We've been touring and not reporting for too long!

Catching Up with the Blog-8/4 to 8/12

8/4 Getting ready to load the ferry to Fogo Island. There was more room on this ferry than previous ferry trips and again we left the RV behind.

We visited the town of Fogo, Joe Batt’s Arm, Little Seldom, and Seldom while on Fogo Island. We also visited the town of Tilting.

Once again the scenery was beautiful. There were so many of these amazing pictures as we drove down the road.

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We saw two pretty big icebergs while we were on Fogo. The thing to remember about icebergs is that only about 1/8 of the iceberg is above water. Imagine how big these two were underwater.

This picture shows an artist’s home (long black cylinder on left) and a resort (on the right) that costs $800 per night, and is supposed to look like an iceberg.  

The resort looks out of place in Tilting, Newfoundland, for sure.

There is an organization called “The Flat Earth Society” that believes the earth is flat. One of the four points of the flat earth is located on Fogo Island, Newfoundland which obviously is not flat. Below is a small excerpt from something we found online about the Flat Earth Society.

Brimstone head, one of the 'four corners'

The modern age of the Flat Earth Society dates back to the early 1800s, when it was founded by Samuel Birley Rowbotham, an English inventor. Samuel Rowbotham's Flat Earth views were based largely on literal interpretation of Bible passages. His system, called Zetetic Astronomy, held that the earth is a flat disk centered at the North Pole and bounded along its 'southern' edge by a wall of ice, with the sun, moon, planets, and stars only a few hundred miles above the surface of the earth. After Rowbotham's death in 1884, followers of his Zetetic Astronomy founded the Universal Zetetic Society.

It seems that every little town we go to has at least one really big church and numerous small churches. This is one example from Fogo Island.

We did not stay at this RV park but what a great view they had especially with the icebergs going by in the background.

At the Fogo Head wireless museum we saw this outfit made from flour sacks and rubbed with linseed oil to waterproof it. Quite amazing!

8/ 7 Back on the mainland and we visited Heart’s Content, Heart’s Desire, and Heart’s Delight along with Dildo and Conception! Enough said!!

In Heart’s Content we visited the Marconi site where the first Atlantic cable was connected from Europe. Every telegram from Europe through WWII went through Heart's Content and this building! Great place with a lot of history.

We visited a small Heritage Village in Old Perlican. A small village being rebuilt by a local resident trying to save their history.

Most cemeteries are located with churches such as this one. How they dig in this Rock is hard to imagine.

Harbour Grace airfield was an amazing place to visit. It is the oldest active civilian airfield in Canada. Active is a stretch but it was amazing. This place looks like it has not been touched since 1927. There's a gravel road to this place, a grass strip, old hanger, and no one within miles. The runway went downhill. Just an amazing step back in time.

Taking off downhill on this grass runway, Amelia Earhart headed for Europe!

We visited another archeological site at Cupids that dates back to 1612. This site is still being worked by archeologists. Can anyone imagine what Newfoundland was like in 1612?

8/10- 8/12 Pippy Park is our home for 3 days in St. John’s. Nice park and very convenient. The weather has turned rainy and stayed that way all during our stay in St. John’s. Fortunately the afternoon of our first day turned out OK so we did a lot of outside touristy stuff then. We took sort of a hop on hop off bus and got to see a lot of the city. Very hilly city that reminded us of San Francisco with all the hills and row housing. It was nice but not what any of us expected.

8/10 While at the Signal Hill Visitor Center we were lucky enough to see a “tattoo” which is a demonstration of skills and playing of music. This tattoo showcases the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Foot from 1812, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment Band from 1795, and the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of 1917. Wearing full military uniforms as per the period, the soldiers give a display by each section and portray the drills and battle tactics of the time.

In St. John's we visited a winery that specialized in port wines...

And a train museum, located at the very beginning of the Trans Canada Highway, that gave us a wonderful history of trains in Newfoundland.

We also visited Signal Hill and the weather cooperated very well. We were able to climb to the top of Cabot Tower and get a nice view of St. John’s Harbor itself. Not a very big harbor for such a large city.

8/11 Day two started with some homemade biscuits compliments of Lalia’s sister Lynne. Delicious to say the least. Also on day two we visited a brewery but could not take a tour due to poor timing so we just bought some of their beer. The rest of the day we spent riding around the city taking in some scenery before the fog rolled in.

