was their idea to do the Cross Canada trip, and this was the first time we saw them, had to cross 4 time zones to do so.
We did a tour of a “working grist mill” at Balmoral, where a very knowledgeable lady showed us how oats were turned into Scotish Oatmeal, and flour was ground. The method was the same as the one used in 1874, in fact the wooden cogs and stones from that date were still on the property. From there we went to Denmark to see the Sutherland Steam Mill Museum. Again a tour guide, who really knew her stuff took us through. I have to say that Nova Scotia does a good job of training their museum staff.
The next day we had to say goodbye to Dianne and John and Melanie and Charlie, Melanie made sure we left with a sampling of her garden. Great people, hope to see them again.
Sept 8 was our day for the Newfoundland Ferry, so we headed up to North Sydney to spend the night at the ferry terminal. Got in touch with some ex family members that I hadn’t seen since 1974..will see them when we get back from the rock.
Sailed on the Atlantic Vision, the newest ferry in the Marine Atlantic fleet. Very nice ship, the sailing was calm and we had live Newfie entertainment . BC Ferries could take lessons on food preparation and hospitality from these people.
Afterr landing at Port Aux Basques, we hooked up the tracker again (Jerry and I drove on the ferry separately and had to meet up later,) We drove on to Stephenville and spent the night at a Walmart lot.
Following day we drove around the “French Ancestry” trail, it was very windy, with gusts up to 120 km, I managed a few pics, the scenery was great, but had to hang on to things to keep from being blown off the cliffs.
Ran into problems with the brakes on the Tracker and arranged to have them looked at in Cornerbrook the next day. That morning we also ran into problems with the Bus and had to take it to a repair shop. Since it was afternoon Friday before we could get it to the shop there wasn’t time to find out what the problem was, so we ended up camped in the repair shop yard until Monday at least. Went to the Mamateek Inn and had cod tongues for supper. Very good.
Well, with nothing to do but wait for Monday, we decided to look up some geo caches and discovered that Corner Brook was holding a Geo Cache Event on Saturday. It was grey and miserable looking outside, so we decided to check it out. Met some really great people who were organizing their first event ever. There was a full day of caching, with a barbecue late afternoon. We found about 7 of the 30 caches before we got so wet we had to quit. But Newfies are made of sterner stuff and many of them came back with all 30 found. They were quite happy to have folks from as far away as Alaska join them, and we had a great time. Have to say that was one of the best caches I have logged so far.
Well tomorrow is Sunday, and maybe some sunshine will come our way.

Ottawa and Quebec City

September 2, 2010
Left the falls early and headed for fuel stop in St. Catherines, small problem with fuel , so Jerry decided to get it checked out at the Freightliner place. After changing filters ( I think that is what happened, but the exact scenario is probably different, me being mechanically challenged) Stayed at a Walmart lot in a seedy part of town, woke up the following morning to find the front wheel of my bike gone. (Some watch dogs we are feeding, Going to have to do a training session I guess) When I arrived at the “Townie” dealer, was told that mine was the third “townie” to be stolen that morning. I asked the guy if he was paying people to target that particular bike.
On to Ottawa, where we would be connecting with my daughter Kim again. Arrived early, about 1 pm and pulled in to a Walmart, thinking that parking in such a tourist area may be a problem. The manager of the store basically said “Stay as long as you want, but please not a month” So we parked for two nights. It was close enough to be able to get into town easily.
Driving around Ottawa, I discovered a patriotic side of me, All of a sudden I felt “Canadian” and proud to be one. Of course that meant that poor Jerry had to be dragged around the parliament buildings several times, (inside and out). A light show at night was well worth seeing (from my point of view) and the visit with Kim was great too. The following day we toured the parliament buildings (inside) and then visited the Museum of Civilization, across the river in Gatineau, Quebec. The displays at the museum were excellent, One of the highlights for me was the display of opening of Northern Canada, where a replica of the Wildcat Cafe, from Yellowknife was. It was here that my parents met back in 1940 or 41.
From Ottawa we headed for Quebec, intending to bypass Montreal. As it happened we went almost through the centre, but on freeways so it went fairly quickly. Of course in Montreal, there are allowed no English signs, everything is in French. Now I haven’t had to use French since 1967, so what was rusty then, was almost non existent. Surprisingly some stuff came back.
We camped at Un air d’ete at Pont Rouge, about ½ hour from Quebec City. Using Passport America, it only cost $14 per night for full hookup. It has a swimming pool, which was very handy, since the temperature hovered around 90F and was humid. Almost unbearable. The dogs are very lethargic as well.
We did a bus tour around the City on Tuesday, Old Quebec is a walled city, established in 1608, and has been very well maintained. The city is lovely, and reminds one of France, with outdoor cafes and narrow streets. The blocks of buildings are all joined together and usually made of stone or brick. In the old city, all of the workers are bilingual, which is very handy. Last night we went back to the city for dinner and a free outdoor concert by “Cirque de Soleil” Quebec is their home city, and they give free performances throughout the summer. The costumes and the performances were amazing, but standing for 60 min for the performance, plus ½ hour before was a long time.
Today we head for New Brunswick, hoping to dodge Hurricane Earl who is threatening the provinces of Nova Scotia and PEI. We have reservations in Amherst NS for the weekend, but we may have to hunker down before then in NB.