Wednesday-Thursday, August 22-23

First day of school

Connor (1st) and Liam (2nd)

August 22, 2012

 

Wednesday - I’m jotting down some notes for the blog and hope to have internet again Thursday night.    As I write this on Wednesday night, we are parked in the large ferry lot with many semi-trucks waiting for the 4:45 AM loading time tomorrow.     Sure glad we had a reservation because with all the changes in the ferry schedule and shifting things around, we will be good to go and those just taking a chance of getting on…..not gonna happen!     
 

Okay….we’ve seen lots  of RV’s since we’ve been in Newfoundland, but never another Lazy Daze till this afternoon here in the parking lot when another “Daisy” pulled in behind us.   The folks are from Colorado and just as surprised to see our Daisy as we were to see them!   

After exercising this morning, we went into Corner Harbor and back to the Harbor Grounds for yummy breakfast/internet.    Stopped at Sobey’s for some groceries and then we were off and oh my, our last day in Newfoundland was breathtakingly beautiful driving to Port aux Basque.     We stopped in Doyles, NL at the Codroy RV Park and washed Daisy and Toad – they were so so dusty.  
 

 So many Canadian or Canada thistles up here everywhere and I have many memories of my Dad talking about them over the years and how to get rid of them....Mark has his memories, too, of trying to dig up those suckers!  Ironically, they did not originate in Canada despite the name!

Scenic drive

At every turn in the road - more oohs and aahs!

 

One of many brooks we passed

Moose, moose, so many moose, but where ARE all the moose?    Supposedly there are 4,000 moose in the Gras Morne Park and 110,000 across Newfoundland/Labrador.    But we only saw 2 the 12 days we were here.  In fact the Anchor Inn in Rocky Harbor took their moose burgers off the menu because they ran out of moose.   I was really hoping to try one of these???     Driving along today on the TCH1 (Trans Canada Highway 1), we were in heavy moose country or so the signs said and there were over 10 miles of tall fencing on either side of the road.   Thought maybe we would get a glimpse, but zilch!     And we were also in Iceberg country, but didn’t see a one – sometimes they last into August, but not this year!    The pictures are so awesome – some REALLY big ones come over from Greenland and last several months.

We took the ferry back to North Sydney, Nova Scotia (up at 4:15, boarded at 5:30 and off at 6:45 for the 5-hour trip).   We gained back that ½ hour we lost in Newfoundland!    Our ferry, the "Blue Puttees”  was built in 2006 and very nice, but just in awe of how many people (around 750) and vehicles (130 cars, 30 RV’s, 30 semi -trailers and 45 semi-trucks) this baby could handle and made the trip with us to the mainland.   The accommodations were very nice and we had leather reclining seats in the front row with windows on 3 sides!    We met Ron and Claire from Cape Coral, FL (they do not know Nate and Jane, Judy B, but had to ask)!   So many special memories and photos we are taking home after visiting this spectacularly beautiful, rugged province!  We feel so  blessed that we were able to experience God's incredible talent and art work up here. 

We are in Baddeck, Nova Scotia on Cape Breton at the Cabot Trail Campground for the next 2 nights and tomorrow (Friday), planning to take a 7.5 hour bus ride on the Cabot Trail.    This will be a real treat for Mark as he’s been doing so much white-knuckle, nail biting, hand-gripping-steering-wheel-driving past several days on these mountainous roads.   It’s time for him to sit back, relax and enjoy all the scenery!!!
 

We went for a "short" bike ride this afternoon - these ole bods are not up to all the hills or perhaps a bit out of shape???   It's 83 today!

The restaurant here at the park (a rarity to have one) is The Shanty and tonight's special was seafood chowder with fish and chips.......wow!!!    Outstanding, especially, the chowder!!!