Monday morning, with great reluctance, we pulled pulled up stakes (or, in this case, jacks) and headed to Trinity. I took one last walk along the Cape Shore Trail to the Lighthouse – the whales put on a good show, and I was the closest I had been to them. Bonavista is a beautiful town and area.

Trinity, known for its live theater, is only about 30 miles south of Bonavista, on the bottom side of the peninsula, so we still had plenty of time to look around. We were told that there is an iceberg in Old Bonaventure, just a few miles south. Boy, is there an iceberg!! It was sitting right in the bay and was huge. The locals told us that it actually is much smaller now than before the rains last weekend, and that at its largest (it had been there about a month), it was probably 150 feet high…….and remember that 90% of an iceberg it under water! It is estimated that the icebergs in this area are 10-12 thousand years old, and that it takes about 5 years for it to make the journey. It had a beautiful aqua glow from the density of the ice, and the reflection of the water and sky. There were a number of smaller chunks floating around, and one on the beach. People harvest these pieces and put them in their freezers and coolers. Since they are a result of snow and rain, they are made of fresh water. Because it is so dense, the ice lasts forever in a cold drink, and one man told us that he had some in a bucket with no cover, and it kept his beer cold the entire weekend. Liquor companies make specialty vodka with it as well. As we were leaving this morning, a fellow camper said that they had brought in big piece of machinery on a barge this morning and were going to harvest the rest of this beauty. I am surely glad we had a chance to see it first.

The book, Random Passage, is a historical novel chronicling the arrival and settling of a family from England in Random Cove in the 1700s. It is required reading in the Newfoundland schools, and a successful mini-series shown internationally was made a few years ago. The movie set is now a tourist attraction. Since I am half way through the book, I wanted to see it. Our tour guide was a young man who had worked on the movie and was now working in the industry in Vancouver. He had grown up on the peninsula and was back home visiting family for the summer. He was wonderful, and gave us all kinds of history of the area, and behind the scenes stories about the making of the movie. Pains were taken to make the buildings historically accurate, so the tour was educational as well as entertaining. The hardships suffered by the folks who settled this amazing, but unforgiving land are hard to fathom. From the time the cod season was over in the summer until the seals came in during the spring when the ice started to melt, there was nothing to eat, but the food they had been able to store over the summer, and the meager supplies brought in by the fishing companies in the fall.

We stopped for one more look at the amazing iceberg on the way home.

On the ferry, we met a man who is a professor of geology at St. John’s University. He said that we must hike the Skerwinke Trail, just across the bay from Trinity. The next morning was beautiful, and off we went. The views were certainly spectacular as we hiked along the coast, high above the sea. Because of the rains, we slogged through our share of mud, but it was well worth it.

In the evening we went to dinner at Twine Loft, a small reservations only restaurant with just one menu each evening. The food was not spectacular, but it was a pleasant experience, including good conversation with the couple at the next table.

On Wednesday afternoon, we went to the Pageant, a moving (physically, not emotionally) play, the subject of which was the history of Trinity. Each scene took place in a different area of town. This is a little town, but at 2:00, there must have been 150 people show up – I have no idea where they came from, but it was quite a process to get us all moved and seated (on the grass, rocks, etc.) for each scene. We enjoyed the play, most of which was funny, but some of which was very touching, but were a little stiff from all that up and down on the grass.

The next morning, Dick and I drove down to the Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve, the site of the most accessible seabird colony in North America. The vantage point overlooks a magnificent sea stack and offers an opportunity to photograph the seabirds, including the second largest nesting of gannets in Newfoundland, and the third largest in North America. The wild irises were blooming, just adding to the beauty of the area. See picture in previous post - I am still not so good at placement!

