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.
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.
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 stic
k their heads in the windows!! 
2 comments:
Did you have any carrots to offer them?
Hugs, Sharon & Ron
so i am the guy who sang RESPECT!
and yes i agree that i didn't hit the right notes!...
in fact it was my worst performance!
HOWEVER!!!
you should have stuck around i went on that night and sang one of my best and advanced all the way 2 sunday night after my other performances! and got 4th place!..
i can competing again this year!
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