Eastport, Newfoundland: July 6 to 17, 2018

July 6, 2018, Friday

We drove 3 hours to Eastport. We are staying at the Harold Duffett Shriners RV park. We have a nice spot among a lot of seasonal campers. Most people live here in Newfoundland and leave their trailers here all year and come here on vacation/weekends etc. It’s a nice clean park.

ON A SIDE NOTE:
All the profits from the campground go to Shriner's. I used to think that Shriner's were just tipsy men in little cars at parades. No more. About 4 years ago I had a little boy (5 years old) on my caseload. His parental rights had been terminated and his legal parent was the State of Kansas. He was on the back of a motorcycle (yes, he shouldn't have been... ) and his Halloween costume got tangled in the wheel and the bottom of his foot pushed against the hot tail pipe and the entire bottom of his foot burnt off. After being in the hospital for a week, he needed specialized burn treatment which wasn't available in Kansas. The Shriner's hospital in Texas agreed to take him and treat him for FREE!! But Kansas refused to pay for airfare, housing for his grandmother to go with him, meals for grandma etc.) What kind of LEGAL parent refuses to get their child needed treatment!???! After several negotiations, the SHRINER'S agreed to foot the entire bill! (Shame on Kansas!) After months of treatment and rehabilitation,..... today, he's walking normally but just has to wear a special shoe on that foot. I love Shriner's now!!

We have few groceries and tried to shop a little at a grocery store in Eastport (a tiny little village). We couldn’t get much and I was eaten alive (inside the store) by the tiny blood sucking black flies. I have 4 more bites on my neck. They itch a lot more than mosquito bits! 

July 7, 2018, Saturday

We drove into the Terra Nova National Park which is just a couple miles from us! It’s beautiful. We inquired into fishing in the ocean and also kayaking. We saw an iceberg a very long way out and it was really big!

Then we tried to find a place to eat. We tried one place that would have been great but they require reservations. At the other end of the spectrum were some untidy little cafés which did not look appealing. We went into one and it smelled so bad we left. We went into another and it appeared marginally okay. The food was barely okay.

July 8, 2018, Sunday

We got up and drove an hour back west, to Gander. We really need a decent grocery store to get stocked up. There were 3 grocery stores and it was hard to tell which ones were good. Our second try and we hit the jackpot at Dominion. It even had a deli which we haven’t see in a very long time! We bought over $250. (Canadian dollars) worth of groceries. We at a yummy deli and headed home.

In the evening we had tickets to the Accordion Festival kickoff in Eastport. It was two musicians called Generation Gap. A REALLY good guitar player, Lew Skinner, who showed no emotion at all but could kick out the most complicated tunes. The other guy, Jamie Spurvey, had a great voice and played the accordion and guitar (not at the same time!). He’s also a talented song writer. It seemed that almost everyone there was from the area and not tourists.

Okay, not a great photo but you get the idea.

July 9, 2018, Monday

This morning we called our 14 year old granddaughter Haley. She leaves today for a 10 day trip with her school to Greece and Italy. She’s so excited… giddy! We’re so happy for her and know she’ll have a great time and remember this adventure forever.

Saying goodbye to Haley at the airport!

Pretty windy again today. We stayed put most of the day. I got out my sewing machine and sewed two zipper pouches out of the fabric I bought in Maine. The fabric has Puffins all over it.

 We drove over to Terra Nova National Park, about 20 minutes away. We just checked out a few places to kayak and/or fish. On the way back we spotted an animal running across the road. When we got closer, it was a very beautiful Red Fox. He just looked at us.

What a sweet face!

July 10, 2018, Tuesday

We spent a lot of time in Terra Nova National Park. Tom did some fly fishing at Southwest Brook. 

Yes, Elmo went with us to watch Tom fish.