Our next stop was St. John’s, (discovered by John Cabot in 1497) touted as North America’s oldest city, although St. Augustine, Florida might take issue with that. It is a lovely small city on the water. We took a city tour that gave a great overview of the city and the history. Signal Hill was a highlight. Besides the beautiful view, it was one of the sites on which Marconi did much of his work on wireless communications. In the campground, Pippy Park, we ran into Boomers, Chet and Gaye Curuthers, who have been here 3 weeks already, and gave us great info on their travels so far. We had a great dinner that night with them and one of the couples from our group at a restaurant named Biancos. Best restaurant meal I have had in quite a while.

We could have easily spent much more time in St. John’s and the Irish Loop, but had a commitment about 90 miles northwest on Friday night. One of the men in our group has a friend (Al), who spends summers in Heart’s Content (isn’t that a great name? Just down the road are Heart’s Delight and Heart’s Desire). He was hosting a party for us Friday, and on Saturday, the town, population 550, is hosting a dinner for us in the recreation hall. When we got to town, the mayor was waiting to park us in the local softball field – apparently they don’t have summer leagues here. All nine rigs are now parked in a circle – Dick and I are on the pitcher’s mound. We went to Al’s house, right on the cove, for dinner. Probably 30 locals were there with local food specialties (fish and brewis - fish and pieces of hard bread and pork fat topped with scrunchins which are fried sweet onions in lots of pork fat, moose sausage, and caplin (small smoked fish that you eat, head and all). Several musicians, including guitar, accordion, and violin, played all evening, songs ranging from traditional folk and Irish tunes to Elvis. It was a wonderful evening.

The weather was great the next morning and we took off to see some sights. We went through several lovely small fishing villages. Newfoundland was known for its cod fishing through the years – that was the reason that many people settled here centuries ago – but as happens, it was finally fished out, so in 1992, the Canadian government put a moratorium on cod fishing, and these little towns are now really struggling. The caplins had also almost disappeared, but this year they are back in force, and one of the fishermen we talked to had already brought in 100,000 pounds of them! On June 25, a limited amount of cod fishing is being allowed again, but with very strict limits. We went out yesterday morning with a fisherman who showed us how they set their nets.

One of the big tourist goals up here is to see icebergs and the other is whales. We saw both of those on Saturday, although too far away to take pictures with my wimpy zoom. We are lucky to see any icebergs this late in the season. In general, the views of the shorelines are stunning.

We stopped to buy fresh snow crab – 5 pounds of crab legs, which we had second thoughts about as we were picking away. In another couple of weeks, we could have bought it already cleaned, but not yet. My crab and asparagus omelet was yummy, though.

Saturday night, the locals put on a dinner for us at the recreation center. They prepared another local specialty called the Jiggs Dinner, which is basically corned beef (they call it salt beef) and cabbage, with turnips, rutabagas, carrots, potatoes, pea puddin’ and figgy duff, a bread pudding-type dish. After dinner, they did a Newfoundland square dance, involving lots of twirling. Predictably, they then wanted to teach it to us. After the first spin, I was pretty sure I might fall down, but somehow made it through. It helped to work off that major carb load I had just eaten. The South Beach eating plan isn’t real big up here. They have such a short growing season that green vegetables are pretty much of the canned or frozen variety, except at Costco and a few of the big grocery stores. They live mostly on root vegetables.

One of the fun things that they do for people that they like (you must be invited), is to “screech” people in, making them honorary Newfies. To be screeched in, you must dress like a Newfie, eat like a Newfie, talk like a Newfie, sing like a Newfie, and love like a Newfie. A lady in Minnie Pearl type garb was the leader. They started by throwing a pile of fishing clothes – rubber coats, overalls, and boots – in the middle of the floor, and we each had to put on one garment. We then had to take off one shoe and put our foot in a pan of salt water and seaweed. Next was a piece of hard bread (and I do mean hard) and a piece of bologna (aka as Newfoundland filet mignon), followed by a shot of Screech, the local very potent rum. We recited a saying individually written in local dialect, nothing of what we understood except for “arse”. There were a few other silly things and then the “highlight”, loving like a Newfie, where we had to kiss a big ugly slimy dead fresh cod. Yuk!! Anyway, we now all have certificates.

