Blogs from Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada, North America - page 3

Newfoundland From North Sydney, Nova Scotia we caught the ferry to Newfoundland, a 6 to 8 hour trip, depending on the weather. Fortunately the seas were calm. We had stopped at a McDonald’s for breakfast before boarding. McDonalds in other countries are always interesting – they had a counter with pastries, really good expresso type coffee and poutine on the menu. For the uninitiated, poutine is a mixture of French fries, covered with cheese curds and gravy. There are lots of variations (including with lobster). We have yet to try it. The most interesting part of our ferry trip was our conversations with others on the boat. Canadians are a friendly lot, and there was lots of teasing of the Americans and some advice on what to see in Banff National Park. We learned a new ... read more

The day dawned, the sun was out, and the “Where & When” had forecast almost 70˚F and sunny for our return to Newfoundland. I’m breathing easy once again, feeling myself and with the exception of a nagging cough that will no doubt hang around for weeks, if the past is any guide. It’s not really a cough, but more a spot in the back of my throat that sometimes gets irritated; but, no matter how much or often I cough, it just won’t go away. St. Anthony is a tender port and our tour doesn’t start until nearly 1PM! We have the whole morning to ourselves. Supposedly, our tour “Dining with the Vikings” is just two hours, which won’t leave us much time before the final tender at 3:15PM. I’m not sure why it was that ... read more

Our tour is winding down : ( We returned to Deer Lake and then headed east southeast. Riding through empty forest we often think of Lapland. As we’ve headed in a more southerly direction, we’ve lost our wonderful tailwind and along with the now headwind, long climbs and temps into the 80’s. We stalled in Grandfalls-Windsor for three days when Anna’s vertigo kicked in and she couldn’t ride. I took the opportunity to go into town for a haircut one day and what fun it was! A small old time barber shop. Locals coming in to gossip and joke and they brought me right into their conversations as if i were an old time local myself! We’ve been dodging rain and when we miss and end up soaked we’ve been reasonably lucky at finding a Motel ... read more

We were sad to leave the amazing Bell Island with the fantastic local music, food, sights, and the friendliest people. Boarded the ferry early with a brown bag breakfast- Alfred and staff really took care of us. If you’re ever in the area,this is the place to visit and stay at the Grand Wabana Inn. Rain just about all day but that didn’t stop us for having lunch at Steve & Lisa’s off-the-grid homestead. On top of their hill Overlooking the Bay, we ate rabbit pizza, turkey pot pie, blueberry cobbler w/ custard ice cream and drank maple/blueberry mead. Thanks to their rabbits, goat milk, turkeys and garden. Then climbed in Jerome’s minibus, and traveled to small town museums,art shops and a community musical festival in Ferryland. This town is known for historic immigrant fishery dating ... read more

We received an EXC tour update for our tour in Red Bay the next morning; and, it seems that they decided that we would need to be ready one hour earlier than we had planned. This meant that we would need to set the alarm; which, in turn meant that I would need to make sure that my phone had the correct local time. I hadn’t bothered to adjust my phone for the one-half hour that we lost in Newfoundland and Labrador required the same half-zone setting. Back in the day when this province had been separate countries from Canada they had used the sun to determine noon local time. This was needed to have a consistent and accurate time reference for train schedules. When they did become part of Canada there was no effort to ... read more