We also hiked a bit in the Ochre Hill area. We climbed up to the top of an old Fire Lookout that is no longer used but you could still climb to the top. With the wind blowing 25-35 mph it was a little unnerving but I like the adventure! Once at the top, you could see a lot of the National Park! It was an amazing view!

Hang on... it's very windy up here!

Beautiful Terra Nova National Park

Our truck is parked down there.

I zoomed in and noticed two red Adirondack chairs perched on top of a bluff not far away.

We headed over there and sat down and ate our lunch, overlooking the beautiful National Park. What a peaceful lunch!

This is what is written on the arms of the Adirondack chairs.

July 11, 2018, Wednesday

Back in Terra Nova National Park again… we had hoped the wind would be less today and we could get the kayaks out but no luck. It was so windy today! We decided to try to find a sheltered area so that Tom could fish a little. We went to two places (Sandy Pond (Remember: Ponds are Lakes in the USA.) and Southwest Arm. He threw the line out a bunch but no luck. I think he had fun anyway. We hiked into the woods looking for a spot to eat lunch and fish but we kept seeing large piles of animal scat… with bear warnings… we decided to turn back and we ended up eating lunch in the truck! I’m not fond of running into a bear. 

A lot of bear scat on this trail.

Flowers everywhere!  

These are a variation of Dandelions. They bloom after the single blooms are gone and have
multiple blooms on very long stems. 

This is a form of Rhododendron called Ledum or Bog Labrador Tea.

Creeping Buttercups

Elmo got tired and laid down in the field of Buttercups.

Iris (wild)

A beautiful Fluted Swallowtail butterfly.

Moccasin Flower

We finally have some Wifi in the trailer… not sure why but we aren’t complaining! We finished watching a series that we started a long time ago… The Five. It had me guessing right up until the end!

July 12, 2018, Thursday

It started raining around 6am and didn’t stop all day. I did laundry and read a book. Tom read. Around 5:00pm the wind picked up and around 7:00 it was pouring and very windy. We had plans to eat out at a really nice restaurant but we cancelled. No point getting dressed up and doing my hair just to be soaked running from the truck to the restaurant! Around 10:00 the wind got up to 47mph. It rained all night.

July 13, 2018, Friday

We didn’t do a lot in the morning but after lunch we did a little hiking. We drove to Salvage. The road comes to an end in the little village. We toured the Fisherman’s Museum and then took off on a trail. It pretty much went straight up. On top we could view the entire bay of Salvage. The weather was great.

Salvage (pronounced: Salv-AGE). Isn't this the most beautiful!!

The little village of Salvage is so photogenic!

I love searching tide pools for treasures.... drift wood, sea glass, smooth shells, cool rocks etc. Today I found these little guys. They are like a Moon Jelly (those small jellyfish that don't sting and you play with when you grow up on the coast.) but they are completely round like a ball. I found out they are called, Sea Gooseberry. They look like a Gooseberry except they are clear. I have never seen them before even though they are also on the west coast. Pretty cool! These photos were taken through the water.

July 14, 2018, Saturday

What a great day! A memorable day! Not a lot of photos to show but a lot of memories made. We had been working on making arrangements to go out on a boat through Happy Adventure Travel. Tom had been communicating for a week with Chuck, the owner. Some days were too windy, some too cold. But finally today was the day. It was just Tom and I. I love being the only ones on a boat instead of through a large tourist boat company and 50 or so of our newest friends.

We met at the Terra Nova National Park visitors center. We met Chuck’s wife, Brenda too. She’s spunky, bubbly little lady who doesn’t seem like she could ever slow down! She was getting ready to lead an acrylic painting class at the visitors center. She took me in and showed me some of the work that her students have done. She opens it up to tourists from toddlers to seniors! She was so proud to show me how well they paint. Pretty much it’s just tourists passing by who sign up for her class. I would have loved to go but we already had plans to go out on the water with her husband. 