Sunday, we did some more sight seeing – more beautiful little towns and talking to local folks. Two people suggested that we drive to the droke, a small 4-wheel drive road that runs by a stream between two high cliffs to a now un-used pier. Almost to the end, we saw 3 cars stopped in the middle of the road, so got out to see what was going on. In the stream was a young moose that had fallen off the top of one of the cliffs!! He was conscious and the men had checked out his legs, and didn’t think that his legs were broken – one of his small antlers was torn off – but he just didn’t want to get up. We had to leave after a while so don’t know what happened to him. It was our first moose sighting, but not the one we wanted.

Sunday afternoon, we held an open house for the townspeople. Most had never been in these big rigs and seemed to enjoy it. The other rigs in our group are big beautiful new Monaco coaches, so Winnie didn’t show real well, but people were gracious. I told them they would see a lot more of what we have in the US, than these other luxury palaces!

Tuesday we headed west – since our new friends are staying 3 weeks less than we are, we went our separate ways. It was great fun traveling with them, and we so appreciated them including us. We were driving up the peninsula towards Bonavista, where John Cabot landed in 1497, when I received a call from Gaye Caruthers telling me about a great free camping site (one of our Monaco friends had also called about a similar site). So here we are, camped in a pretty little area with picnic tables, right across the road from Bonavista Bay, watching the whales play right off the shore, and two icebergs on the horizon. The land belongs to the woman who owns a small restaurant and ice cream stand across the road. When we asked if we could stay, she said that she loves having company. I swear that we may never leave this place!! Some of the key places we want to visit in Newfoundland are within 30 miles of this spot and Dick has an ice cream stand within walking distance – what more can we want? A lady told us that there was a Beluga whale (the white ones) beached very close to us, but unfortunately, it was back to sea by the time we got there. We have only seen humpbacks – would love to see a Beluga.

Wednesday morning was perfect – warm temps, clear blue sky – so we started at the Cape Bonavista Lighthouse, less than1/2 mile from here. The whales were putting on a magnificent show, and we saw our first puffins. They are so darned cute! We ate our lunch that we bought from our landlord, and then drove to Elliston, just 5 km from Bonavista, to see the famous Puffin Rock, a nesting area. We walked about 10 minutes to the end of the peninsula and sat for quite a while watching the puffins who were on a big rock just a few hundred feet, if that, away. They are burrowing birds and just pop in and out of their little nests. They share the rock with huge seagulls, who supposedly love to eat the puffin eggs and chicks. They were totally segregated on the rock, but seemed to be co-existing. Elliston is also the root cellar capitol of the world – there are more than 100 of them in this tiny town, and were used, and some still are, to store the root vegetables and other food. We drove around this beautiful little town, and went home to drink wine and watch our whales.

Thursday was a washout – literally. It rained all day, but cleared up late afternoon. We are trying to figure out how to get our prescription renewals mailed to us, so I spent a long time on the pay phone talking to the national postal service, Canadian Customs, and Canada Health. I figure we have about a 50/50 chance of ever seeing them.

Elliston is having its annual Puffin Festival this week. We saw on the schedule that Thursday night is the 5th annual Peninsula Idol contest, and figured we couldn’t miss it. It started Weds. night with the 7 contestants singing songs of their choice. Thursday night they were singing twice with required genre, 8:00 and 11:00. They have judges, music, theater lights, the whole bit. Some of them had some real talent – only a couple were painful (like the 13 year old boy who sang Aretha’s RESPECT with total enthusiasm and stage presence, just never on the right note). The judges sounded just like the real Idol judges, minus the harsh criticism and Simon type remarks. They will sing several more times this week and then the final will be Sunday night. This contest doesn’t lead to anything else, but bragging rights, I guess. We left after the show, but there was entertainment scheduled until 1:30 am. These Newfies are not only hardy folk, but I guess they don’t need much sleep either.

