Friday, August 25

Today was our last day in Newfoundland and I already miss it. It's been an amazing 3 weeks. We started the day with a bike ride, 30 miles on a beautiful trail-big water views, babbling brooks, it was gorgeous. I've missed biking on this trip. Unlike last year in Oregon there haven't been many trails conducive to riding. 

Next we explored Quidi Vidi, a historic fishing village in the east end of St John's. It's an idyllic spot.

We ended the day with a fantastic dinner at Mallard Cottage, a local landmark. It's a National Historic Site of Canada and is one of the oldest wooden buildings in North America. There was big news at the restaurant. Five local boats had just caught 3 huge tuna each, most of which were bound for Japan and other distant locations. But the restaurant scored one and had cut it up on their lawn that afternoon, apparently it was quite the spectacle. Needless to say, we had a few variations, it was sublime. 

Gluttons that we are, we also sampled the cod cheeks, check em out!

After dinner we waddled back to Shirley and got things packed up for tomorrow. Another ferry ride awaits!

Thursday, August 24

Today's highlight was another spectacular hike. This time we explored Cape Spear, which is the easternmost point In Canada and North America. Next landfall Europe...very cool.

As always, a picture is worth a thousand words.

After our hike we headed back to town for lunch. St John's has lots of pubs and we'd had a hankering for fish & chips. We picked the Duke of Duckworth and it was perfect. Nothing like big hunks of fresh fish and a bowl of chowder. Life is good. 

Back with Shirley, we suffered through one more batch of lobster, did some reading, and cashed in a little early.

Wednesday, August 23

We woke to another rainy morning, made better by a hearty breakfast of local fare-fish cakes and scrambled eggs with smoked char, spinach, cheese, onions, bacon, and capers. Yumm!

We headed into town and hit some shops, including a cool knit shop Kari found. St John's is a beautiful city:

We spent the afternoon at The Rooms, a museum honoring the heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador. We're not big museum goers but this one was cool. As I've mentioned, folks here are very attached to their homeland and fiercely proud of it, and it really came through in the museum. It's not an easy place to live, it's remote with very long winters, so those with the fortitude to stick it out develop a tight bond. Interestingly, there is a huge Irish presence, the early immigrants came to work in the cod fishery. Nearly half of today's population is of Irish descent, so it's another immigration success story not unlike the American story. 

Afterward we headed back to have dinner with Shirley-lobster rolls, broccoli salad, and more of those Lays ketchup chips...

We finished the evening watching the first R presidential debate. Not much positive to report from that. Since the "very stable genius" wasn't there, it was kind of like a Harry Potter movie. No one mentioned him, he was Voldemort:He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. One woulda thought a criticism or two might have come to mind. Perhaps the incitement of an insurrection, the first time in our nations history that we didn't have a peaceful transfer of power?

Let's hope our trip to Canada doesn't prove a harbinger of our future home...

Tuesday, August 22

Rain fell all night on Shirley's tin roof. Morning broke with more rain. The forecast said rain. It looked and felt like a rain out day. Rain rain go away... We'd been waiting for a time to see Oppenheimer, which opened right after we left home. So the combination of rain and actually being in a town large enough to have a theater was too much to resist. First we hit a Thai joint for lunch, we needed a break from seafood. It was actually a brewpub, the owners had started out in a food truck. The food was adequate. We killed a little more time in town hitting a few shops. Kari was eyeballing a pair of Blundstone boots I made the mistake of pointing out... it's a renowned brand made for wintery climes. Then we were on to the movie.

I found the movie really compelling. It was a good reminder that our nation has been through difficult times before. Scary times, uncertain times. I always feel the same when visiting Arlington National Cemetery. The movie also made me ponder a world I've never experienced-a world without nuclear weapons. Though obvious, it's something I've not thought much about since I've only been alive in the nuclear age. Watching those who developed the bomb struggle with the moral implications of their task really brought home that there was a before time, a better time. Nuclear weapons permanently changed our world. We'll never get the before times back.

Most importantly, it was a good reminder that we shouldn't once again risk giving the nuclear codes to a narcissistic psychopath. 

After the flick we headed back to hang with Shirley for the evening. Since I've been a little "cloudy" in this post I'll end on a higher note. Check out how beautiful clouds can be 😊

Monday, August 21

Today's highlight was another amazing hike, this time on the North Head Trail, which follows the coast on Signal Hill. Signal Hill overlooks the town and harbor of St John's. It also overlooks the "Narrows", the only entrance to the harbor. As such, it's had fortifications in place to protect the town that date to the mid 17th century. The scenery was spectacular. The trail was very well maintained and had an elaborate stair system to navigate the rocky coast. 