 Chuck also runs the kayak business on the water so he had a large group he had to get out on the water first and then we were off. He took us out of the Newman Sound and into the Bonavista Bay. Along the way he showed us a huge waterfall, tickles, and coves where is ancestors used to live.

Waterfall with cave under it. Chuck said that with a little higher tide,
we could have gone into the cave. 

Chuck got us right under the waterfall... getting wet here!

A lot of tickles in this area.

This island is covered in thousands of Puffins. In the air, in the water, on the island.

The coves were inside a little tickle that could only be reached at high tide. Because they were immigrants they stuck to themselves. No one lives there any longer. (ie: a tickle is a very small passageway in the water.)

He took us past Holbrook Head and the little village of Happy Adventure. Chuck and his wife Brenda own the upscale restaurant/Inn in Happy Adventure, The Inn at Happy Adventure.

We went to where we saw the Gulls, Terns and Murre were diving into the water for Capelin. Remember, Capelin are the small fish that the whales and Cod feed on. Whales “follow” the Capelin. These fish often “roll” onto shore and are gathered by the hundreds/thousands by people on shore and fishing boats offshore. The really odd thing…: They are called Capelin on the East Coast but Smelt on the West Coast. I grew up with these fish “rolling”!! I thought they might be the same thing and they are!

Again, I did not take this photo. This is what it looks like when Capelin roll in.
This is the fish that brings the whales to Newfoundland.

We also saw thousands of Puffins!! There is an island where they nest for the warm months, feed their babies and then head out to sea for the cold months. They live completely on the water during those months. It was beautiful! There were so many! They flew overhead. They flew nearby. They really don’t like to fly much and prefer to just sit on the water and when we got close they would try to fly but it takes them a long time to get into the air. Their bright orange feet trailing behind them. They are absolutely adorable. I could not get any decent photos so again, I relied on the internet! Aren't these the cutest birds you have ever seen!!

We went by Sandy Cove, Black Duck Islets, Scotts Tickle, Arch Tickle, Goodmans Island, Little Denier Island, Barrows Harbour, and Broomclose Harbour. And then we began seeing a lot of Minke Whales! They don’t like boat motors and stay pretty far away from boats but, today they were busy feeding on Capelin so they didn’t notice us much. Some got very close!

 Chuck had to get back at certain time, to take his wife Brenda to Gander for her first Chemo treatment. That got us talking about health care in the USA and Canada. Then Chuck began talking about our crazy government and we have to agree. I feel like we are always apologizing to the Canadians for the things Trump is doing and saying. He is ruining our relationships with our friendly countries. It’s such a sad time in our history.

It was a beautiful day on the water and we enjoyed it so much!!! We went home and got cleaned up and went out to eat at The Inn at Happy Adventure. The Inn’s building was actually built in China and shipped to Newfoundland. Crazy! The Inn overlooks the bay and we were there during sunset and it was so beautiful! The food was delicious. Chuck and Brenda came in as we were finishing our meal. Here are photos of Brenda's artwork. It is hanging everywhere in the Inn and boy is she good! Amazing paintings! What a great day!

The Inn at Happy Adventure. I did not take this photo.

View from the deck of the Inn at Happy Adventure.

July 15, 2018, Sunday

Tom was up all night. He seems to have some sort of flu bug. He was weak and laying down all day. I went grocery shopping and stopped by the campground office for some movies to watch. I also sat outside and read some. It’s a beautiful day!

July 16, 2018, Monday

Tom is still sick. It is still acting like the flu. He’s cold then hot. He’s weak but a little better today. I called the next two campgrounds and changed the dates so we don’t leave here until Wednesday, instead of today.

We ended up watching Jane the Virgin, all day!!

July 17, 2018, Tuesday

Tom is better today but still just laying around. We binged on Jane the Virgin again!

We plan to leave tomorrow! Moving ever further East.