On Friday, we drove to the Dungeon Provincial Park, the site of some beautiful sea stacks created by erosion of the sedimentary rock. On the way there, besides cattle and sheep, there was a small group of horses who have clearly figured out that tourists are soft touches, and boldly walk right up to your car and stick their heads in the windows!!

St. John has got some nice features, but basically, it is an industrial shipping port, dominated by Irving Oil Company. Like other Canadian cities, much of the shopping area, including their City Market are all connected indoors. The market is nice, but not spectacular. There is no local produce (that may just be a seasonal thing since it is open year round), but there were two nice seafood markets. We enjoyed lunch at Billy’s Seafood, one of the markets. We were not in the mood for the New Brunswick Museum, but found out later, of course, that it is one of the highlights of the city….oh well. The Reversing Falls were on the itinerary – all part of the famous tidal phenomenon in this part of the country. They weren’t falls at all, but areas of swirling water that changed direction as the tide changed. I fully realize that I am probably not giving St. John its due since we spent so little time there, so don’t make any judgments based on this account.

We received an email from one of our Boomer/Jojobian friends, Fran Rayner, that they were crossing over to Newfoundland in 2 days with a group of 7 other rigs, and that we were welcome to join them. Sounded like fun, so we took off. The drive was beautiful – lots of pines – a very “up north” feel. We got to Sidney, Nova Scotia on Sunday night (their primary claim to fame seemed to be the world’s largest fiddle) and were at the ferry terminal at 4:45 a.m. on Monday, preparing for our 14 hour trip to Newfoundland. Fran and her group pulled in shortly thereafter. Due to some mistakes in parking by the attendants, two of the rigs in our group could not get on, although they had boarding passes. The next ferry didn’t leave for two days, but they made the best of it, and got free passage two days later (worth nearly $800) and joined us Thursday. The ferry was huge and comfortable with several different kinds of seating areas, some with tables, some with recliners, a cocktail lounge with entertainment, a buffet style restaurant (with predictably bad food), cabins with bunk beds and seating areas (extra, of course), free movies in one area, and a small movie theatre. It certainly beats a 14 hours flight, but we were still pretty restless by the time we got there.

We knew about an RV park, the entrance to which was supposed to be just 3 ship lengths from where we would disembark. It turns out the Dick was the first motorhome off (we had disconnected the Jeep before boarded), and the others in our group followed. Dick turned where he was supposed to (it was 11:00 pm and dark), but the further he went, the more it looked like a dead end road. We all had family radios, so I was still on the ship (I ended up in the last group off) listening to poor Dick, with no navigator (and remember that we had just met these folks on the ship – all of them in these huge beautiful Monaco diesel pushers) saying, “This doesn’t look right – we are on a dead end road”, and the rest, who had followed him in, discussing what to do, where everyone could turn around, etc. At one point I heard someone say, “This is chaos out here” – apparently other RVs had followed our group in as well. I felt so sorry for Dick! Eventually, they all got turned around and got back on the highway toward the main entrance of the park.

We headed for Maine to spend a few days with my friend’s (Nancy Sells) family, who are renting a cottage on Moosehead Lake. What a beautiful remote spot!! After we got to Rockwood, the closest town, we drove an hour on dirt roads to get to the cottage. Winnie has never been so dirty! But the journey was well worth it. Although it is the 4th of July week, there wasn’t another boat on the lake. Todd took us on a boat tour and pointed out several beautiful campsites….but all for tents and most could only be accessed by boat. Luckily, Winnie fit right in next to the cottage, and we had a wonderful time.

We picked up lobster rolls on our way out of Rockwood, and thus began what I hope to be a total seafood orgy. The drive to New Brunswick was beautiful – at one point a moose (our first this trip) ambled out on to the highway and brought traffic both ways to a stop. He took his time, finally got bored with being the center of attention, and strolled into the woods. I didn’t get this on camera since I was on the cell phone during my one and only day of access for the next few months. Verizon has ended its North American plan – boo hiss….

