Cape Breton to NFLD

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog.
No internet connection since July 10th.

July11th

Ralph and I were off to Glace Bay and Cape Breton's Coalminers' Museum. We went into the Oceans Deeps Colliery with tunnels and shafts 4 feet high at times. Cold and damp but extremely interesting tour. Visited Bonnie and Allie in their new home with a swimming pool.

July12th

A memorable 38th wedding anniversary. We were at the North Sydney-NFLD Ferry terminal by 6:30 am. for the 6 hour crossing(8am to 2 pm) .Very foggy. Large ferry with transport trucks and RV's. Time passed by quickly with a movie and Newfoundland singers in the lounge. Bugs and Debby Green were talented musicans. Arrived on "the rock" at 2:30 pm NFLD time.
Foggy and high winds in Wreck House. Set up campsite in the Grand Codroy Valley.Pretty valley with quaint fishing villages. Sampled Cod Tongues(not bad). Enjoyed local NFLD entertainment at our campground with music,dancing and a Screech-in.

July 13th

Left western NFLD and drove through Stephenville,Cornerbrook (situated on a beautiful lake overlooking Marble Mountain Ski Hill)and stayed in central NFLD at Grand Falls-Windsor. Foggy but warm. Excellent highways through the Long Range Mountains,forrest,and lots of "ponds". We had to be vigilant for moose on the highway. Listened to Newfie music and had drinks with Gary and Peggy from St. John's (Torbay).

July14th

Beautiful campsite along the Exploits River(longest river in NFLD with lots of Atlantic salmon)
Toured the area and visited the Salmonide Interpretation Centre and Grand "falls". Visited Bob Hobbs Jr. in Bishop Falls. 27Deg C and humid today.

July15th

Heading off to St John's through picturesque country-valleys, mountains,"ponds",bays, ocean,and barren rocky land. We camped in CA Pippy Park-large treed park in the middle of St John's. When we were visiting the Fluvarium we were surprised to meet up with John and Sherryl from Louisanna. We enjoyed a evening campfire with them.

July16th

Beautiful in the a.m. We drove the Irish Scenic Route to Ferryland along the east coast. It was cold, foggy and raining when we arrived at Ferryland. At Bay Bulls we took a boat cruise to see the humpback whales, birds and Puffins. We saw thousands of Puffins nesting in burrowes on Bird Island. Coming back to St John's the countryside had marshlands,bogs,lakes and large boulders in the fields. In the evening we took a taxi with John and Sherryl to old St John's. George Street has the highest number of pubs and restaurants per sq inch in North America. We enjoyed a fun evening at O'Reilly's Pub. Pan fried cod ,local beer and Newfie music.

July 17th

Drove north along the coast line to beautiful fishing villages-Logy Bay,Torbay,Portugal Cove and St. Phillips in the morning. A van picked us up at Pippy Park for a 4 hour tour-old historic St. John's,jellybean row houses,St John's Bay,the Narrows(provides natural protection from the ocean and invaders),Signal Hill(first transatalntic wireless communication by Marconi),Cabot Tower(John Cabot landed in 1496) and the most easternly tip of North America (Cape Spear).
The views from Signal Hill and Cape Spear were spectular. Quidi Vidi is a very interesting old fishing village. The homes are built on stilts and only accessible by boat. We had delicious NFLD pea soup,seafood chowder and scallops at Velma's Place.(restaurant) St John's is a very beautiful city but difficult to drive in -long roads change names and many intersecting roads.