Month: July 2016

We left St. Johns at 9:30am for the two hour drive to Argentina, Newfoundland to catch the Atlantic Vision back to Nova Scotia. We were one of the first people to arrive so we set off to explore once we cleared the spray down to remove potentially contaminated dirt that the ag divisions doesn’t want off the island!

The ship looked awesome. Much like the first one we were on but boasting more amenities like a theater and buffet dining.

Priceless. We can’t just take a normal photo.

Mom nervously parked Luna on the ferry. She looks tiny next to the massive 45′ Georgetown! The driving on was very easy and Mom was happy it worked out that way.

We were right near the front AGAIN. This means we will be one of the first off in the morning!

We dropped out backpacks int he cabin and headed to explore. We met some kids from Toronto and joined them in the lounge to compare apps on our phones.

We lined up early, first in line Dad would be proud, for the buffet. Good thing we did as the line behind us EXPLODED. The price was fair, $11.50/kids and $22.50/adults. The food was plentiful and we all found things we loved. I enjoyed turkey, cheese, bread and grapes. The desserts were great too. Mom figured it was worth it since we probably would have spent the same amount if not more at the a la carte options.

Up next was Wreck-It-Ralph in the ships theater. It was really just an area with reclining chairs for people who didn’t have cabins to sleep. But it was a movie theater until 11pm.

We were all tuckered after the movie and walked around a little but it was super foggy so we gave up and retired to the cabin for the night. We loved the top bunks in our berth. We all fell asleep listening to the fog horn blow every few minutes.

Int he morning the fog was gone and we explored the outer decks while snacking on granola bars Mom brought along.

We were glad we weren’t on the outer deck! the cars were soaked with moisture.

We checked out Battleship from the desk and played int he game lounge for the rest of the morning.

We were called to return to our cars and were the 2nd off the and on the road.

 

This morning we headed back to Signal Hill in hopes of getting to see the Signal Hill Tattoo. Luck paid off and the fog lifted a bit and the rain held off. We watched the group march on to the field in formation.

There were three regiments: a machine band, gun group and infantry.

The gun group went through practice drills and fired blanks.

I think the infantry was the best. They went through some gas drills and had to don their gas masks until all clear was called. Then they took prone position and “fired at the enemy”. There was also a very loud machine gun in the back. It was all pretend so no real bullets just blanks.

 

We headed over the Cape Spear again. The fog was still there. We ate lunch and then hiked part of the Coastal Trail and then grass and rock trails around the hills.

We found some cool bunkers. Mom tried to scare us when we went inside.

We ventured to the Most Easterly Point in North America. Oddly there was land for 50 meters in all directions from this point.

The fog lifted a little and we could actually see the craggy coastline below.

More bunkers near the lighthouse. These were from WWII.

It is strange to see a lighthouse so heavily fortified.

This is the old lighthouse that was used until the 1940s.

We got to go inside and try out the jobs that kids had. I enjoyed using the yolk but was glad I didn’t have to carry water up the hill from the well!

The Frugal Housewife. There were all sorts of remedied for tummy aches and more.

Mr. Warre (aka Chris) was on hand to challenge our brains as we worked to complete the children’s tasks int he lighthouse.

Mr. Chris was also at the campfire last night and sang Moose Alpaca with us again at the lighthouse.

This is the modern lighthouse. It was roped off due to construction in the area but we could see it through the fog.

After we explored all around Cape Spear we were talking with some of the Parks Canada staff and they recommended we go check out Bowring Park. It was an amazing park. Mom drove in the open gate and we noticed we were the only people in a car? There were no parking spaces. Soon a golf cart came by and told us we weren’t supposed to be in the park with a car. Hmmm. The sign said entrance and the gate was open. We turned around and headed back out of the park. We found a parking lot a ways down the main road and headed back on foot. Weird! The guy said it happens a lot. Mom wondered why the heck the gate labeled entrance would be OPEN if you weren’t supposed to come in. We drove back by the entrance later and there are NO signs saying not to come in. *shrug*

Anyway, the part was scattered with ducks, pigeons, and even swans. The pond behind us was stocked full of koi. You could buy a bag of feed for $2 but we never found out where to do that.

Some of the pigeons were marbled with white! They were really neat looking. This one followed us all over.

The park also had a huge skate park, a theatre, splash pad and a gigantic playground. We played Pokemon a while and then opted to put the phones away and play on the playground. We played a long time and then headed out to find wifi to upload photos and get some groceries.

 

 

This morning we drove out to Signal Hill.

We were fighting drizzling rain all morning. The Signal Hill Tattoo was canceled for the day due to the moisture. We hiked several trails in the area and some some spectacular sites from he tops of the hills. St. John’s is quite a unique town. It reminds us of San Fransisco both in topography and buildings.

Hiking “off trail”.

What a gorgeous city.

I found a sport to rest amongst the rocks.

In the center I loved the marbles. It was impressive to me. I love marbles a lot and I wished I could have these for my collection. I decided I could make and bake some when we get home.

We went to the top of Signal Hill and learned about the cannons and the signal tower, Cabot Tower. We got to send a morse code message of our name from the tower and learned about signal flags. At one point this was heavily contended for and the hill changed ownership many times.

The hill was used to let companies know when their ships were coming into port.

