Lanius Travels

Well, this was going to be my last blog from Newfoundland since we were scheduled to depart from Argentia at 4:00 pm tomorrow to arrive in North Sydney, NS at 6:00 AM on Friday, July 31st. Quess What? They've cancelled our sailing and we have to drive 510 miles to Port Aux Basques for our ferry ride. Evidently they had a fire on the newest ferry and have had to reshedule everyone. Just our luck. On Well, that's the RV lifestyle. On our last day in St. John's , we went over to part of the East Coast Trail for a little hike. (Just about 9 miles) The blueberries are starting to ripen. I ate a few along the trail. Here's a picture of Bob from the top of our hike. and a picture of me on the trail. As you can see, what goes up must come down. Here's one of the beautiful waterfalls along the way. I can't get pictures of all of the area, but I must tell you. If what you enjoy in life is nature and hiking, Newfoundland is the place to go. It's been a m...

We got into St. Johns around 2:00 pm on Thursday, July 23rd. We drove into the city and was really in city shock. After a month of small towns, this is a city. Traffic and crowded streets. It has small streets, changing into one way and under construction every where. We tried to find the visitor's center and by the time we got there it was closed. I guess you need to see it, but never drive there. It's also a harbor town so that it's just small shops and pubs all along the main street. I was really disappointed since this was not our thing. The next day, we discovered the area around the city. We visited Cape Spear, the eastern most point of North America. We did go back downtown just to see the Russian tall ship Kruzenshtern that docked that morning. Next we went to Signal Hill. The picture on the side here is a picture of downtown St. John's from Signal Hill. St. John's has a trail system that spans all across the city. We could actually walk trai...

Well, as we left Twilligate on July 18th, we literately almost ran into this moose. It was raining and we had to come to a complete stop with the rig to miss it. I wanted to see moose, but this is ridiculous. Next we went to Terra Nova National Park. This is another beautiful site. I know everyone is probably getting tired of me talking about how great this is. The next picture is a puzzle. We were actually on a trail. Can you find it? We hiked 20 kilometers to see some of the views. But this trail was hidden. At the end, this is the view we were rewarded with. Double click on it to get the full effect. Our next stop was Bonavista. We really wasn't sure where we were going to stay since we were a day early. We have been letting the weather determine when we travel. We knew we had one more great, clear days before the rain would come back, so we wanted to get here while it was clear. We got into Bonavista around noon and immediately went sightseeing. It so happened...

We weren't sure what the weather would be like, They predicted overcast in Twillingate, and since we had wanted to see this island, we just headed out. We loaded the ferry, "a smaller ferry" Glad we were just in the jeep. The island itself was beautiful and we turned out with great weather. Some clouds, but mostly sun. The below picture is from one of our hikes. Fogo has one of the corners of the Edge of the World as proclaimed by the Flat Land Society. This was where it was. I was going to give you a picture from this point, but it was just water, so you really couldn't see anything. I guess that's why they throught it was the edge of the land.

In the evening, we went to the All around the Circle Dinner Theater. The food was good and the entertainment was local. Of course, after seeing the Anchors Aweigh program, most people say you expect too much. It was fun though. On Thursday, we decided to go exploring again. This time we went up to Pike's Arm, TooGood Arm and Cobbs Arms. It was beautiful at on of the lookout on Pike's Arm. As you can see it was really high. and it was a hike up. Be sure to click on the panoramic picture to get the full effect.

We've been on the move, from Gros Morne to Lewisporte and then to Twillingate. In Lewisporte, we stayed at a campground owned by the city of Lewisporte. Woolfrey's Pond. It had a boardwalk around the pond and several walks to viewpoints. We also went to a u-pick strawberry farm and picked berries. Since we learned where to get the fresh meats and produce, we've been eating healthy again. I've been going to the Seafood Mkt "ie.the boats" and getting fresh fish. Now we're in Twillingate. This is called IceBerg Alley and the Iceberg Capital of the world. We saw lots more in St. Anthony's, but these are upclose and personal from the shore. (Be sure to click on the wide skinny picture. It is a panaramic of the iceberg cove). We harvested Icebergs for ice and drinking water. The clearer the bergs, the purer the water. We collected a trash bucket full and brought it home for the freezer. The water was cold to our feet. In the afternoon, we went on...

The last few days have been packed full. On the last night of our trip to St. Anthony's, we visited the L'anse Aux Meadows. This is the first settlement of Vikings in North America over 1000 years ago. They have recreated the homes as they think they proably were. The Sagas and Tales of the times and the gods of the vikings were interesting and well told. I finally got around to taking a picture of the beautiful campsite we were at in St. Anthony's. Without phone or internet for 3 days, so we're now back in Gros Morne Campground catching up on emails and blog post. Leaving this morning for the beginning of the trip to the east coast of Newfoundland.

Here we were at the small village of Ship Cove. They have a minature village there After taking the Boat Tour, every where we went were more icebergs. You can count 15 or more standing from one point. Ms. Moose here really didn't care that we were just there. She justed checked us out and went back to eating. On the final day in St. Anthony, we went exploring the country side and finally got pictures of Moose. We saw at least 5 on this day, but some were too far away for pictures. Some were right in the road and do they look funny trying to get moving on pavement. They are a little clumsy. Mr. Moose has just the beginning of a rack and one of them looks a little crooked. He also was in the middle of the street and driveways.

Now for the icebergs. The area was covered. They had a very late spring this year, so we were lucky and there were plenty of bergs and big. Normally, by mid July, the bergs are all melted. I guess I'm glad we had bad weather at the first of the trip. It's gorgeous now, in the high 80's or low 90's unless you're on the water. Then it's a little cooler. Be sure and look at the videos at the end of this post. The next morning, we took a Boat Tour of the whales and icebergs. We saw plenty of both. I'm sorry that we can only put a few of the pictures up on the blog. We headed to St. Anthony's and arrived around 1:00 pm. The trip up there was great and we saw two moose on the way up. One doe and one with a pretty good rack since they are just growing them back. Of course, on the road, no picture. We got there and decided to explore the town. This picture is the trail we took . It was 476 steps and is called the Dare Devil trail. The view from the top was ...

Tuesday turned clear and be autiful, so we took the must see Boat Tour of Westbrook Pond. Historically, this pond was one of the reasons that the park was created. The only people allowed on this "Pond" are in the tour boat. There is a 3 or 4 day hike that is available. The boat takes you to a drop off and you hike out over the mountains. Also, there are two boats there, a smaller one and a larger one. In order to preserve the bogs in the area, the smaller boat was transported to the pond by sled in the winter. The larger one was brought in by helicopter in four pieces and reassembled on the water. Since Monday, July 6th was cold and raining, we stayed in and caught up on everything, except we did go out to see Anchors Aweigh at the Ocean View Motel. It was really great with locals performing and giving us a taste of the culture. This picture is of the ugly stick that is used at "kitchen parties" among the locals.