Twillingate Newfoundland: June 29 to July 5, 2018

June 29, 2018
It's finally SPRING here!! Tulips are up and finally, the leaves are on the trees. Twillingate is beautiful! It's another fishing village but a little larger than most we have seen. This area is called "Iceberg Alley! Iceberg capital of Newfoundland!" And of course, there are no icebergs here. Last year in Twillingate, they were inundated with icebergs but not this year. I'm so glad we saw tons of icebergs on the northern peninsula!

In order to get here, we have to hop from island to island over causeways. There are no bridges. At every turn there is another picturesque fishing village. It's beautiful here.

We got to the one and only campground in the area, Peyton's Wood Campground. When I made the reservation months ago, the woman was so friendly and said she would give us an "ocean view". I was so excited!! Well, it's only an ocean view if you walk out to the road and look down the road a bit AND the campsite next to us had to be vacant or it would block our view. And, like most 5th wheels, we have no windows on that side of Honalee. Here is our rig with no rig on the downhill side so we WOULD have a view if we had windows on that side.

We only have an Ocean View if: no camper is next to us AND if we had windows on that side. WE DON'T.
The poor woman in the office does not realize that most 5th wheels have few if any, windows on the that side.
She also doesn't realize that the view is totally blocked when another rig is next to us.
The only one who can see the ocean is the first rig in the row.

We met our neighbor and they are traveling with two other couples. One couple is from Oregon and they full time also. They, Bobbie and Steve came over later and visited in our RV for a while.

June 30, 2018

Tomorrow is Canada Day! We bought a Canadian Flag and two potted flower plants for the front porch.

We toured the Wooden Boat Museum here in Twillingate. It was fascinating. We were able to see a Dory being built and learned about the processes involved in the build. It's a dying art but they are trying to get younger people involved  more.

We ate a late lunch on the water. We went to the fish market and bought salmon for Tom to grill tonight. They have “pools” (huge tubs with sea water) of lobster and crab. There was a lobster in there that was 16 pounds!! They said it is the largest one they have ever seen!

A huge 16+ pound Lobster! They will not sell it.
They plan to release it back into the ocean because it is too old, too big and the meat would be too tough.

Suddenly the sky got dark and it thundered and POURED down rain for about 2 hours. Then it was just, gone and we had blue skies again. But about an hour later thick fog rolled in suddenly.

July 1, 2018

CANADA DAY!! 

Even the locals have no idea what celebrations are going on today! I am amazed with the Twillingate area. When we were planning out our adventures here we really wanted to go to Twillingate… Iceberg Alley, quaint fishing village, on a small island with artists, hiking and lots to do etc. It seemed everyone we talked to was going to go to Twillingate at some point on their journey. Well, we got here and it’s beautiful but absolutely no one has any information. There is no Visitors Centre or Welcome Centre. We stopped at convenience stores, grocery stores, gift shops, campground staff and NO ONE had maps with hiking trails, points of interest or information about local Canada Day Celebrations. Amazing to us! They all had one map of the town with no points of interest on it and no hiking trails. Then around 4:00pm we found one gift shop that had a printed brochure of three things going on today, to celebrate Canada DAy!! Another map has hiking trails, points of interest and all the things to do around here! Thank you!! We had already missed two events for Canada Day but we were determined to go to the Fireworks tonight! We found out they will be set off near the campground so we can watch them from there.

We celebrated our discovery at a Beer Distillery right in town in mid-afternoon. Local beer with local music, some crazy Canadians… perfect!

Bobbie and Steve came over and asked if we wanted to join them for a movie in their 5^th wheel. Sure! We watched Jurassic World. As we watched the movie, very thick fog began to roll in. As soon as the movie was over, the fireworks started so we went outside to watch. They were going off just across from our campsite. It was about 10:15 and still light outside… plus the fog was thick so, not much of an event!

The fog rolled in. The ocean is somewhere out there and so are the fireworks!

Selfies are so flattering!
Bobbie and Steve

Happy Canada Day!