Our border crossing at Calais, ME was the easiest yet. I certainly hope that no bozo tries to pull any shenanigans with a motorhome, making us a target. Right now, we don’t seem to concern anybody much. It had been a long day, so went to the Oak Bay Campground between St. Stephens and St. Andrews, which is fine, although not as close to St. Andrews as the Kiwanis park.

The weather was beautiful the next morning and we headed to St. Andrews, a community settled by disgruntled British loyalists who didn’t want to live with those rowdy Yanks. It is a lovely little tourist town – we are not shoppers, so cut right to the chase, and found a place to eat. I had smoked salmon, and at the local fish market, picked up fresh Digby scallops for dinner. A little seasoning and about one minute in the pan, and voila! I plan to be doing lots of that!

After lunch, we toured the Kingsbrae Gardens which were lovely, and then went through the Fairmont Algonquin Hotel. On our way back to the campground, we stopped at the St. Croix Island Historical Site. This was the one of the very first French settlements – they thought they had found utopia until winter hit. They had no concept of the brutality, and most of that first group died. You can’t access the island, but there is a pretty little area on the mainland where you can see it, and they have information signs about that first winter.

We woke this morning to rain, which unfortunately is not forecasted to stop for as long as the weather forecasts go out, so decided to head to St. John. We are missing some places we want to see – Campobello Island and Grand Manan Island, but they would be no fun in the rain, so will hope to hit them on the way back. Our main focus on this trip is Newfoundland.

As you can see, I am trying to add more pictures, but am struggling a bit with how to place them where I want them, so bear with me. I am too hyper to spend a lot of time figuring it out. :-)

If you want a real taste of Europe without crossing the pond, come to Quebec. In Place Royale, they have refurbished all the buildings that are right out of a French town. This area of the city was the first French settlement founded in 1608. There are flowers in window boxes all over town, gardens are beautiful, and landscapes are meticulous. Place Royale is on the same level as the St. Lawrence Seaway, but above (far above) is the walled city. There is an elevator that will take you to “upper town”, but we took the stairs, which became our constant rationalization for indulging on goodies. We got a lot of mileage out of those stairs. We also took a 2 hour bus tour to get the overview and some history. Didn’t find any amazing restaurants (one OK, one mediocre), but I am sure there are some.

To live in this beautiful city, you would have to love winter – they have lots of it and spend $40 million a year on snow removal.

After two days of being in the city, we headed to the Cote-de-Beaupre area, including the Montmorency Falls – 1 ½ times higher than Niagra Falls, as the Quebecois proudly reminded us.

Dick developed a rash yesterday, which Dr. Schneider got on WebMD to diagnose, and as it turns out, diagnose correctly. The little picture of the shingles rash looked just like Dicks back and side. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the waiting room of a walk-in clinic. The dr. was great and said

that she could give him a prescription that would shorten the duration and lessen the severity, but that it only works if started within 3 days of the outbreak. I am so glad we didn’t wait. He’s itchy, but OK.

Our last day in Quebec was spent on the Ile d’ Orleans – a rural island about 67 km around with art galleries, shops, and food/wine stands and stores. We walked on the beach, stopped at a wonderful little French bakery, bought some of those amazing Quebec strawberries, did a little wine tasting and buying, and called it a day.

Our Quebec province experience was a good one, and as usual, there is so much more exploring to be done there – the Laurentian mountains, the Quebec cheese route, etc. We found the people in both cities to be very helpful, and most in a service position spoke fluent English. Dick, of course, pronounced as he does pretty much every where we go, that the people here don't know how to drive. For you RVers, in Quebec City, we stayed at Camping Aeoroport just a few minutes from the city. It is a bit on the pricy side ($33 CD), but well worth it – very clean and well run, and WiFi for $15/week.