We explored the Queens Battery and learned about the barracks and the cannon duties. Part of the XPlorer program was to find odd things in the barracks. We found a modern toothbrush, a flashlight and a padlock!

We also had to identify the oldest cannon.

Today they still fire the NOON cannon. We hung out and watched the cannon. It was really loud and echoed off the hills.

Next we went down the road to the GeoCenter. The GeoCenter is a building built around and into the hillside. This area used to be a quarry. The building offered a look into the history of the Earth’s rocks. The displayed of the rocks were superb.

We also did a program on stars. B dazzled the interpreter with his knowledge of mythology, stars and nebulas.

A giant prehistoric insect.

We learned about how they get oil from below the ocean floor and then compared different types of oils.

Another Titanic exhibit. I think we are Titanic experts after this trip!

The rocks were quite impressive. They had many gems as well.

There were lottos plant and animal fossils from around Newfoundland.

The giant rock wall was our favorite though!

We were allowed to spray water on the wall to make things stand out more. I liked looking for odd colors in cracks.

We also watched a 3D movie called Meerkats! It was super funny and reminded us of Meerkat Manor.

We spent the afternoon hunting Pokemon and exploring downtown St. John’s. The pokestops led us to see amazing street artwork all over downtown. It was cool to see so many stops after being in places where we barely even had cell signal most of the time.

The little park in downtown was PACKED with kids and adults playing. There were 3 pokestops in the park and all had lures.

We walked on by to keep exploring though. We got our past stamps in our Puffin Passports and received our cute little puffins.

As I said, the street are is amazing!

Several years ago the city commissioned artists to beautify the signal boxes with art. We liked this one called the Kraken!

We ate a quick dinner at No Name Pizza…so good it doesn’t need a name. It really was!

Then we headed to Cape Spear for an evening campfire sign-a-long. The fog set in very dense. We could barely see and were soaking wet from the moisture in the air.

I was running down the pathway trying to get ahead of Breighton and I took a fall. I skinned my knee up yet had to keep going to catch a Pokemon. Mom fetched the medical kit and cleaned me up.

The sing-a-long was great and the two staff members were very talented. We sang and laughed. We even taught them Moose/Alpacca! We had hot cocoa and s’mores over the fire.

My wipe out. Its been cleaned several times now and is feeling better. 

I didn’t want tape on my skin and was afraid of getting Night-Night bloody so Mom made a bandage out of gauze and half of one of Breighton’s socks.

 

 

We spent yesterday working on some school work, cleaning the motorhome and catching up on laundry. It was a down day and we never left the campground.

Today we drove to St. John’s, Newfoundland. As we neared the city B explained “Mom there are tall buildings, are we in New York?”. haha Such a smarty pants. We have been in nowhere land for so long it was shocking to see traffic, buildings and actual businesses other then grocery stores that sell barely anything.

We arrived at Pippy Park and love our nice pull through space. It has wifi so blogs will get caught up. We explored Pippy Park by car and on foot. This lead to lots of Pokemon hunting in the park.

We visited the Fluvarium which is basically a building that has the river running through it. The facility teaching about freshwater ecosystems and fish.

We explored the river tanks and then the salmon ladder outside.

Then we hiked some trails in the park and headed off to explore the city a little.

We found a shopping mall and Mom had Thai food. She was so excited to have food with flavor. She ordered spicy and was grinning ear to ear with happiness. FOOD WITH FLAVOR! Considering it was “mall food” Mom said it was amazing.

I am in love with Puffins. This one was HUGE! I am working on my Puffin Passport at the Heritage Shops. If I get 6 stamps I get a free 5″ puffin!

We found Costco and restocked some essentials and then went back to Pippy Park for more walking around and hunting Pokemon. The best part of this game is that it is making us walk a lot more when we would normally have down time.

Tomorrow we head to explore the National Park sites in St. Johns.

Today we hiked around Ochre Hill in Terra Nova National Park and then hiked up to the fire lookout tower. The views were amazing in the area. You could see for miles (kilometers!) in all directions even though it was overcast.

B went up the fire tower and I stayed down with Mom and looked through the binoculars.

Watch for this head tilt. It is something new I am doing. I call it being cute.

We visited the activity center at the campgrounds in the Terra Nova park. They had a HUGE building for activities, crafts and programs. It was packed with parentless rowdy kids.

We attended a program called Bear Aware. It was a fun interactive program about how to be bear safe when camping.

After the program we hiked the campground trail in search of evidence of beavers. We found quite a lot of downed trees that were obviously beaver work!

We got closer to the water and found many beaver lodges scattered around the sound.

I had to check out each tree. I am convinced I can tell which beaver did this. I was comparing teeth marks on all the trees.

We hiked the 3km trail of the loop at the campground and then headed for ice cream at the camp store. A medium ice cream (2 scoops) was only $1.50!

The weather was finally warming up and the sun came out so we headed towards where we are camping and a little past to a place called Sandy Cove. It was a lovely little beach sheltered from the larger waves.

We found hundreds of jellyfish. Mostly moon jelly and younger lion’s mane jellies. We soon had a hoard of kids following us and joining our science lessons of jellyfish.

We taught kids which were safe to touch and then then set about helping get them back in the water if they got stuck as the tide was going out.

We ended the evening with some really warm, long showers (in the bath house as we were really sandy) and a movie on the tv after our journals were updated from the day.