Later in the day we hit the town, it was a happening place.  George Street is the most famous area, it's a two block section of only bars and restaurants known for its late evenings and general debauchery. Newfoundland has a large Irish population and St. John's plays its part with several Irish bars. It's quite hilly, has the classic multi-colored Newfoundland housing stock, and sports a cool record store-Fred's. Fred's was celebrating its 50th anniversary and I found a Freddie Hubbard album I haven't seen before. Along with Wes Montgomery and JJ Johnson, Freddie is one of Indy's 3 all time jazz icons so I try and collect as many of their recordings as I can. 

One thing I haven't mentioned are the cool flowers and gardens we've seen. The climate seems ideal for gardens, they're everywhere. 

We dined at Blue on the Water, did a trip to the top of Signal Hill at dusk, then headed back to Pippy Park to bunk with Shirley. A great day.

Sunday, August 20

Today was a travel day, we didn't want to wear out our roadside welcome. We were bummed to leave our perch, it's been an amazing couple of days. No internet, a scenic coastal setting replete with our own puffin colony, amazing hiking, the darkest of skies, no sound except the sea, and plenty of provisions on Shirley's shelves. 

But time marches on so we did too. I popped on a Neil Young playlist (another Canadian), we had some fresh fruit and hard boiled eggs, packed Shirley up, and said goodbye to our neighbor when she came for her morning walk with Huey. As always, we hit the road to the sound of Petty's Time to Move On. 

We had no reservations until the following night in St Johns, so we decided to see if we could get in a night early. Success! We headed for Pippy Park, an urban campground in town. It was only a little over three hours to St Johns, the drive was uneventful. We listened to some tunes and Kari read a little about St Johns. Pippy Park turned out to be a great spot-spacious, clean, and close to everything. 

We got Shirley set up, checked out the park, and hunkered down for the evening. We had leftover shrimp and scallop pasta and watched an Anthony Bourdain episode from a visit he made to Newfoundland and Quebec. We were on the last leg of our time in Newfoundland and I was already getting nostalgic...

Saturday, August 19

We started the day with Joni's album Blue, from 1971. It's one of her classics, and contains the song Little Green. It's one of the most wrenching songs I know, as it recounts her giving up a child for adoption. 

On a more uplifting note we noticed some action down the coast in the Elliston harbor so we headed down to check it out. Unfortunately we just missed a performance that was part of a larger region wide art festival. It was an interpretive dance called Sturgeon Woman Rising. I guess it was cool, but my glimpse of the sturgeon woman looked more like a bad mermaid imitation writhing around on the beach. We hung out for a bit as the crowd dispersed, chatted with a couple locals, watched a seagull pluck a crab out of the ocean and devour it on a rock, and listened to the unique sound of a lone loon in the bay. Nice:)

We headed across the street to a little diner that we spotted yesterday, likely the only dining establishment in Elliston:) It was actually pretty tasty. I had a fish burger and Kari had a donair. For those unfamiliar with a donair, think of it as a gyro with a couple wrinkles-beef instead of lamb, and a sweet sauce instead of tzatziki. For food geeks, here's the story about it's origin in Halifax in the 70's: https://www.foodnetwork.ca/article/the-delicious-history-of-the-halifax-donair/

Here's a shot of Kari headed back to Shirley after lunch. You can tell from her dress how cool it was, at the same time it was blazing hot back home. Timing is everything!

Next we were off on a coastal hike. The 17km Little Catalina to Maberly Trail was about a mile down the road, and as all the trails before, it was spectacular. It was blustery and cool, with amazing clouds swirling overhead. We saw one other person. We did six or so miles on an out and back hike. 

Adjacent to the trailhead there was another art exhibit that was part of the same festival as the sturgeon woman. This dude wasn't named after a fish, but he was a decent painter. The second pic is a little hard to see, but it's a shot of another art exhibit. 

Here are some shots of the hike: 

We were also in the self-proclaimed root cellar capital of the world. Really. http://www.rootcellars.com They have 135 documented root cellars, some of which have survived over 200 years. Go figure...

Back with Shirley, there was plenty of time left for some additional lounging with our puffin friends:

We finished the day with a pasta dish with fresh scallops and shrimp. Love my wife:) We were sad to see the day end, knowing we'd have to decamp in the morning.