8/12 Day three started with a visit to the Johnson Geo Center which is an underground museum that gives a very clear explanation of how the geology of Newfoundland developed over the last 30-40 million years. A very interesting place with a lot of information. 

We learned a lot about Labradorite which was good since Lalia and Lynne both bought Labradorite rings on this trip in St. Anthony. 

We also learned that 7/8’s of an iceberg is below the waterline. 

We also drove up Battery Hill and saw some of the old fortifications that defended St. John’s Harbor.

We visited the most easterly point in North America when we went to Cape Spear.

 A WWII battery was set up there to defend Newfoundland if attacked during WWII. The guns were huge and were set up to recede into the ground when not in use.

We then walked up to the Cape Spear Lighthouse where the original lighthouse has been refurbished and set up to look as it did in the 1800’s. The original lighthouse is no longer in use as a lighthouse. 

The new lighthouse is unmanned. We did follow the lead of our friends Breck and Cheri and made sure we had a picture of the light on the lighthouse. 

We ended the St. John’s part of our trip with some more beautiful coastline scenery. Ahead we start back west to eventually return to the ferry back to Nova Scotia.

Our Story Up to August 3rd

On our way to St. Barbes to catch the ferry to Labrador we passed this little car that had a run in with a moose and it looks like the moose won. 

We've been on lots of roads like this one where you do not see a lot of people or traffic. 

We’ve also been on a few ferries where they pack you in really tight. Fortunately this ferry ride was done in the pickup truck and not the RV. We landed at Blanc Sablon, Quebec and headed out to Red Bay in Labrador.

 On this trip to Newfoundland we’ve seen many beautiful rivers and streams that looked great for fishing.

Red Bay is as far as we can go in Labrador due to time restrictions for getting the ferry back to Newfoundland and also because Red Bay is where the paved roads end. From there on it’s all unpaved roads for hundreds of miles. Although Labrador looks very barren there are some very beautiful vistas.

We went looking for this burial site on a dirt road heading to the L’Anse Amour lighthouse. A teenage girl was buried here more than 7500 years ago. 

We’ve also seen many lighthouses on this trip. This one in L’Anse Amour was one of the prettiest ones. It is located next to the remains of one of the first Marconi telegraph stations. 

After our ferry ride back to Newfoundland we drove to Cow Head for a couple of nights to an RV park with a view of the ocean. While in Cow Head we went to the Western Brook Fjord which was one of the highlights of this trip so far. 

A 3 km walk to the boat was well worth the walk. Beautiful scenery with some very deep water and if you like to hike this is the place to come. There are more hiking trails on Newfoundland than we've seen anywhere in our travels. 

 

From Cow Head we traveled to Flatwater Pond RV Park on the Baie Verte peninsula for a few days. 

We’ve seen quite a few moose on this trip but this guy was the first one that was on the road. 

We’ve visited lots and lots of little fishing villages with populations ranging from 7 to 30 people. First place we visited is called Fleur de Lys. 

From Flatwater RV Park we visited a little town called La Scie which was another spot we’ll always remember. Some amazing views from here. 

In La Scie we found this great place for lunch. Limited menu but great food. Valerie and Larry who run the Outpost Museum and Café also do a little entertaining for the customers. Great time here for sure. 

Valerie is playing a Newfoundland Ugly Stick

We continued to visit small coves like Shoe Cove and see buildings in the strangest of places. 
In Tilt Cove we saw our first up close iceberg which is called a Growler. We actually got a piece of ice off this iceberg to eat. Tasted just like ice! 

Most of the roads to these small coves were dirt and the last one we were on this day blew a tire for us. After that it was back to the RV to drink!

On our way to our next stop we visited an information center and met up with 40-50 bikers on a ride for autism. Great folks that we got to spend a little time with since they had us surrounded in the parking lot. Lots of fun. 

Our next stop was in Lewisporte where we sat out for burgers and those drinks I mentioned earlier. 

From Lewisporte we were able to visit the Twillingate area where we saw many more small coves with some fantastic views.

This is a spot where we had Fish & Chips for lunch! What a view.

It was a busy week. Next blog will be coming in a few days.