July 2, 2018

Today is my birthday! Overcast most of the day. We didn’t do much. We did laundry, dishes, read and took a nap.

Birthday photo! Happy 63rd Kathie!

Late afternoon we went to the much publicized Twillingate Dinner Theatre. We sat at a table for 7 and had a great Salmon meal. Some at our table had Lobster and two had Chicken. They also served Cod. The waiters/servers were also the performers. The show was “okay”. We were really spoiled when we saw Anchor’s Away in Rocky Harbour. This group sang and played instruments. Two of them played exceptionally well and sang well. The others, not so much. In fact, one woman who sang, was frankly hard to listen to. (I’m trying to be nice..…) and a lot of the skits were what you might see in a Middle School Talent Show. We heard some of the traditional Newfoundland songs that we have heard before so we knew them, which was fun! We are becoming Newfies!

The skies cleared when we got out and the sun was down but the sky was pink and blue. It was a beautiful ending to a great 63^rd birthday!

July 3, 2018

Went grocery shopping. We went to both grocery stores because the first one we tried had just a tiny bit of nothing. We still haven’t found decent Turkey Bacon here.

We went to the Long Point Lighthouse and went on a beautiful hike! We hiked down to the cliffs that were well over 300 feet above the shoreline. Sea birds were gliding in and out of the rocks and the waves were crashing in. We found a place right on top of the cliffs to stop and eat lunch. It was amazing.

Long Point Lighthouse. There is a very nice Titanic exhibit inside.

Hiking down toward the cliffs

The paths along the cliff edge.

We ate lunch on the top of this cliff.

Our lunch spot.

Then, to top off an amazing day… we saw two tourist boats way out in the ocean and looking closely, we saw a whale blow several times. We were very far away but we finally SAW OUR FIRST WHALE, sort of!

Whale on far right.

See the whale blow!

In the evening we grilled and ate outside because it was so nice out! We haven't been able to sit outside and eat for several months because of the cold weather. After dinner we went to the Masonic Temple to hear Slainte sing. They are the first to perform in a long list of performers during the Twillingate Summer Concert Series. This is the first year they have done this and they are hoping it goes over well and they can continue to offer this high-quality music in Twillingate. The Slainte are a group of 6 men singing and playing traditional Newfoundland (Irish) music. Very talented and a great show! We met a couple from Germany. He spoke some English but his wife didn’t speak any but we had a nice conversation with him. It was a great evening with really talented musicians and singers.

Two of the 6 member band.

July 4, 2018

This is the 4^th of July in the USA!! But here, nothing is going on obviously! So we got up very early and drove an hour to catch a ferry to Fogo Island.

Look how they stack the smaller cars.

Elmo enjoying his 5th ferry ride! 

Fogo Island was a disappointment in the sense that it is not set up to welcome tourists. I think my expectations were too high. I was thinking it would have a lot of artisan stores and places to eat. Not so. We drove to every little (beautiful) village and after asking several local people, we found out there are exactly 4 places to eat on the entire island. The locals said not to go to one place because it was too greasy. One place was Chinese food. One place didn’t open until 5:00pm. We should have brought a lunch and eaten on a great beach somewhere.

One place required reservations. The one that requires a reservation is the Fogo Island Inn. It is an architectural beauty overlooking the ocean. It looks completely out of place on this island because of it unique and modern architecture. However, it’s exclusively expensive ($1,200 to $3,000 per night) and reservations are required… period! They say there are artists there but again, if you want to go, make reservations. Tom read that a woman who grew up in Newfoundland, moved away when she was young and became a multimillionaire. She wanted to find a way to help Newfoundlander's so she built this Inn to provide jobs for the people on the island. Well, a lot of Newfoundlander's view this Inn as an eye sore, looking down on those who are struggling to make ends meet. I did not take the following photos.

Other than this one place, we found nothing on this island except cute fishing villages. Even the only museum was closed.... the Museum of the Flat Earth was closed for good! Imagine that!

The Welcome Center was closed when we got off the ferry (10:15am) but it was open when we left at 2:00pm. We ended up eating at a rundown diner and ate a pretty poor imitation of a hamburger. There were no stores featuring local art, anywhere. Instead of taking the 8:00pm ferry back, we caught the 2:00pm ferry and were home by 4:30pm.

Photos on beautiful Fogo Island:

The only artist we saw! We talked with him for awhile. He's from Newfoundland but lived away for many years
and just returned a few years ago. He's been contracted to paint this rock.

We had a great evening in Twillingate!! We ate wonderful seafood at Georgie’s Restaurant! Salmon, muscles and shrimp! Then we went downstairs to the Captain’s Pub and enjoyed the entertaining Captain Mike Sixonate. Exceptional guitarist and singer. He was funny but most of all, he knew how to tell the stories of Newfoundland and we learned so much! One person was “Screetched In” and became a true Newfoundlander! What fun! We are saving this experience for when we are in Bona Vista with Joe and Bobbie. The Iceberg beer was great and the entire evening was something to remember.

Talented guitarist and storyteller

July 5, 2018

Today we took the day off. No agenda. No plans. Sleep in. Lazy morning. We spent early afternoon washing all the windows, inside and out. Then we drove to the fish market and picked up some Halibut, Salmon and frozen Cod Soufflé. We hit the road tomorrow so we want to be stocked up!  We filled up with Diesel and went to the Auk Winery. It is absolutely the clearest, bluest day yet! Beautiful!! We drove around a bit more and took in the island's uniqueness. Tom grilled yummy burgers with zucchini/onion sides.

PHOTOS in and around Twillingate!

Example of how houses are built in, on and around rocks.

Sunset photo from our campground.

The fog rolling in suddenly.

We are leaving tomorrow ONLY because the nice woman at the campground booked us to the 6th instead of the 7th as I requested. I called the next campground to be sure we could get in a day early and we can. Several other campers I talked to also had issues with their reservations and also were promised an "ocean view".... Funny place!  

Summary of Twillingate and Fogo Island 

This area was definitely on my bucket list. It's beautiful and amazing to see all the homes hanging on cliffs, on top of rocks and in rocks. All my research said this was the place to come, the place to see Icebergs (not one, but that isn’t their fault), the place for artists shops, music, quaint fishing village etc. I thought we would find an artistic community with quaint places for music etc. We found some of these things but it was terribly difficult (with NO Welcome Centre or Visitors Centre) to find the quality Newfoundland talent. The ones advertised were the least quality ones. We ate at other cafes etc and went to other places too. They were good but the following is a list of stellar Newfoundland talent and places to be sure to go:

1. Captain's Pub - quality Newfoundland guitarist, storyteller and humorous too!
2. Artist Cara Kansala - her paintings are displayed in several shops around town.
3. Long Point Lighthouse - amazing hiking trails. Quality Titanic Exhibit
4. Twillingate Summer Concert Series - a new venture bringing a variety of high quality Newfoundland music to Twillingate, all summer long.
5. Wooden Boat Museum - Informative, hands-on and very interesting!
6. Georgie's Restaurant - Wonderfully prepared seafood.
7. Auk Winery
8. Split Rock Brewing Company
9. The Bistro
10. Driftwood Gallery - great local art with various mediums

A bit about camping in Newfoundland: We encountered several places where we are told they have "Boil Only" water available. Even some restaurants are not allowed to serve water unless it is bottled. The vast majority of places say it is safe to drink their water but when we turn it on... it is a light rusty color, so we don't drink it. To be on the safe side, we have been buying water by the gallon containers. I hate that we are using so much plastic but it seems to be unavoidable. The water in our rig goes through two filters and then we have a Brita that also filters. Even with that, we don't drink it. We do use it to bathe, brush teeth and cook.